Jay Feely hasn’t shied away from President Donald Trump and his MAGA base. A far-right conservative, Feely is facing Democrat Amish Shah for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, running on a Trump platform that includes support for ICE, opposition to transgender athletes in youth sports, and backing for Israel.
But a deeper dive shows Feely isn’t just backed by Trump. He also has ties to another familiar name in Arizona politics – Kari Lake, a former broadcast journalist and political candidate Arizonans rejected in 2022 and 2024.
Lake, known for her boisterous political style and allegiance to Trump, echoed Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud about the 2020 election. Her campaign style — embracing far-right policies and Trump’s political messaging — ended up costing her both cycles.
In 2022, Lake ran for governor, and lost to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. Lake never conceded and later filed lawsuits in an attempt to overturn the results. In 2024, Lake ran again, this time for Senate, before losing to US Sen. Ruben Gallego, a race she later said was over without ever fully acknowledging the loss.
Arizona’s 1st Congressional District—the most sought after district—is nearly split, at just +1 Republican leaning according to the Cook Political Report, with a notable block of independent voters who could flip the longtime red district blue. It represents Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Cave Creek and parts of Phoenix, and it’s unclear if Arizona voters will send a candidate aligned with Lake to Congress.
It wouldn’t be the first time they rejected Lake’s politics—in 2022, CD1 voters sent Hobbs to the governorship, instead, and in 2024, the district sent Trump to the presidency and Gallego to the Senate.
Who is Lake?
A former broadcast journalist turned politician, Lake earned the ire of many Arizonans for her political campaign style, embracing Trump conservatism and the far-right, and voicing opposition to more moderate Republicans, including the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who died in 2018.
Lake has not shied away from the far-right during her campaign runs. In August 2021, Lake posed alongside far-right personalities Ethan Schmidt-Crockett, the founder of the AntiMaskersClub, who burned an LGBTQ+ flag and harassed a Mesa store that makes wigs for cancer patients because it required customers to wear masks. Lake also posed with Greyson Arnold, a Nazi sympathizer with a history of racist, antisemitic, and pro-Nazi statements.
In October 2021, Lake had an event with a right-wing activist, Mary Ann Mendoza, who was dropped from the Republican National Convention speaker lineup after promoting an antisemitic, QAnon-laced conspiracy theory tweet thread that alleged Jews were plotting to take over the world. That same year, Lake posed for a photo with Ron Watkins, a MAGA conspiracy theorist who helped bolster far-right QAnon conspiracy theories across social media platforms.
A few days before election day, Lake enraged Arizona Republicans with her comments disparaging McCain and his base.
“We don’t have any McCain Republicans in here, do we?” Lake asked from a campaign stage. “Alright, get the hell out,” she said, before adding, “Boy, Arizona has delivered some losers, haven’t they?”
Megan McCain, the daughter of the late senator, later mocked Lake’s loss to Gallego in a post on X.
Lake’s long history of extremism didn’t turn Feely away, however.
In August 2022, Feely said he spent time with Lake and was “impressed” by her responses. A week later, Feely clarified that he and Lake had dinner, calling her “very transparent and honest,” in a post on X. “I left impressed,” he wrote. A month later, in October, Feely called Lake “rational, measured, well spoken,” in a post on X.
Despite her tumultuous 2022 campaign, Feely stood in support of Lake two years later, endorsing her in a 2024 Instagram post that Lake shared.
“I support Kari Lake because, as a husband, father, and now grandfather, I want to protect my family first and second protect the state we chose to make home,” Feely said in the Instagram post. “I care about the future of Arizona and our beloved country. This election is about the kind of future we want to ensure for our families.”
In October 2024, on KTAR’s radio show, Feely questioned how voters could back Trump but not Lake.
“I really don’t understand that. I don’t understand how somebody could vote for Trump and
not vote for Kari Lake,” Feely said on the radio show.
But their ties go deeper than rhetoric. In October 2024, Feely, under his legal name “Thomas Feely,” made a $500 donation to Lake’s victory fund, according to campaign finance data gathered by the FEC.
Despite Feely’s support, Lake lost to Gallego, where she underperformed and ran eight points behind Trump and six points behind GOP House candidates. Pundits attributed her loss to “arrogance,” and columnist Phil Boas wrote in the Arizona Republic that Lake is “an unreformed fanatic.”
After her loss, Feely tweeted in support of Lake after Trump tapped her to lead Voice of America.
While Lake and Feely have run different kinds of campaigns, they’ve drawn from the same donor pool. Some of the same people who gave Lake’s 2024 campaign more than $340,000 have also given Feely’s campaign more than $40,000 — including John Childs, a billionaire financier charged in a 2019 Florida prostitution sting. Charges against Childs were dropped September 2020, and his court records were expunged in February 2021.
Feely did not respond to a request for comment by publication.
Other notable ties
While Feely doesn’t run a campaign as outwardly aggressive as Lake, his ties to far-right politics go beyond just Lake. The ex-NFL kicker has close ties with US Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Gilbert), who won the Republican nomination for governor in July and will face Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November. Biggs has voted with Trump 98% of the time in his second term, according to the Center for American Progress, and has backed Trump’s agenda, including mass deportations and massive cuts to social services.
In an April appearance on KFYI’s “The Afternoon Addiction,” Feely said he called Biggs before deciding to run for Biggs’ empty seat in Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, earning Biggs’ support for the seat.
“Okay, well then I’m going to start really thinking about running for your seat then.” Feely said to Biggs. “And he was encouraging to me and said he thought I’d do a good job doing that.”
But after Trump endorsed Feely’s opponent, Sheriff Mark Lamb, and encouraged Feely to run in CD1 instead, Feely dropped the 5th District bid and entered the race for the 1st.
Biggs has also embraced the far-right, running on a far-right platform of pro-ICE and anti-abortion measures.
“No one has the “right” to murder an innocent unborn baby,” Biggs wrote in a 2024 post on X. “Abortion isn’t healthcare.”
A few months later, Biggs co-sponsored the “Life at Conception Act,” a national abortion ban with no exceptions. The legislation never made it to the House floor.
Recently, Biggs has been under fire for what advocates call his record of “protecting predators,” pointing to his his 2013 effort to kill legislation holding the Colorado City Marshal’s Office accountable for accusations it protected a religious cult accused of sexually abusing girls, along with his votes against sex offender reregistration and tougher spousal rape penalties.
Aside from Arizona figures, Feely received the backing of other far-right figures, including US Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a founding member of the far-right “Freedom Caucus” who tried to ban same-sex marriage in 2015. Between 2025 and 2026, campaign committees associated with Jordan have donated $14,000 to elect Feely.
“President Trump needs more fighters like Jim Jordan for Congress in Washington D.C. to champion America First policies,” Feely wrote on a 2025 Facebook post. “I will be that fighter in Congress, and will work fearlessly to defend our values and advance the Trump agenda!”
Will it land with CD1 voters?
Arizona’s 1st Congressional District isn’t deep red — it’s only slightly Republican. After 2022 redistricting, the district has been in play for both Democrats and Republicans. In 2022, US Rep. David Schweikert (R-Scottsdale) won by 2.3%, and he won again by 3.8% in 2024.
The seat has been in play since 2022, but Democrats gained an advantage after Schweikert announced he wouldn’t seek reelection and put his name in the hat for governor, a race he later lost to Biggs in the July 21 primary.
Incumbents often have an advantage over challengers, due to name recognition and fundraising. With Schweikert out, the seat is wide open in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District.
As a growing number of Arizona voters voice frustration with the Trump administration’s policies — including the Iran war, tariffs, and high costs — it’s unclear if CD1 voters will elect a MAGA candidate with the same vision.
In an interview with the Arizona Republic earlier this year, Feely declined to say whether Trump lost the 2020 election and defended Trump’s tariffs along with his handling of the war in Iran. On Aug. 26, however, Feely backtracked and admitted Trump lost the 2020 election.
“I love his policies and what he’s trying to implement,” Feely said to the Arizona Republic.
Feely’s ties with the Trump brand, including associations with Lake and Jordan, could cost him the November Election against Amish Shah, a former state lawmaker and ER doctor, in a district that has rejected extremist politics before.
