On Tuesday, Arizona State Senator Paul Boyer declared he will not seek reelection in the 2022 midterms, ending his 10-year political career.
Sen. Boyer’s notice he would leave office after serving the remainder of this term was first reported by the The Arizona Republic and Arizona Agenda, a political newsletter.
Anger at Senate Republican leadership, disillusionment with the Republican Party’s direction, and a decennial redistricting process that offered a natural splitting point were listed as factors in Boyer’s decision, according to the Arizona Agenda.
The Republican state senator is probably best known as the sole Republican to vote against holding Maricopa County’s Board of Supervisors in contempt of a Senate subpoena for election equipment. He has also been blasted by former President Donald Trump, who has called Boyer a RINO (“Republican in Name Only”).
A July blast from the former President was included in a Twitter post by Boyer. Trump called the state senator a RINO for blocking the forensic audit of Maricopa County’s ballots in the 2020 general election. Boyer showed he was not a delicate flower that would wilt under criticism when he mocked the former president in his tweet.
“Had Trump built the wall like he promised, perhaps he could’ve prevented the 40k #BambooBallots from being imported into Arizona,” Boyer said mockingly. “And if he hadn’t started an insurrection in D.C. and gotten kicked off here, I could’ve responded directly to him. So, there’s that.”
The New York Times reported in May that Boyer stated:
“It makes us look like idiots. Looking back, I didn’t think it would be this ridiculous. It’s embarrassing to be a state senator at this point.”
Boyer has faced three unsuccessful censure attempts brought by his local Republican committee in Legislative District 20, in addition to two activist-led recall attempts, according to the Agenda. He was a House staffer and a lobbyist for the Department of Corrections before being elected to Arizona’s Senate in 2012.
Trump’s opposition did not make his decision for him but he acknowledged reelection would be much harder because of Trump’s personal grudge against him, not to mention the fury from GOP extremists for anyone who does not parrot Trump’s election fraud narrative.
Boyer’s first son was born in 2019 and he would like to spend more time with him. When he added in death threats he allegedly received in the past year for opposing the Senate’s voting audit of the 2020 election, leaving seemed like a good decision. Boyer and his family reportedly had to leave their home because of the threats, which persist to this day. The senator told the Agenda he put security doors on his home because of some of the threats received.
“Nobody should have to have that worry just because of a vote you’ve taken or didn’t take,” he said.
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