Russell Bowers recall, Arizona House of Representatives (2021)

Arizona House of Representatives recall
	Officeholders
	Russell Bowers
	Recall status
	Did not go to a vote
See also
	Recall overview; Political recall efforts, 2021; Recalls in Arizona; Arizona recall laws; State legislative recalls; Recall reports

An effort to recall Russell Bowers, a member of the Republican Party, from his elected position representing District 25 in the Arizona House of Representatives was launched on February 17, 2021. Supporters of the recall had until June 17, 2021, to collect 22,331 signatures to require a recall election.

The Patriot Party of Arizona submitted an estimated 24,500 signatures at the deadline. According to state law, a date-stamped recall application must be attached to each signature sheet when it is submitted. Since none of the 2,040 signature sheets had a recall application attached, the state secretary of state's office rejected their filing.^[1]

Recall supporters criticized Bowers over his failure as House speaker to call a special session during the Coronovirus pandemic and for his failure to protect the integrity of the 2020 election.

Bowers was elected to the state House in 2014. He was re-elected in 2020 with 35.5% of the vote.

To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.

Recall supporters

The recall effort was organized by a group called Patriot Party of Arizona. The recall petition was filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s office on February 17, 2021, by Tory Smock, Steve Daniels, and Tanya Anderson.^[2] The petition listed the following reasons for recall:

“	As elected Speaker of the House and presiding officer of the body, Representative Rusty Bowers failed to convene a Special Session to allow the representatives of the people a voice in the governing of the state of Arizona, throughout the State of Emergency. He again ignored the will of the citizens of the state of Arizona, by his failure to act to ensure the integrity of the 2020 election.^[3]	”
—Russell Bowers Recall Petition Language^[2]

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Arizona

A recall can be filed against any public officer on any grounds. The recall may not be filed until after the elected official has been in office in his or her first term for at least six months. This six-month limit does not apply to state legislators. In the case of state legislators, a recall petition may commence five days after the start of their first legislative session after their election. In the case of other elected officials, there is no six-month limit for subsequent terms in office.^[4]

A recall petition must be filed at the office in which the officer being recalled files for nomination. The petition must contain a general statement explaining the recall, and it may not exceed 200 words. This petition must be signed by the sponsors who swear an oath that all signatures collected will be valid signatures.

The number of signatures required to qualify a recall attempt for the ballot is 25 percent of the number of votes cast in the last election for that office.

If enough signatures are gathered, a recall election will be held. All qualified candidates can run against the incumbent. Whoever gets the most votes wins the office. If the incumbent wins he/she remains in office and no other recall can take place during that term unless the proponents pay the cost of the prior recall election.

Recalls related to the coronavirus

See also: Recalls related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and government responses to the pandemic

Ballotpedia covered 35 coronavirus-related recall efforts against 94 officials in 2022, accounting for 13% of recalls that year. This is a decrease from both 2020 and 2021. COVID-related recalls accounted for 37% of all recall efforts in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, there were 87 COVID-related recalls against 89 officials, and in 2021, there were 131 against 214 officials.

The chart below compares coronavirus-related recalls to recalls for all other reasons in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Election history

2020

General election

General election for Arizona House of Representatives District 25 (2 seats)

Incumbent Michelle Udall and incumbent Russell Bowers defeated Suzanne Hug in the general election for Arizona House of Representatives District 25 on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Michelle Udall (R)	38.7	69,049
✔	Russell Bowers (R)	35.5	63,412
	Suzanne Hug (D)	25.9	46,180

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 178,641
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 25 (2 seats)

Suzanne Hug advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 25 on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Suzanne Hug	100.0	17,519

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 17,519
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 25 (2 seats)

Incumbent Russell Bowers and incumbent Michelle Udall defeated Kathy Pearce in the Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 25 on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Russell Bowers	42.2	23,271
✔		Michelle Udall	30.0	16,569
	Submit photo	Kathy Pearce	27.8	15,358

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 55,198
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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