Chair of the Arizona GOP resigns amid leaked Kari Lake audio

The chair of the Arizona Republican Party has resigned after audio leaked of him allegedly suggesting to Kari Lake to drop her US Senate bid for financial benefit.

Jeff Dewit, who served as Nasa’s chief financial officer before joining the Arizona Republican Party, has left his role of chair following pressure from Ms Lake, a former TV anchor and 2022 GOP Arizona gubernatorial nominee.

Ever since she lost the 2022 election, Ms Lake has rejected the results and claimed she was a victim of fraud, despite there being no evidence to support that notion. She has also supported former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of fraud regarding the 2020 presidential election.

Her fervent support for Mr Trump and his wing of the party proved divisive in Arizona, a state narrowly won by President Joe Biden in 2020, becoming the first Democrat to win the state on the presidential level since President Bill Clinton’s re-election in 1996.

Ms Lake is now running for the Republican nomination for senate in Arizona. Incumbent senator Kyrsten Sinema left the Democratic Party in December 2022 to become an independent. What appears to be a three-way race for the seat also looks set to include Democratic Rep Ruben Gallego.

Mr DeWit said he’s resigning following pressure from Ms Lake after DailyMail.com published audio of a conversation in which he presented her with the financial incentives of staying out of the senate race.

He added that Ms Lake had threatened that she would publish “more damaging” audio if he didn’t leave his post on Wednesday.

Lake advisers Caroline Wren and Garrett Ventry said that Mr DeWit was making “false claims”, according to CNN.

“No one from the Kari Lake campaign threatened or blackmailed DeWit,” they