As the 2024 presidential race kicks into gear, local Republican party organizations in many parts of the United States are consumed by rebellions, infighting and court battles that some officials and strategists said could damage the party's chances of winning back the White House.
Reuters spoke to more than 50 operatives, activists and party officials in competitive states Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, which Trump narrowly lost in 2020; North Carolina, which he won; and in the key early primary state of South Carolina. Nevada also holds an early presidential nominating contest.
ARIZONA: A BID TO CHANGE PRIMARY RULES
In Arizona, a former conservative stronghold that is now a swing state, a group of Republicans dismayed by hard-right candidates who deny the 2020 election are raising money and gathering signatures to force a referendum on an amendment to the state constitution that would open primary elections to all voters, according to Beau Lane, a Republican businessman who is involved in the effort.
Lane, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for Arizona Secretary of State last year, said his Save Democracy AZ group wants more moderate, less polarizing figures to emerge from the primary process.