Alexander Kolodin

Kolodin graduated from Georgetown University, prior to becoming an English and civics teacher. He then attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a Reagan Fellow at the Goldwater Institute, and also owned his own law practice.[1] He is Jewish.[2]

Kolodin came to prominence when he filed lawsuits to overturn the 2020 election results in Arizona alongside Sidney Powell. The court ruled the evidence was only impressive in its volume.[3] Kolodin was also part of the alternate elector plan, arguing in his August 2022 court filing to block the January 6th committee from accessing the phone records of the Republican Party chair, that "Trump electors simply created a backup plan in case legal challenges to Arizona’s outcome were successful."[4]

In April 2023, Kolodin defended lawmaker Liz Harris, who was expelled by the legislature for lying to the ethics committee, as part of a probe investigating Harris inviting a conspiracy theorist to present harmful and damaging information impugning the reputation of fellow legislative members and the LDS church.[5] Kolodin later stated Harris made an error in judgment hosting the hearing which aired several conspiracy theories, but did not address fellow lawmakers' allegations that while before the Ethics Committee, Harris lied about her involvement during the public committee hearing.[6]

In June 2023, Kolodin supported a bill to allow hand counting of votes, thus discouraging the use of voting machines.[7] The same month, Kolodin unsuccessfully sued to end early voting in Arizona.[8] Kolodin represented the group Clean Elections USA after they were involved in a lawsuit for violations of the Voting Rights Act.[9]

Kolodin also represented the CyberNinjas after it was commissioned by the Arizona Senate to conduct an audit.[10] In 2022, when the House Select Committee to Investigate January 6 subpoenaed the phone records of Republican Party Chair Kelly Ward, Kolodin represented Ward in the appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court to block access to her records.[11]

In 2023, Kolodin praised a ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court, while criticizing Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who expressed public disappointment he would not be able to keep former President Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot in Arizona in 2024.[12]

In 2023, Kolodin introduced multiple bills aimed at addressing the water crises both throughout Arizona and particularly in the Rio Verde foothills.[13][14] These efforts ranged from attempts to guarantee water to the citizens of the Foothills and barring Maricopa County from issuing new building permits to the community while long-term solutions are worked out, amongst others.[15][16] On April 10, 2023, Kolodin's bill to secure water for Rio Verde passed the House with a bipartisan supermajority.[17][18]

On September 4, 2023, Kolodin and Kari Lake supported findings presented in the House Big Tech Committee meeting that Google played a substantial role in election influence.[19] In the hearing a psychology researcher explained that Google played a role in shaping the 2016 election to favor Hilary Clinton and in 2022 cost Kari Lake her election. In 2016 Clinton hired Google CEO Eric Schmidt as her tech advisor.[19][20]

• 2022: Kolodin and Joseph Chaplik won a crowded primary, including defeating former State Representative Darin Mitchell. They went on to run unopposed in the general election.[21][22]

• Biography at Ballotpedia