PHOENIX — One of the state's Republican gubernatorial candidates is calling for Sen. Wendy Rogers to resign after the Arizona Senate censured her for making threatening comments.
Former Congressman Matt Salmon, who is one of the Republicans running to replace Gov. Doug Ducey this year, said Thursday that Rogers has demonstrated a "failure of character" and needs to step down from public office.
Rogers was criticized by members of her own party after speaking last week at the America First Political Action Conference and declaring that the group's traitors should be hanged on a "newly built set of gallows."
Rogers, a four-time failed candidate for federal office, also praised the leader of AFPAC, Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier.
In response, Republicans in the Arizona Senate sided with Democrats to publicly censure Rogers for her "unbecoming" conduct. Before the vote, Rogers threatened to "personally destroy the career" of any Republican who voted for the censure.
Salmon is now calling for Rogers to resign, finding her response to the censure to be "dismissive."
"Sen. Rogers must resign her seat in the legislature for the greater good of Arizona and so that LD6 can be effectively represented on issues of public policy, which her ongoing conduct and associations make her incapable of doing," Salmon wrote in a statement.
Rogers has defiantly defended her comments, refused to apologize, and proclaimed she was simply demonstrating her rights to freedom of speech.
Steve Gaynor, another GOP gubernatorial candidate, has also been critical of Rogers and condemned her recent rhetoric. Gaynor told the Arizona Republic this week he found Rogers' recent comments "unacceptable."
Salmon and Gaynor are running against Kari Lake and Karrin Taylor Robson for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.