With Trump unwilling to let go of the lie he won the election, and the GOP base passionately defending his claims, Republicans who actually hold office — and who have to operate within the rules and norms of government — face a disadvantage with many of their own voters. Most Republican candidates just have to pledge allegiance to Trump’s election lies to prove loyalty to their national leader. Brnovich is tasked with executing on them. And legally, he has to tell Trump, “No.”

“He desperately needs that Trump voter, however extreme they might be,” says Emily Ryan, a Republican lobbyist in Arizona. “And with the extreme right of the party, Brnovich can’t legally go far enough to satisfy them. But any Republican primary opponent can just say what they would do and bring a more satisfactory answer to the mob.”

Trumpian Republicans have a specific complaint about Brnovich right now: He has done nothing with a batch of “findings” prepared by the Cyber Ninjas, the now-defunct company that the Republican-controlled state Senate hired to audit the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County. The report was replete with innuendo but didn’t actually declare any charges were warranted for election fraud, let alone provide sufficient evidence to win a prosecution. In fact, the audit reaffirmed that Biden beat Trump in Arizona. Brnovich has parked the investigation in his office, and there’s no sign it’s wrapping up anytime soon.