How a severe religious sect could doom Trump ally in bruising swing state fight

Back in the early 20th Century, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) separated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS)—the Mormon Church — to protest its 1904 manifesto renouncing polygamy. The FLDS is a marginal group that the vast majority of Mormons, from former Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to R&B star Gladys Knight, AKA The Empress of Soul, have zero connection to. But according to the Washington Post, the FLDS could endanger Rep. Andy Biggs' (R-Arizona) gubernatorial campaign in the Grand Canyon State.

Biggs is seeking the GOP nomination in Arizona's 2026 gubernatorial race. If he wins the nomination on Tuesday, he will take on Democratic incumbent Gov. Katie Hobbs in the general election. According to Washington Post reporter Hannah Knowles, however, a 2013 controversy involving the FLDS could come back to haunt the far-right Biggs.

"Momentum was growing in 2013 to crack down on a polygamist religious group accused of ... abusing girls in rural Arizona," Knowles reports in the Post. "The Justice Department was suing. The group's leader was in prison after a stint on the FBI's most-wanted list. Arizona's attorney general wanted to shut down the local police force, the Colorado City Marshal's Office, which he accused of doing the bidding of sect leaders. But a bill designed to strip authority from the marshal’s office never got a vote in the (Arizona) State Senate. "

Knowles continues, "Its Republican sponsor blamed then-Senate President Andy Biggs (R) for the bill's failure to advance in that chamber. Now, more than a decade later — as Biggs cruises toward an expected victory in Tuesday's primary for Arizona governor — the episode is likely to get renewed attention."

Democrats, Knowles reports, "expect to highlight the old fight over the marshal's office" — which, according to the Post reporter, is "one of many polarizing moments in Biggs' long legislative record that some Republicans worry could come back to haunt them in a hotly contested swing-state race."

One of those Republicans is Buster Johnson, a county supervisor in Arizona.

Johnson told the Post, "I would rather vote for somebody who has made a stand for women and children above religion."

Knowles notes that "scrutiny of" the FLDS "grew in the 2000s when officials charged its leader at the time, Warren Jeffs" with felonies and he was placed on the FBI's most-wanted list.

from Alternet.org https://ift.tt/ykt4seP
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