Arizona Republican governor rebuffs party tweet asking if supporters willing to die over election

[December 09, 2020]  By Jarrett Renshaw

(Reuters) - Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said on Tuesday the Republican Party stands for "law and order," rebuffing the sentiment of a tweet by his state party that asked supporters if they were willing to die to overturn President Donald Trump's election loss.

The official Arizona Republican Party Twitter account had earlier retweeted a post by right-wing activist Ali Alexander, in which he pledged that he was "willing to give up my life for this fight."

The state party responded in a tweet, saying: "He is. Are you?"

Ducey, who has been criticized by fellow Republican Trump for not doing to enough undo Democratic President-elect Joe Biden's victory in Arizona, said on Twitter: "The Republican Party is the party of the Constitution and the rule of law.

"We prioritize public safety, law & order, and we respect the law enforcement officers who keep us safe. We don’t burn stuff down. We build things up," he said.

Trump's legal team has continued to pursue efforts to overturn the Nov. 3 election results in Arizona, even though the state officially certified Biden as the winner of its 11 electoral votes on Nov. 30. Biden won the state by more than 10,000 votes.

Biden overall won 306 electoral votes - exceeding the necessary 270 - compared with Trump's 232 in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the election's outcome. The former vice president is also winning the national popular vote by more than 7 million votes. He is set to take office on Jan. 20.

President Donald Trump meets with Arizona Governor Doug Ducey in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., August 5, 2020. Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS

But the president's supporters have been backing Trump's false claims of widespread voter fraud and have rallied across battleground states to protest the outcome.

The Arizona Republican Party has been active on Twitter in recent days. "Live a life of service to a cause greater than yourself," it tweeted on Tuesday.

In a now-deleted tweet from Monday, the party posted a movie scene from "Rambo" featuring the quote: "This is what we do, who we are. Live for nothing, or die for something."

Asked about the tweets, state party spokesman Zach Henry said: “The Republican Party of Arizona condemns all forms of violence in the strongest terms."

He said the party took down the Rambo post because of concerns about copyright and fair-use law.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)

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