Op-Ed: Barry Graham Endorses Election Deniers. Nobody Has Held Him Accountable

Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol police officer who was beaten by
January 6th insurrectionists, will be in Maricopa County later this
week.

This reminded me of Barry Graham’s endorsement of Alexander Kolodin
for Arizona Secretary of State.

Kolodin was directly involved in efforts challenging Arizona’s 2020
election results. He served as local counsel in Sidney Powell’s failed
“Kraken” lawsuit seeking to overturn the result, litigation that later
led to him being admonished by the State Bar of Arizona and placed on
probation. He represented Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward as
she fought a subpoena from the congressional committee investigating
January 6. Kolodin’s association through these bad actors with this
shameful episode in American history makes him complicit with
cop-beaters.

Now Kolodin is running to oversee Arizona’s elections and Barry Graham
is publicly backing him. The same Barry Graham who touts POSA support
and claims he’s just here to put residents first. But by endorsing
Kolodin, Barry is putting his weight behind a guy who doesn’t think
residents should get a say in how they vote.

This matters in Scottsdale, where roughly two-thirds of voters
historically cast ballots by mail. Kolodin has supported legislation
to shorten early voting, ban vote centers and require voters to
repeatedly verify their address to continue receiving an early ballot.
He also sponsored a 2026 ballot measure imposing new voter-ID
requirements that critics warn could make mail voting significantly
harder.

So where does Barry Graham stand?

Does he believe Joe Biden won Arizona in 2020? Does he condemn the
effort to overturn that result? What are his views of January 6? Does
he support Scottsdale residents’ continued ability to conveniently
vote by mail? Does he support Kolodin’s proposals to fundamentally
change Arizona’s early-voting system?

Graham made these questions relevant when he endorsed Kolodin for the
office that administers our elections.

If Barry supports Kolodin, he should answer these questions and
explain whether he also supports Kolodin’s record and election agenda.

John Ainlay
Scottsdale resident