Salmon was behind in the polls. He also pulled out in order to help Karrin Taylor Robson in her battle against Kari Lake. The GOP primaries will take place on August 2, 2022.
Matt Salmon is out of the GOP primary for the Arizona Governor election this November. This leaves Kari Lake, who has been endorsed by Donald Trump, and Karrin Taylor Robson, who seems more of a a McCain style establishment Republican.
The winner of the primary in August 2022 will most likely face off in the general election in November against Democrat Katie Hobbs, the current Arizona Secretary of State.
Attacks on Lake
Lake is currently being attacked over her hiring a drag queen for a party a number of years ago, while she today criticizes drag queen story hour for children. One could push back by noting that people critical of drag queen story hour are not necessarily opposed to drag queens, but simply think drag queen shows are inappropriate for children and constitute sexualization by exposing kids to sexualized imagery.
Attacks on Taylor Robson
Taylor Robson is being attacked over her fundraising (bundling) support for leftist Democrat Ruben Gallego. Gallego, who represents Arizona's 7th congressional district in the US House, is an open border advocate, which is highly problematic since Arizona is a border state heavily burdened by illegal immigration.
Ballots for the GOP primary will be mailed out next week and may still have Salmon's name on it. Incumbent Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, is not running for re-election because he is term limited. Ducey is widely seen as more of a moderate, some would say weaker, Republican than his predecessor Jan Brewer who signed bills to combat illegal immigration and advance gun rights.