Karen Fann announces retirement from Arizona Senate

Fann received national attention this past year by orchestrating a months-long audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results.

PRESCOTT, Ariz. — Editor’s note: The above video is from a Sept. 24, 2021 interview.

Arizona Senate President Karen Fann plans to retire from the state Legislature after her current term expires in January 2023. 

The Republican from Prescott said Monday she’s enjoyed working in the Arizona Legislature for the last decade and wishes to spend more time in the future with her family. 

“I look forward to a successful session in 2022 advancing policies that benefit all Arizonans and then enjoying the life my husband and I have built for ourselves in retirement with our family,” Fann said.

Fann has spent the last year spearheading a Republican-led audit into Maricopa County’s 2020 election results after Democrat Joe Biden defeated Republican Donald Trump by about 10,400 votes. 

Biden’s victory in Arizona’s largest county – the first in more than 70 years by a Democratic candidate – delivered the state to the now president.

Fann hired a private contractor, Cyber Ninjas, to review the county’s election results and their audit still showed Biden as the winner. 

Fann passed along the contractor’s findings to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for a possible investigation into allegations that the county made errors in how the county handled the 2020 election. Maricopa County’s leaders have repeatedly denied wrongdoing. 

Fann was first elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2011 and served there until she was elected to a seat in the Arizona Senate in 2016.

Fann was the owner and CEO of a highway construction company specializing in the installation of guardrails and signs throughout Arizona.

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