Recount finalizes defeat of 4th Arizona Republican whose candidacy unsettled Jews

JTA — A recount in Arizona finalized defeat for attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh, one of a quartet of Republicans who lost in statewide races and whose campaigns raised concerns for the state’s Jewish community.

A Maricopa County court determined Thursday that Democrat Kris Mayes would be the state’s next attorney-general after a mandatory recount in a narrow race.

Hamadeh as a teenager posted antisemitic comments as a teenager on a forum for supporters of onetime presidential hopeful Ron Paul.

He was just one of four Republicans in top statewide races who had associations with antisemites and antisemitism and who were defeated in close results in a state that is transitioning from solid Republican to lean Democrat.

Kari Lake, the one-time TV newsreader who ran for governor, posed for a photo with a Nazi sympathizer and told him on Twitter, “It was a pleasure to meet you, too!” She endorsed and then withdrew her endorsement of an Oklahoma candidate who called Jews “evil.” She lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs.

Mark Finchem, who ran for secretary of state, proudly accepted the endorsement of Andrew Torba, the openly antisemitic founder of the Gab social media platform. The Phoenix Jewish Community Relations Council in September criticized Finchem for spreading “antisemitic tropes” by claiming Democrats are controlled by George Soros and Mike Bloomberg, both Jewish megadonors. He lost to Democrat Adrian Fontes.

Blake Masters lost his bid to unseat Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat who is married to Gabrielle Giffords, the Jewish former congresswoman who was shot in 2011 and who now leads a gun control group. Jewish Insider uncovered an article Masters wrote in 2006 for a publication in which he cites a “poignant” quote by Nazi official Hermann Goering. The publication is owned by Lew Rockwell, the libertarian who is believed to have written content for Ron Paul that included racist and antisemitic tropes.