© 2026 ABC News

\"PHOTO:
Alex Wong/Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: President Donald Trump talks to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey during a working lunch with governors on workforce freedom and mobility at the White House on June 13, 2019 in Washington.
>

While Ducey certified results, a meeting led by Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis continued to sow doubt about the election. It was attended by some state legislators and newly reelected members of Congress, including Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs, who were all presented with baseless conspiracy theories of election fraud in Arizona.

Coughlin said it is no surprise that the party has turned its criticism on Ducey in light of Trump's loss.

\"PHOTO:
Ross D. Franklin/AP
PHOTO: Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey answers a question on the topic of COVID-19 in Arizona during a news conference on Dec. 2, 2020, in Phoenix.
>

\"There isn't any other narrative than the Trump narrative,\" Coughlin told ABC News. \"If you try and break away from that narrative at all, you see what happens. The first victim of that was Jeff Flake, the second victim was John McCain.\"

\"It's you either step in line, and you follow whatever the president says, including overthrowing the legitimate elections, or you're gonna face the ire of everybody else who's still on the train,\" he added.

Strickland said he thinks it is too early to say whether or not the Republican party will be able to work past the Trump era in the coming years.

\"I imagine that Donald Trump will continue to have influence within the Republican Party, and that he might be a kingmaker in 2024, if he chooses not to run for president himself. Going forward, I imagine that the success of local political officials who have associated themselves with the fraud cases will depend on Trump's popularity within the Republican Party,\" Strickland said.

Republicans across the country have campaigned for legislatures in battleground states to convene and grant a new slate of electors to cast ballots for Trump instead of Biden, which is not allowed by the Arizona Constitution.

Ducey has all but denied calls for a special session, saying he would see the legislature on Jan. 11, when its next session is set to begin.

House Speaker Russell Bowers also eventually shut down the idea of convening the legislature, saying he would not authorize a special session and pointing to Arizona's Constitution and the lack of substantial evidence presented by Giuliani and Ellis.

His resistance to bringing the legislature into session, in part, started calls for members of the statehouse not to vote for Bowers for Speaker of the House in the next session.

Coughlin said the public quarrels are the \"burning down of your own house.\"

\"They don't care because this is part of the party that puts the party ahead of country,\" he said. \"If you don't believe the Trump message of division, then you're not a Republican. You know, you're a 'RINO' and it's a very narrow place to build a party from. Arguably it's incapable of winning a statewide election in Arizona.\"

ABC News' Olivia Rubin contributed reporting.

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