The infighting currently endemic within the Democratic Party has found its way to the Arizona Democrats with a significant rift opening between party leaders and top Democrat elected officials.
In a weekend email, Arizona Democratic Party (ADP) Chairman Robert Branscomb aired the details of an ongoing intraparty conflict with the ADP’s former executive director, Morgan Dick as well as both of Arizona’s Democrat U.S. Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.
Branscomb accused Dick of undermining him and the Senators of threatening him over his recent decisions. According to AZ Free News, Branscomb’s surprise victory over former Chairwoman Yolanda Bejarano, who was backed by most of the ADP’s elected officials, led to immediate pushback and “outright obstruction” to the party’s operation as explained in the email entitled “a candidate update on the past 90 days.”
“When I arrived at the state party office just three days after the state committee meeting, I found an empty workspace — no computers, minimal furniture, and no transition documents. What should have been a professional hand off of responsibilities instead became a scramble to uncover critical information,” he wrote in the email per KJZZ.
He went on to reveal that following his election a series of false accusations were levied against him by Democrat staffers, he was denied access to party banking information, the party headquarters was cleared of furniture, equipment and documents and the staff were encouraged to resign. This led to Branscomb removing Dick from her role and replacing her with political director Michael Ruff.
In a statement released in response to the email, Dick denied the allegations, “The statement published by the current Chair is an attack on me professionally, riddled with inaccuracies, and is counterproductive to the goal of winning in 2026,” she said in a statement cited by KJZZ. “I worked incredibly hard to provide a successful transition to the new leadership and am proud of our work at the ADP.”
After the removal of Dick, Branscomb alleges that Senator Mark Kelly attempted to wrestle control of the party’s staffing decisions, and following Ruff’s appointment both Senators Kelly and Gallego threatened to withdraw their support from the state party.
“Let me be clear: no state party chair should be threatened or intimidated by any elected official for making a decision in the best interest of our party,” Branscomb said in the email.
“The idea that both Arizona Senators would withdraw support because I did not choose their preferred candidate is not only troubling — it’s a threat to the integrity and independence of our party. I will not be coerced, and I will not be silenced.” In a responding statement, U.S. Sens. Ruben Gallego, and Mark Kelly, Gov. Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Attorney General Kris Mayes claimed, “We’ve spent the last several months meeting regularly with the chair and working to support the party through the transition.” They then accused Branscomb of acting in bad faith saying, “Unfortunately, his statement today includes many false claims and is the kind of bad-faith response we’ve come to expect from the new leadership over the last several weeks.”
The five Democrat politicians added, “as Arizona statewide elected leaders who have all won historic campaigns, we know what it takes to work together, build a broad coalition, and win in Arizona. Any efforts not devoted to winning are simply a waste of resources.”
They concluded, “While the chair has lost our trust, we are not going to let that deter us from our mission of winning in 2026.” As reported by The Washington Post’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, there is reportedly talk of an attempt to oust Branscomb during the ADP’s upcoming summer gathering.