On March 22, 286,743 Arizona voters cast their ballots for Donald Trump to be the Republican Party presidential nominee. Ted Cruz got 172,294 votes - fewer votes than Bernie Sanders - in a state that is supposed to be conservative.

A Senate panel has advanced a bill that attempts to rein in the rampant use of proxies at Republican intraparty elections, but some local party leaders say the bill is unnecessarily overreaching.

Arizona Republicans re-elected their chairman in a landslide, urged their party to close its primary elections to independents and got a surprise visit from U.S. Sen. John McCain, who was both cheered and jeered by the party faithful.

After failing to get an apology from Maricopa County GOP Chairman A.J. LaFaro for his characterization of their canvasser as a “a vulgar, disrespectful thug that has no respect for our laws,” Citizens for a Better Arizona is pushing ahead with a defamation lawsuit against the Republican.

This week's most outstanding quotes from Arizona's political stage.

Maricopa County Republican Party Chairman A.J. LaFaro says U.S. Sen. John McCain and a political committee backed by moderate Republicans who support him are attempting to “ethnically cleanse” the party of conservative precinct committeemen.

Arizona Republican Party officials want to study the benefits and drawbacks to closing GOP primary elections to independents, who increasingly have gained influence as a voting bloc in primary races.

Maricopa County GOP chairman AJ LaFaro told our reporter today he’s disappointed that Tobin has given up the fight on Medicaid expansion. He said there’s still some time to press on, since neither the budget package nor Medicaid expansion has ...

Maricopa GOP chairman AJ LaFaro once again has earned public scorn for writing a letter to GOP lawmakers in which he compares May 16, the day the Senate passed a budget that includes Medicaid expansion, to Dec. 7, 1941. “May 16, 2013, will be remembered as a ‘day of infamy’ in Arizona’s history.

As a precinct committeewoman from Legislative District 28 in North Central Phoenix, I was once again dismayed and insulted by my own party’s actions. The party faithful toils so hard while party officials squander their labor on undisciplined, mean-spirited name-calling that serves no other purpose than to bolster big egos and small ideas.