UPDATE:
On Friday, May 5, county supervisors appointed Julie Willoughby to fill the Arizona House vacancy in Legislative District 13.
Willoughby is a registered nurse with a degree from ASU who ran in the 2022 Election to represent the district and narrowly lost to Liz Harris, according to a statement from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
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ORIGINAL STORY:
The Arizona statehouse has voted to expel Republican Liz Harris from the chamber.
Harris was expelled by her peers in the House of Representatives on a vote of 46-13 Wednesday, April 12.
The expulsion vote stems from an election integrity committee hearing conducted by Harris in February in which she invited a speaker who made unfounded accusations of bribery against members of the legislature, including the Republican Speaker of the House Ben Toma.
The presenter also accused the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints of being an integral part of the scheme.
Harris faced an ethics investigation in response to the hearing.
The House ethics committee concluded Harris broke house rules by damaging the “institutional integrity of the house" in a nine-page report.
The expulsion vote takes effect immediately leaving a vacancy in Legislative District 13.
"The report is a lie," said Harris. "If you don't toe the line, this is what happens."
The process of replacing Harris begins when Republican Precinct Committee members in the district meet to vote on three replacements.
Those recommendations will then go to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, who will then vote on the replacement.
That individual will serve out the remainder of Harris’ term and will be up for re-election in November of 2024.
"I think it's going to be probably heated," said Joshua aSKEY, LD-13 McQueen Precinct Committeeman.
Askey is one of 168 elected precinct committeemen who can vote on Harris's replacement.
Support from at least half of those committeemen is needed to nominate the three candidates. "As Republicans, we are all independent-minded, it's very difficult to corral independently-minded people. it just is," Askey said.
There is no word yet on the number of people who will submit their names for consideration to replace Liz Harris. Although unlikely, Harris could be one of the three nominees sent to the Board of Supervisors.
The vote is scheduled for Monday, the same day the names are supposed to be submitted to the Board of Supervisors.
The legislature is adjourned until April 25th. When the House reconvenes, there will be a new lawmaker representing LD-13.
House Democratic Leader Andrés Cano released the following statement regarding the vote to expel Harris:
This is a sad day for our institution. But it is a necessary day. There has been real damage done to the lives and reputations of people who did not deserve it. Most importantly, the integrity of this House has been jeopardized.
Misinformation, lies, and conspiracies are not harmless, and it's not just politics. The defamatory allegations that Representative Harris' invited her guest speaker to make are patently absurd, but there are many people who believe them. They believe the lies, and they continue to threaten retribution because we dispute them. They believe those lies because a State Representative, Liz Harris, platformed and legitimized them in a televised legislative hearing – where they were immediately picked up by partisan media and social media influencers -- and then she congratulated her guest speaker as 'brave' for her presentation.
The integrity of our institution was damaged in that moment. That damage continues to accumulate, and for that there must be accountability.
I want to thank the House Ethics Committee for taking this matter seriously, and for upholding their duty to gather facts and evidence. That evidence is clear – a member of this House plotted, and then repeatedly lied to advance false and defamatory allegations in a televised legislative hearing. She lied about her role in this effort to mainstream a conspiracy that a federal judge had already labeled as 'delusional.'
Representative Harris's actions were reckless and unbecoming of any elected official -- and the repercussions of this behavior are beyond comprehension. I hope that this action will help restore integrity and honor to this Chamber.
