Vice Chairman - Natural Resources,Energy and Water
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Website
AustinForArizona.com
Austin Smith (born April 20,1995) is an American politician. He was a member of the 29th district of the Arizona House of Representatives,alongside Steve Montenegro,from 2023 to 2025.[2] In April 2024 he withdrew his bid for a second term and resigned as a senior director of Turning Point Action amid allegations he had forged voter signatures on election documents.[3]
In January 2021,Smith was elected chairman of the Arizona Young Republicans Federation. He directed Turning Point Action - Charlie Kirk's 501(c)4 political wing of Turning Point USA. He was endorsed by Congressman Paul Gosar for the State House in January 2022. He has received endorsements from the Arizona Free Enterprise Club,the Arizona State Troopers Association,Home Builders Association of Central Arizona,Center for Arizona Policy Action,Make Liberty Win,Republicans for National Renewal,the National Rifle Association and support from various agricultural groups in the beef,dairy and cotton industries.
In 2023,he introduced a bill that passed the Arizona House of Representatives and the Arizona Senate to ban ranked choice voting in the State of Arizona.[8][9] The measure will appear on the statewide Arizona ballot in November 2024. He is a member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus in the Arizona House of Representatives. In 2023 he was appointed to the Arizona Water Banking Authority by Speaker of the House Ben Toma. Smith is one of two youngest Republicans in history elected to the Arizona House of Representatives.[10]
Voter signature forgery
Smith has long been an "election integrity warrior" and promoter of stolen election conspiracy theories,dismissing signature verification on Maricopa County ballots as "a joke." In April 2024 he withdrew his bid for reelection and resigned from Turning Point Action,three days after he was accused in a court filing of forging voter signatures on petitions he filed to qualify for the July Republican primary. Smith denied wrongdoing but said he could not afford the cost of litigating the matter. The allegations were referred to the Arizona attorney general's office for review,while Smith alleged Democrats had engineered the complaint.[11][12][13]
In June 2025,Arizona Attorney GeneralKris Mayes announced that Smith had been indicted on 14 counts related to fraudulent candidate signatures on June 10,2025. Smith was "charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors,including deceiving the Secretary of State’s office with petitions containing forged elector signatures and signing names other than his own to the nominating petition."[14]
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