David Stringer Never Really Left Arizona Politics, And Voters Deserve A Reminder

Former Prescott lawmaker David Stringer resigned from the Arizona House in 2019, and many voters assumed that was the end of the story. It was not. He kept his law license for several years, built a local media platform, hosted candidates and forums, and is still drawing respectable guests from around the state. That is a problem Republicans should stop pretending not to see.

The core facts are not in dispute. In 1983, Stringer was arrested in Baltimore on suspicion of paying two boys under the age of 15 for sex. Contemporary and later reporting based on police records and documents released by the Arizona House Ethics Committee describe repeated sexual contact with the minors. Stringer ultimately took a plea deal that allowed the case to be expunged if he successfully completed probation, and he has long insisted the allegations were false.

Decades later, he won a seat in the Arizona Legislature. His downfall came after a series of public racist comments about immigration and race drew national attention and prompted scrutiny of his past. When House investigators tried to obtain a key document related to the old Baltimore case, Stringer refused to cooperate and resigned in March 2019 rather than face an ethics trial.

That resignation did not push him out of public life. In 2022, he turned up as a campaign worker for Republican superintendent candidate Tom Horne, who initially defended having Stringer on the team despite the child sex case and racist speeches, then quietly backed away after public criticism.

By 2025, Stringer was again at the center of controversy when more than ten small town Arizona mayors were scheduled to appear at a “Mayor’s Forum for the People” hosted at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott. The event was organized by Prescott eNews and Yavapai Speaks, both owned by Stringer. Reporting by the Arizona Mirror and Phoenix New Times highlighted his history of racist rhetoric, his ties to white nationalist Jared Taylor, and the fact that his site has published multiple pieces by Taylor and other extremists.

Some mayors claimed they did not know the full story about Stringer or his far right connections. Others effectively shrugged, arguing that the forum was about technical topics such as short term rentals and housing and that the host’s record would not affect their participation. That kind of compartmentalization might be convenient, but it is not credible.

Stringer is not just a private citizen with controversial opinions. He is a disgraced former lawmaker whose record includes child sex charges, a plea deal, racist statements, and a refusal to cooperate fully with an ethics investigation. He has aligned himself with white nationalists and conspiracy promoters and uses a local media outlet to amplify that ecosystem.

From a conservative standpoint, that should be disqualifying for anyone who wants to be taken seriously in civic life. Republicans spend a lot of time talking about law and order, protecting children, and restoring trust in institutions. Those words lose force when elected officials, candidates, or mayors treat someone like Stringer as a respectable partner because the event topic seems technical or harmless.

The political risk is obvious. Every time a Republican figure appears on a Stringer hosted program or walks onto a stage under his banner, it gives opponents an easy story: the party is comfortable working alongside a man whose past would end the career of almost anyone outside politics. That story writes itself, and it will not come from conservative outlets.

The ethical risk runs deeper. Victims and their families watch how society handles men with records like Stringer’s. So do voters who already suspect that insiders protect their own. When local leaders ignore this history, they send a quiet message that proximity to power and media can outweigh what was done to vulnerable kids decades ago.

This episode should not be complicated. Arizona Republicans can debate policy with intensity and still draw a clear line about who gets to host forums, run campaigns, or front supposedly respectable news sites. Stringer made his choices. Now party leaders, elected officials, and local mayors need to make theirs. The fact that these allegations and documents are forty years old does not erase them. Voters deserve to remember exactly who is still being welcomed back into the room.