If you want to figure out why Republicans struggled in this otherwise solid red district and ultimately lost a seat, look no further than Justine Wadsack say politicos. The goth-inspired one-term State Senator’s non-stop attacks on her fellow Republicans didn’t just fire up Democrats and convince them they could win, they dragged on her fellow Republicans and cost GOP candidates thousands of votes.
In 2022, Wadsack beat then-incumbent Vince Leach but her primary win was challenged when it was discovered that the address she was claiming to live at was largely unoccupied, and her husband was still at their old address outside of the district. Wadsack attributed these things to trouble in her marriage and prevailed in the court challenge. The marriage seemed to heal instantly immediately after the election.
Wadsack and her self-named Freedom Team of Rachel Jones and Cory McGarr cruised to victory in that year’s general election, as one would expect from such a red district, but all three promptly went to work attacking fellow Republicans on issues ranging from life to the size of government to election integrity.
Wadsack publicly bragged about how she refused to meet with lobbyists, even though public records requests showed her public calendar was filled with lobbyist meetings. Lobbyists who she met with complained that she seemed largely ignorant on issues and would bring State Senator Jake Hoffman into meetings to guide her through the process. She campaigned on Term Limits for Congress, then broke her promise when pressured by members like Hoffman who were close to the John Birch Society. And her constituents felt ignored and thought she was more interested in promoting her social media presence than doing the job.
Wadsack’s 2024 campaign suffered from poor fundraising and an apparent split with her team. There was also a high-profile incident when she was stopped by police for excessive speeding and avoided prosecution at the time thanks to her status as a state lawmaker. But among the details of that traffic stop was that she claimed she was racing to get home before her electric car ran out of charge and that she was just a short distance from home. In fact, she was a short distance from the home she and her husband still kept that was outside of the district. She was a very long way from the home she claimed to live in to satisfy the legal requirements of representing the district.
Leach beat Wadsack soundly in the primary election at the same time Jones and McGarr beat back a primary challenge from recycled 2022 candidate Anna Orth. Republicans were concerned about Jones and McGarr in the general election but breathed a sigh of relief for Leach’s victory, believing he would be a stronger candidate in the face of Democrat efforts to take control of the State Senate.
Unfortunately for Republicans, Wadsack was inexplicably hired by Turning Point USA’s election effort in LD17. Many point again to Jake Hoffman and his friends at TPUSA for getting her the job, but it wasn’t long before Wadsack was actively campaigning against Republicans like Leach. Her tweets attacked him as evil and urged voters to not vote for him. State GOP officials angrily complained and Wadsack seemingly disappeared from the district shortly after, tweeting from districts far away from LD17, but the damage was done.
“Wadsack, Jones and McGarr view Republicans as the enemy more than they do Democrats, which is why they spend their time and effort attacking Republicans.” complained one Southern Arizona activist, who noted that Wadsack and Jones in particular motivated Democrats to compete hard in that district. “They were so extreme that Democrats came to believe they could compete in our district in spite of our large registration advantage.”
And compete they did. Democrats pounded the doors, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, and used the rhetoric and records of Wadsack, Jones and McGarr to turnout Democrats and convert Independent and even some Republican voters. On Election Night, Leach was down nearly 7,000 votes to John McLean and Jones and McGarr were down 7,000 and 10,000 votes respectively.
Leach’s conservative message, but rational delivery, served him well and he steadily gained on McLean before ultimately overtaking him and winning the race by nearly 3,000 votes. Jones and McGarr never gained very much on Democrat Kevin Volk, and Volk’s victory was the lone legislative pickup on election night in 2024, after months of Democratic confidence that this was their year.
“The fact that Democrats couldn’t win in swing districts but crushed Wadsack’s team ought to be a loud and clear warning to everyone.” said the activist, who expressed doubt that anyone would learn a lesson from it. In fact, McGarr has since gone public with more claims of election fraud, insisting that his race was stolen from him.
Now, Wadsack is reportedly on the move again, this time hoping to carpetbag into Yavapai County to run for a State House seat. It seems her hope is that the district is so heavily Republican that all she has to do is win the primary and she won’t be able to lose the general election. Yavapai Republicans need to brace themselves for a nasty 2026 campaign if Wadsack brings her personal brand of anti-Republican messaging to their district.
“Wadsack is the best thing Democrats have going for them because she’s happiest attacking conservative Republicans and she’s more than happy to lie about them if she thinks it will help her win. Voters need to beware.”
