Late last month, the LD2 Arizona Republican Party banned former House candidate Christian Lamar for allegedly sowing discord at their meetings repeatedly, though Lamar claims he was expelled for supporting former President Donald Trump.
Lamar, who claims to be the only black member of the Arizona GOP Executive Committee, also claimed to have been expelled as member-at-large from the committee and state committeeman, as well as banned as a precinct committeeman through October. Lamar blamed his expulsion on his support for Trump and having signed onto a letter of support for the former President with several hundred other precinct committeemen.
3.1 million views, AZGOP expels Trump voter: https://t.co/tLINGRN5Av
— Christian Lamar (@christianllamar) July 5, 2024
District and state GOP officials denied Lamar’s claims, almost in their entirety. LD 2 officials issued a response that said Lamar was a repeated disruptor of their meetings, and had once engaged in a physical altercation that prompted the loss of their more affordable meeting venue. LD 2 officials also disputed that they expelled Lamar as precinct committeeman and as member-at-large.
In a press release, LD 2 leadership wrote the following:
“The crux of this situation that has been developing for nearly 18 months in the Arizona GOP LD 2 is simply a division between those Precinct Committeemen that want Anarchy and those that want the Rule of Law. This release is to set the record straight on the recent vote by the Precinct Committeemen of LD 2 to expel Christian Lamar from the LD 2 business meetings effective immediately and to last at a minimum through October 31, 2024. At which time the newly elected PC’s can determine whether to end or extend the expulsion vote.
This action was taken after months of attempts by both local LD leadership and the County leadership to meet with Mr. Lamar to find common ground and encourage Mr. Lamar to follow established LD Bylaws and Roberts Rules of Order. Both of which Mr. Lamar agreed to during the vote to accept these documents as meeting management tools in the organizational meeting of 2022. Bylaws are amendable and there is a path by which the Agenda can be changed at a business meeting. However, Mr. Lamar openly argued that he was not required to follow the rules accepted by the Body and regularly caused disruptions in the meetings often causing meetings to last an hour longer than needed resulting in the loss of active participants in the LD.
During the May meeting Mr. Lamar had received an agenda and call letter as required by the LD Bylaws. In the Call Letter it was noted that there was an Agenda item of a censure to be discussed and voted on concerning Mr. Lamar’s behavior, brought by a fellow PC. After the Agenda was approved at that meeting Mr. Lamar rose from his seat and began shouting that he had a motion. The Chairman chose not to recognize Mr. Lamar and did not relinquish the floor to him to hear his motion. A Chairman can do this if the individual requesting to be recognized has demonstrated a willful desire to derail the meeting.
Mr. Lamar stood for the next 67 minutes shouting over Candidates and Board reports, stating that ‘I have a motion.’ Had Mr. Lamar stopped yelling even briefly he would have heard that when the Agenda item of his censure was brought forward the Body tabled the censure as a show of good faith, hoping Mr. Lamar would see that the LD wanted him to be a functional member of the group. During this outburst a physical altercation took place that was videotaped and posted on social media by several of Mr. Lamar’s guests. This violation of a voted and passed rule in the LD cost the LD the venue and they had to relocate to a more expensive site.
When New Business was reached on the Agenda, Mr. Lamar was specifically asked if he had a motion to bring to the Body. At this point Mr. Lamar ceased his shouting and spoke no more. 6 other PC’s brought new business, each time the Chair looked at Mr. Lamar and asked him if he had anything and received no response.
On June 24, 2024 during the regularly scheduled LD 2 business meeting a motion was made from the floor by a PC to accept the membership Committee’s recommendation to ban Mr. Lamar from future LD 2 meetings beginning immediately and to run through October 31, 2024. An additional recommendation was made by the Committee to remove Mr. Lamar as a State Committeeman representing LD 2. The vote to expel passed by a vote of 80-16 and the vote to remove Mr. Lamar from his State Committeeman status passed by a vote of 76-23. Mr. Lamar was not, as he claims, removed as a PC, nor does the LD have the ability to remove him as Member at Large of the AZ GOP.
It saddens many of the PC’s of LD 2 to hear of Mr. Lamar’s assertions that he was expelled based on race. Our LD is diverse in many ways and we in no way hold anyone back or penalize an individual for any reason other than failure to follow established and accepted rules of order. It is useful to know that this expulsion is also not linked to the many censures that Mr. Lamar has brought to the LD. When the process has been followed the censures were always heard and often passed. Many PC’s in LD 2 helped and supported Mr. Lamar in his run for the State Representative Seat in LD 2 last election cycle. His use of race to cover for his lack of professionalism is disheartening.”
RINOs inside the AZGOP are the reason 2020/2022 elections were stolen & 2024 is on its way to being stolen. RINOs tyrannically violated all of our political power as Precinct Committeemen from within the Republican Party. 3 candidates literally ignored PCs, during all of this! https://t.co/NUXqo2dR7Q pic.twitter.com/j5HzoscTLH
— Lamar War Room of ChristianforArizona.com (@LamarWarRoom) May 21, 2024
Lamar disputed LD 2 leadership’s characterization of the situation. He said that the 18 months of motions pertained to desired censures against Republicans opposed to election integrity.
AZGOP LD2 expelled me from party for making motions for 18 months (to Censure Republican AZ state legislature for not protecting our elections). I follow Roberts rules of order for 1.5 hrs but RINOs claim I asked guests to start physical alterations; while I made motions in mtg?
— Christian Lamar (@christianllamar) July 7, 2024
Skeptics of Lamar’s version of things note that he has a long and detailed history of denying facts, even when there is overwhelming evidence proving them to be true. One example is that although he was convicted of assault against his then-fiancé in Phoenix in 2015, he denied the allegations despite the fact that three courts upheld the conviction.
For his crime, Lamar had to fulfill various conditions set by the municipal court of Phoenix and served one day in confinement. Given the most recent allegations of aggressive behavior, it does not appear that Lamar learned anything from his punishment.
Arizona GOP Chair Gina Swoboda also issued a response to Lamar’s viral video, noting that the Second Legislative District precinct committeemen were within their rights to act at the legislative district level, but that Lamar would remain member-at-large since that position falls under their purview.
“Christian Lamar is and remains the AZGOP member at large for CD8,” said Swoboda. “The body of the precinct committeemen in LD2 have every right to take such actions as they deem appropriate at the LD level, however the MAL position falls under AZGOP and Mr. Lamar remains in that position until the next officer elections.”
My pleasure-
‘Christian Lamar is and remains the AZGOP member at large for CD8. The body of the precinct committeemen in LD2 have every right to take such actions as they deem appropriate at the LD level, however the MAL position falls under AZGOP and Mr Lamar remains in that…
— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) June 27, 2024
