The Vance myopia will hurt the GOP going forward

Robert Robb

Submitted photo/Robert Robb

In Arizona, the only remaining GOP statewide elected officials are low-visibility corporation commissioners whose seats weren’t up in 2026. In the state Legislature, as Stephen Richer observed, the election swept away Republicans who might chart a more productive path and has left mostly MAGA diehards, the likes of Mark Fitchem, Wendy Rogers and Jake Hoffman. Arizona’s GOP congressional delegation is now pure MAGA. Current elected officials in Arizona won’t be the voices or architects of a GOP rehabilitation.”

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OPINION — JD Vance exhibits little in the way of political acumen or skills.

Exhibit A could be his post-election social media post. In it, Vance said that the Republican debacle was solely the result of the Iran war. Moreover, everyone knows it and any contention to the contrary was dishonest.

This is typical of the way Vance practices politics. Any disagreement with him, according to him, is stupid or dishonest, and probably both.

Vance’s self-serving analysis about the 2026 election is both wrong and a setback for any productive discussion that might lead to a GOP rehabilitation.

There may be some utility in attempting to sort through the various factors in play and rating their relative importance. But the exercise is also, in large measure, misleading. In reality, voters weren’t reacting just to individual factors. They were repudiating the composite whole of Donald Trump and his administration.

It was everything, taken all together. The ill-conceived and executed Iran war. Rising prices and Trump’s denial and indifference, as he gave greater attention to his pet projects: the ballroom, reflecting pool, arch and renovation of a local golf course. The dodgy deals that enriched Trump, his family and his cronies. Immigration enforcement excesses and lack of accountability. Turning the DOJ and FBI into personal retribution agencies. Coddling autocrats while pursuing a bully-boy foreign policy with what should be our allies. Ignoring court rulings. Erratic tariffs. Trying to meddle in election administration.

Also, the crude and cruel way Trump, Vance and the MAGA movement in general engage in politics. I think there was an important psychological moment when Trump and Vance endorsed the vile ad Vivek Ramaswamy ran in the Ohio governor’s race, featuring his opponent’s estranged mother.

Vance even scolded Republicans who criticized it. The ad was so depraved that Trump and Vance’s endorsement of it validated, I believe for many voters, what they were already intending to do: vote against Republicans across the board.

However, this was more than just a repudiation of Trump and his administration. It was a repudiation of what the Republican Party has become during his tenure.

In Arizona, this was most clearly illustrated in the election for clerk of the Superior Court in Maricopa County.

I can’t help myself from pausing here to mount a frequent hobbyhorse: electing positions that should be appointed based upon expertise and professional abilities. What political judgment is required or appropriate in running a filing system for courts? This position should be appointed by the court’s presiding judge.

In the race, voters overwhelmingly favored a 19-year-old ASU student over a former state legislator. Why? Well, hard to come up with a reason other than that the 19-year-old was a Democrat and the former state legislator was a Republican. The Republican, Jeff Dial, wasn’t well-known. It wasn’t an anti-Dial vote.

Low-visibility races such as these usually are decided on the basis of party affiliation. And in Maricopa County the default winner based on party affiliation has been Republican for decades. While independents have become the plurality affiliation in Maricopa County, Republicans still outnumber Democrats by six percentage points. Yet, in 2026, the default vote based on party affiliation became for the Democrat. As it did throughout the country.

Ebb and flow is a mighty force in American politics. But it’s hard to see how the GOP charts a more successful and productive path, particularly in the short-term.

What does today’s Republican Party stand for, other than loyalty to Donald Trump? What Reagan conservative principle isn’t Trump willing to violate or jettison?

Trump’s appointment of Stephen Miller as chief of staff indicates that there will be no productive change in direction from the top, as Bill Clinton did after getting rebuked in the 1994 midterms. Miller embodies everything the voters just overwhelmingly rejected.

In Arizona, the only remaining GOP statewide elected officials are low-visibility corporation commissioners whose seats weren’t up in 2026. In the state Legislature, as Stephen Richer observed, the election swept away Republicans who might chart a more productive path and has left mostly MAGA diehards, the likes of Mark Fitchem, Wendy Rogers and Jake Hoffman. Arizona’s GOP congressional delegation is now pure MAGA. Current elected officials in Arizona won’t be the voices or architects of a GOP rehabilitation.

The same is true of what remains of the GOP caucus in the U.S. House and, I suspect, in many of the formerly red state delegations and legislatures. The U.S. Senate might be a different story.

The 2028 election offers a narrow window for potential rehabilitation. The Republican primary for president will probably attract one or more candidates running on a Reaganesque platform, in terms of both substance and style.

Arizona will have Mark Kelly’s U.S. Senate seat on the ballot. The primary will offer the opportunity for a retro Republican to argue for a change of direction, a back to the future pitch. And, if successful in the primary, begin to redefine the party for the broader electorate.

Given GOP primary results during the Trump era, there is little reason to believe that a GOP rehabilitation project can get out of the crib. But perhaps getting walloped up and down the ballot all over the country can open some eyes and minds.

The country is up for grabs ideologically. Not really Arizona. Arizona isn’t a blue state. Arizona isn’t really a purple state either.

It’s a center-right state. Unfortunately, there is no center-right political party any more. And no clear, or even indistinct, path to bringing one into existence from the MAGA rubble.

Retired Arizona journalist Robert Robb opines about politics and public policy. Reach him at robtrobb@gmail.com. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to azopinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.