On Thursday, Arizona’s Republican Governor Doug Ducey, one of a dwindling number of statewide GOP lawmakers, said that President-elect Biden is a “good man” and he looks forward to working with him.
“I will not agree with him on everything and I certainly will not hesitate to share my views on the public policy issues that matter to Arizonans, but I believe President-elect Biden is a good man and wants to serve his country,” Governor Ducey tweeted.
The governor drew the ire of seating President Trump when he certified the election for Biden. Biden won the state by 0.3% – just under 10,500 of the more than 3.4 million votes cast.
Trump later quoted a tweet that said Ducey, a longtime supporter of his, had “betrayed the people of Arizona.”
“Why is he rushing to put a Democrat in office, especially when so many horrible things concerning voter fraud are being revealed at the hearing going on right now,” Trump wrote on Twitter December last year.
Governor Ducey responded and wrote: “I’ve been pretty outspoken about Arizona’s election system, and bragged about it quite a bit, including in the Oval Office. And for good reason.”
Ducey’s certification also paved the way for Democrat Mark Kelly to take the seat of the governor’s 2019 Senate appointment, Martha McSally. McSally filled the seat of the late Sen. John McCain but lost reelection last year.
In 2016, Arizona had two Republican senators and voted for Trump. After the 2020 elections, Arizona had two Democrat senators and went for Biden.
Governor Ducey’s term is up in 2022 and he is not eligible to run again due to term limits. However, Ducey is chairing the Republican Governors Association (RGA), steering the RGA during gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, and with 36 governorships up for grabs in the 2022 contests.