Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer loses GOP primary to state Rep. Justin Heap

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer lost the Republican primary election to state Rep. Justin Heap, according to The Associated Press.

As of Wednesday morning, Heap led Richer with 42.4% of the vote to 35.9%, with 81% of the vote tallied. Information technology professor Donald Hiatt placed third with 21.8% of the vote.

Maricopa County, the largest county in Arizona, has had election issues since at least 2012. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it would monitor Arizona's July 30 primary in Maricopa County to ensure that the county was complying with federal voting rights laws.

Heap ran on fixing issues with Maricopa County's elections, saying that he was "not okay with Maricopa County elections being the laughing stock of the nation."

Richer posted about the race on his X account early Wednesday, writing, "It's been a privilege. Thank you. Elections have winners and, sadly, losers. And in this one, it looks like I'm going to end up on the losing side of the column. But that's the name of the game. Accept it. Move on. Congratulations to @azjustinheap on winning the primary."

Richer was elected to the Maricopa County Recorder's Office in 2020, beating then-Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes. Richer repeatedly criticized Republicans who claimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen, and even launched a PAC to elect Republicans in Arizona who don't believe there were issues that could have altered the outcome in the state's 2020 presidential election. 

The Maricopa County recorder also sued GOP Senate nominee for Arizona Kari Lake for defamation because he faced “violent vitriol and other dire consequences” from lies she allegedly spread, the AP reported.

Richer also said in June that he was going to vote for President Biden in November, despite voting for then-President Trump in 2020.