State Representative Alexander Kolodin (R-3), who is running to replace Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in the 2026 midterms, threw shade at the latter during a recent appearance on Arizona Family's Politics Unplugged while discussing President Donald Trump's recent executive order on election integrity.
The new executive order issued by Trump calls for the creation of lists of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state, instructing the U.S. Postal Service to send mail ballots only to verified voters, evidently to secure mail-in voting.
Secretary Fontes slammed the order as Trump "attempting to pick his desired list of voters in each state with the Social Security Administration's help." State Rep. Kolodin indirectly fired back, saying, "The voters that the President is attempting to quote-unquote 'pick' would be voters who are United States citizens."
State Rep. Kolodin further emphasized that "almost every Arizonan, or almost every Arizonan, supports the idea that you should have to be a United States citizen to vote in our state's elections."
Kolodin further suggested Fontes is "currently in front of the United States Supreme Court trying to block that measure, along with his progressive NGO allies. He has been fighting against this for years."
"It is time to get a Secretary of State in who wishes to implement the will of Arizona voters to make sure that we only have lawful US citizens on our voter roles," Kolodin concluded.
In August, Kolodin clashed with Fontes on social media after an Iranian cyberattack on Arizona's election candidates portal, with Kolodin accusing Fontes of exploiting the attack as a political power grab.
Fontes requested $13.5 million in additional cybersecurity funds, saying, "Our defenses held this time, but we can't rely on outdated systems to protect us forever. We need to modernize our infrastructure now, not after something goes wrong."
"Fontes knows I'm going to beat him in November of 2026," Kolodin claimed, "so he's trying to entangle us so deeply in their game plan now that there's no turning back."
