Stephen Richer

Stephen Richer is an American politician and lawyer. He was the 30th Recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona from 2021 to 2025, elected in November 2020.^[1] Richer defeated the Democratic incumbent Adrian Fontes by 4,599 votes.^[2][3] Stephen Richer graduated with a bachelor's degree from Tulane University and obtained a juris doctor degree from the University of Chicago.

Stephen Richer
Recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona
In office January 1, 2021 – January 1, 2025
Preceded by	Adrian Fontes
Succeeded by	Justin Heap
Personal details
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	University of Chicago (JD) Tulane University

Career

In 2019, Richer conducted a partisan audit and drafted a 229-page report that aired unfounded election conspiracies related to the 2018 election.^[4] Richer's audit alleged Fontes engaged in partisanship and questionable election related practices conspiring with Democratic candidates to gain partisan advantage while presenting an affidavit of a voter who claimed that when he arrived at the polling location he was given a ballot that was pre-filled out for Democratic candidates Sinema and Stanton as anecdotal evidence, which Richer then insinuated was evidence of a more widespread voter fraud conspiracy by Fontes to rig the 2018 election.^[5]

After taking office, Richer faced scrutiny from his constituent base, who elected him to office based on promises that if elected, he would solve the election-related issues he aired in his audit of the 2018 election. Republican Kari Lake criticized Stephen Richer after losing the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race by over 16,000 votes.^[6][7]

Dissatisfaction with Richer continued to grow^{[with whom?]}, and he was publicly disparaged for disagreeing that the 2020 election was stolen by Democrats in favor of Biden instead of Trump. Richer discussed this in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on October 7, 2024.^[8]