A Republican in Arizona’s largest county threatened to “lynch” the county’s top election official at a public event three months ago, according to a recently unearthed video clip circulating on social media.
The election official, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, posted a video of the comment to . She then contrasts him with Richer, who is Jewish.
“If Stephen Richer walked into this room, I would lynch him,” Busch says in the video. “I cannot unite with people who do not believe in the principles we believe in and the American cause that founded this country.”
In a statement to POLITICO Tuesday, Busch said the comment “was a joke.”
“Everyone knows I don’t like Richer,” Busch wrote. “The statement was a joke and made in jest. I do not and would never condone violence against anyone. It was hyperbole.”
The comment was made at a March 20 campaign event in Mesa, Arizona, for Republicans Jerone Davison, who is running for a seat in the U.S. House, and was first streamed live on conservative social media platform Rumble. Davison defended Busch on X Monday as a “woman of faith” and said she did not express “any form of racial hatred.”
“No one ever knew or cared whether you were Jewish or not,” Davison wrote to Richer.
Richer was made aware of the video with Busch’s comment over the weekend. He told POLITICO that he has not received any contact or apology from her since the video surfaced online.
“I don’t think the word lynching should be part of your vocabulary,” Richer said in an interview Tuesday, emphasizing that Busch’s sentiment should not be supported by the Republican Party.
Busch’s comments drew condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix, which noted that Richer is Jewish and condemned “extremists” on X for amplifying “her hatred of Jews.”
Richer’s opponent, who labeled Busch as a “good Christian” during the event, Don Hiatt, did not respond to a request for comment.
Busch’s comments come amid increasing rhetoric against election officials in Arizona, who were “in the crosshairs” of persistent threats, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said earlier this year. Busch is an activist with We the People AZ Alliance, a conservative group that has falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and has been cited in the past by Senate candidate Kari Lake. Richer has publicly worked to combat conspiracy theories about Arizona elections, including through an alliance with the state’s Democratic secretary of state.
Richer noted that Busch’s rhetoric was especially sensitive in Maricopa County, after an Iowa man was jailed last year after threatening to lynch the Republican county supervisor for failing to investigate false allegations of voter fraud.
Busch’s comments, Richer said, underscore how public officials need to be aware of how what they see as a “joke” or “hyperbole” can spread online.
“Their words have reach and impact,” he added.
