Trump Endorses Kolodin After Arizona Secretary of State Primary Win

Trump backs Republican Alexander Kolodin, an Arizona House member, and pledges a rally as the state lawmaker prepares to face Democratic incumbent Adrian Fontes in November 2026.

First Published: July 26, 2026, 3:12 AM ET

WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald J. Trump endorsed Alexander Kolodin, a Republican member of the Arizona House of Representatives, after Kolodin won the party’s primary for Arizona secretary of state.

Trump congratulated Kolodin on the win and promised a rally to boost the campaign, calling the lawmaker “tough, smart, and a proven winner” in a post on truthsocial. Kolodin, first elected to the Arizona House in 2022, is the Republican nominee for the 2026 secretary of state contest according to ballotpedia.org.

“He was with me in my big Presidential Win,” Trump said in the post, tying the endorsement to his 2024 campaign. Trump added that Kolodin “will never let you down.”

The endorsement raises the stakes in a race for control of Arizona’s top elections office, a post that oversees voter rolls and certifies results in a battleground state that Trump carried in 2024.

Here is the full post on truthsocial: “Congratulations to Alexander Kolodin for his great win in Arizona’s race for Secretary of State. He is tough, smart, and a proven winner. He was with me in my big Presidential Win. We’ll do a fantastic Trump Rally to make sure he WINS. Alexander Kolodin has my complete and total Endorsement. He will never let you down! Trump” on July 25, 2026 at 11:41 PM ET.

This message is one of many released by Trump today. The post fits a wider pattern in Trump’s messaging, with 75 of his 442 posts over the last 30 days focused on elections.

Kolodin, a lawyer born in Chandler, Arizona, graduated from Georgetown University and earned his law degree at the University of Pennsylvania according to ballotpedia.org. He built a legal record centered on election disputes and filed lawsuits that sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Arizona. He also represented the state’s alternate elector slate and the Cyber Ninjas team behind the 2021 Maricopa County ballot review.

A win in November would place Kolodin opposite Democratic incumbent Adrian Fontes, whom he has faced before in court. Kolodin won an Arizona Supreme Court case against Fontes over ballot-marking instructions ahead of the 2020 election according to ballotpedia.org. The two men have clashed repeatedly over election administration, giving the general election a personal edge.

The outcome matters for average Arizona voters because the secretary of state manages voter registration, oversees election procedures, and stands next in line for the governorship. Disputes over how the office is run have shaped recent Arizona cycles, where narrow margins decided statewide races.

Candidate endorsements from Trump are not new. He has issued hundreds of endorsements across House, Senate, and statewide races since 2017, and his backing has repeatedly reshaped Republican primaries. The pattern continues with a down-ballot office that carries outsized influence over how votes are counted.

The next decision rests with Arizona voters, who will settle the secretary of state race in the general election on November 3, 2026. Kolodin and Fontes will campaign through the fall, with Trump signaling a rally to follow.

Arizona’s secretary of state office has drawn national attention before. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, held the post from 2019 to 2023 and certified the state’s 2020 results despite pressure and lawsuits, then won the governorship in 2022 by roughly 17,000 votes according to ballotpedia.org. Her successor, Fontes, took office in 2023 after defeating a Republican rival according to ballotpedia.org. The seat has served as a launching pad for higher office, and its holders have often faced the fiercest fights over the very rules that decide their own races.