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Daines Sends Campaign Team to Arizona for Ballot Count

Daines' campaign also sent a text to supporters telling them: “Dems are stealing the election"

By Associated Press

HELENA – Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana sent his campaign team to Arizona on Friday in a move his campaign said is aimed a helping ensure transparency as the Southwest state counts votes in a tight presidential election.

Daines, who was elected to a second six-year term on Tuesday, believes that any candidate has the right to challenge the count and process if they believe there are inconsistencies, spokeswoman Katie Schoettler said.

Schoettler did not say how many campaign staffers were going, but said they would be “helping observe and verifying signatures that are mismatched.”

Daines’ campaign also sent a text to supporters telling them: “Dems are stealing the election. Trump needs our support.” He asked for $5 donations to “help us fight back now.”

Daines weighed in on social media on Thursday: “We are a nation of laws, and the integrity of our elections is critical,” he wrote on Twitter. “Every LEGALLY cast ballot should be counted — with full transparency.”

The Associated Press has called the race in Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden. The AP said Thursday it is monitoring the vote count in the state as ballots continued to be tallied in a race in which Biden led Trump by less than 2 percentage points as of Friday evening.

Trump has raised unsupported claims of voter fraud as vote counts in key states such as Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia moved in favor of Biden.