Journalists’ Roundtable: Ducey’s election bill veto

It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for this week’s Journalists’ Roundtable. Joining us to discuss the week’s top stories:

• Howie Fischer of Capitol Media Services
• Rachel Leingang of the Arizona Agenda
• Camryn Sanchez of the Arizona Republic and azcentral.com

Today’s discussed topics include:

• Trump endorses Masters for Senate
• 2000 Mules event at Capitol
• Ex-San Luis mayor charged: ballot harvesting
• Ducey vetoes election bill
• Boyer to vote ‘no’ on critical race theory ban
• Bolick becomes “Rasta Clint”

Several Republican candidates have claimed to have Trump’s endorsement. Who is Blake Masters, and why does he stand out from his competitors?

Howie Fischer: “He’s decided that he’s the most conservative, most Trump-oriented, most ‘they’ve stolen the vote,’ candidate in the race….What’s interesting, of course, is that virtually everyone in the race insisted they were the Trump people.”

Rachel Leingang: “Masters has gained a lot of national attention for just sort of the way he’s been presenting himself, like his campaign videos, they look a lot different than, you know, a typical candidate. It’s very straightforward, like looking at the camera and calling people psychopaths and stuff, so I can see why that would appeal to someone like Trump.”

There was a “2000 Mules” event at the Capitol this week. Tell us about that.

Camryn Sanchez: “One of the more interesting highlights was Senator Townsend responding and saying she wants vigilantes at the polling places, at the ballot boxes, specifically.”

“She said ‘we want you to follow people to their cars, take pictures of their license plates, film the boxes, follow the voters around.’ she didn’t say anything violent, but there was some very enthusiastic responses in the room, and it’s already been criticized as, potentially, voter intimidation.”

Howie Fischer: “What’s really important for folks to understand, who haven’t been here a long time: This state has a long history of intimidation, going back to who became Justice Rehnquist. In the 1960s, the Republicans would hang around the polling places in places like South Phoenix, and intimidate and hang around, and question Black voters, because they said that keeps certain people away, and you can’t help but wonder, is that part of the game plan?”