Arizona House of Representatives Finchem was first elected to the
Arizona House of Representatives in 2014, finishing second in the Republican primary behind
Vince Leach before advancing to the general election in Arizona's
top-two nominating process. Finchem and Leach ran successfully in the general election. Finchem came in first with 36,732 votes, ahead of Leach and
Democratic challenger Holly Lyon. Finchem and Leach defeated Democrats Corin Hammond and Barry McCain (write-in candidate) in the 2016 general election. As a member of the state House, Finchem was known for promoting extreme ideas. In 2020, Finchem ran for
speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, challenging incumbent Republican
Russell Bowers. As of 2021, Finchem was a member of the House of Representatives' committees on the Judiciary, on Military Affairs & Public Safety, and on Natural Resources, Energy & Water. He was granted a committee chairmanship only a single time in his eight years in the state House. He received Donald Trump's endorsement in September 2021 and won the Republican primary on August 2, 2022. Finchem is a member of the
America First Secretary of State Coalition. Finchem is a long-time affiliate with the
Oath Keepers whose members donated almost $10,000 to his campaign. During the election campaign, Finchem published a tweet calling Arizona Democratic politicians "liars and deceivers" whose "loyalty is to
George Soros and
Mike Bloomberg." Finchem's invocation of an
antisemitic trope drew criticism. On his
Telegram account, Finchem invoked Soros' name 24 times, often describing himself as combating the "
Soros machine" or his "Soros funded opponent" or claiming that the media is Soros-funded. After Jackson's writings were publicized, Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee
Kari Lake rescinded her endorsement of Jackson, but Finchem did not. Finchem also attracted scrutiny for receiving an endorsement from
Andrew Torba, the founder of the antisemitic and
white nationalist platform
Gab, On his own Gab account, Finchem has pushed the Soros conspiracy theory, as well as claims that the
Central Intelligence Agency controls the media. Democratic nominee
Adrian Fontes defeated Finchem in the November 8 general election.
Lawsuit to ban electronic voting machines In April 2022, Finchem and Kari Lake sued state officials, seeking to ban electronic voting machines from being used in his 2022 election. In August 2022, U.S. District Judge
John Tuchi dismissed the suit, writing that Lake and Finchem "articulated only conjectural allegations of potential injuries" and thus lacked
standing. In his ruling, Tuchi also cited the
Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well as the
Purcell principle. In December 2022, Tuchi sanctioned Lake's lawyers in this suit, including
Alan Dershowitz, for making "false, misleading, and unsupported" assertions during the case, and making claims without "an adequate factual or legal basis grounded in a reasonable pre-filing inquiry"; he ordered the plaintiffs to pay the defendants' attorney fees. Finchem and Lake's appeal, aimed at banning electronic voting machines, was rejected in October 2022 by the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which highlighted that "counsel for plaintiffs conceded that their arguments were limited to potential future hacking, and not based on any past harm", and voiced agreement "with the district court that plaintiffs' speculative allegations that voting machines may be hackable are insufficient to establish an injury". Finchem and Lake in March 2024 appealed to the
United States Supreme Court, which rejected their lawsuit in April 2024.
Lawsuit to overturn his election loss Finchem filed a lawsuit in December 2022 to have the election "nullified and redone," but it was dismissed
with prejudice that month by Maricopa County Superior Court judge Melissa Julian, confirming Democrat Adrian Fontes' victory, as well as the victory of Democrat
Katie Hobbs over Republican
Kari Lake who had also filed suit to overturn the election. Among other issues, the judge rejected the
merits of Finchem's arguments on voting machines certification and voting software certification, and separately concluded that Finchem "does not allege that any of the votes cast were actually illegal" and does not allege that any legal vote was not counted, but only alleged "suspicions that some votes may not have been counted", which was insufficient to overturn an election. The judge also rejected Finchem's allegations of "misconduct" by Secretary of State
Katie Hobbs as insufficient. The judge noted that a supposed expert called by Finchem asserted that there were "missing votes", but the number of "missing votes" claimed was not enough to change the result of the election. The judge cited Finchem's decision not to inspect ballots as indicating that Finchem "had no expectation that an inspection would yield a favorable outcome", which further "demonstrates that Finchem challenged his election loss despite knowing that his claims regarding misconduct and procedural irregularities were insufficient under the law to sustain the contest." Finchem reacted to the sanctions by calling for Judge Julian to be "removed from the bench for her abuse of judicial authority". In May 2023, Judge Julian ruled that the amount of legal fees and costs that Finchem is to pay to Fontes is $40,565. Finchem appealed the rejection of his election challenge, then abandoned the appeal in July 2023, with his lawyer citing other failed 2022 election challenging lawsuits in Arizona; however Finchem continued to appeal the sanctions against him in this case. In November 2024, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected Finchem's appeal against his sanctions, thus Finchem was required to pay Fontes' legal fees.
2024 Arizona State Senate campaign In 2024, Finchem challenged and defeated incumbent Arizona State Senator
Ken Bennett in the Republican primary election for
Arizona's 1st legislative district. He later won the general election. ==Views and positions==