Losing Arizona: Is Rep. Travis Grantham 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. Travis Grantham was born and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona. He enlisted in the US Air Force and is currently a major for the Arizona Air National Guard. Grantham lost a 2012 primary bid for the US House of Representatives. He was elected to represent District 12, which covers Gilbert and Queen Creek, in 2016.

Contributions to the Insurrection

Grantham was one of the Republicans who attended an unofficial November daylong hearing at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Phoenix where Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis continuously made unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in Arizona’s election.

He also 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.”

Grantham has backed a number of bills that could make voting harder for Arizonans, including one that would make it a felony to send an absentee ballot to anyone not on the Permanent Early Voting 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

Grantham was behind a 2019 bill that proposed paying less than the state minimum wage to workers who are under the age of 22, full-time students, and working part-time.

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Grantham made the baseless claim that mail-in ballots should not automatically be sent to voters as it makes it “easier to cheat.” An investigation by The Arizona Mirror found Grantham gets his own ballot by mail.

He is up for reelection in 2022.

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