Losing Arizona: Is Rep. Judy Burges an Insurrectionist?

This is part of a series from The Copper Courier highlighting the Arizona legislators involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection or the events leading up to it. Read the rest here.

Rep. Judy Burges is originally from Colorado. Before running for office, she worked as an account clerk for the Yavapai County government and a budget coordinator for a copper company. She was first elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2005, and later became a member of the state Senate from 2013 to 2019. She was elected to represent District 1 in 2020, which covers the far northern portions of Maricopa County and swaths of Yavapai County, in addition to portions of Gila County.

Contributions to the Insurrection

Burges signed on to a letter to Congress asking lawmakers to accept 11 “alternate” electoral votes for Trump or to have all of the state’s electoral votes “nullified completely until a full forensic audit can be conducted.”

She attended the November daylong hearing at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Phoenix as Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis continuously made unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in Arizona’s election.

Burges has signed onto a number of bills that could make voting more challenging for Arizonans, including one that would make it a felony to affirmatively send an absentee ballot to anyone not on the permanent early voter list. Voting advocates argue this will make it harder for individuals in prison and those seriously ill to cast their votes. 

How You May Have Heard of Them

Burges was one of the 30 Arizona Republican lawmakers that signed onto a 2013 bill that required presidential candidates to prove they were born in the US, capitalizing on the false “birther” claim seeking to raise doubt about former President Barack Obama’s citizenship. The measure ultimately failed to pass.

She traveled to Nevada in 2014 to show support for cattle rancher Cliven Bundy, who was resisting a federal cattle roundup after he refused to pay grazing fees on federally owned land in Nevada for decades. Burges said at the time that she stood with the family. 

In 2017, Burges faced public criticism after she called an elderly Scottsdale resident questioning a proposed bill a “paid troll.”

She is up for re-election in 2022.

Burges isn’t alone. See the others who played a role in the insurrection.