It’s been a rough year for some state Republican parties. Minnesota’s is crippled with debt, Colorado’s party didn’t pay staff in April and Michigan’s finances caused such friction between members that it resulted in a brawl. But the Republican Party of Arizona’s fall-from-grace has been particularly extraordinary. According to their latest filing with the FEC on Monday, the state party is sitting at just $28,325.74 cash on hand—down from $151,085.55 earlier this year and from the healthy $770,000 it had four years ago. The state party’s treasurer attributed the whopping drop partially to it not being an election year, but also to mismanagement from the party’s former chair. “Kelli Ward, our former chairwoman, in my opinion was an awful chair,” Arizona GOP treasurer Elijah Norton told The Daily Beast. “She left us in a very bad spot. She scared off a bunch of donors. She misspent a bunch of money… The Republican Party of Arizona is trying to recover from that reputation that she’s left with donors.” Ward’s tenure as chair ended in January, and she was succeeded by Jeff DeWit.
