The Arizona Senate voted Tuesday to censure Republican Wendy Rogers, whose embrace of white nationalism and calls for violence drew condemnation from across the political spectrum.
Rogers is in her first term in elected office but has built a national profile among the far right with inflammatory rhetoric and vociferous support for former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Rogers has long faced fierce opposition from Democrats and a handful of Republicans for offensive comments on social media.
Pressure mounted within the GOP this week after she said over the weekend that her political opponents should face a “newly built set of gallows.” She spoke at the America First Political Action Conference, a white nationalist gathering.
“We do support First Amendment freedom of speech,” said Republican Senate President Karen Fann. “We absolutely support it. we fight battles over it. But what we do not condone is members threatening each other. To ruin each other. To incite violence. To call us communists. We don’t do that to each other.”
The censure was approved in a 24-3 vote, with all Democrats and most Republicans in support. Rogers stood as Senate Majority Leader Rick Gray read the censure aloud. Then she portrayed the censure as an attack on her constituents and her supporters.
“You’re really censuring them,” Rogers said. “I do not apologize. I will not back down. And I’m sorely disappointed in the leadership of this body for colluding with the Democrats to attempt to destroy my reputation.”
Hours earlier, Rogers said on Twitter that Tuesday “is the day where we find out if the Communists in the GOP throw the sweet grandma under the bus for being white.”
She sat and listened, often smiling, while her colleagues condemned her.
Rogers has also tweeted criticism of Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as they fight back against a Russian invasion.
She was elected with support from the state’s GOP establishment, which poured money into her 2020 race to secure the GOP’s one-seat majority in the Senate. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said last week “she’s still better than her opponent.”
“What I need as a governor are governing majorities,” Ducey told reporters.
Rogers has parlayed her national profile into fundraising prowess, raising unprecedented amounts of money for a state legislative race.
The censure of Rogers, believed to be the first censure of an Arizona lawmaker in decades, was based formally on her threats to hang political opponents. Some Republicans have in recent days gone farther.
Some Democrats said censure was insufficient and called for expelling Rogers from the chamber.
