The Week on Politwoops: 111 deletions by Arizona governor Doug Ducey and more

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A photo of Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, that was deleted from his campaign Twitter account showing him cradling two large bags of Lifesavers in a Costco.
Deleted photo via Politwoops.

This week’s roundup of notable deleted tweets from politicians archived on Politwoops includes a shopping trip and another deluge of deletions from long ago.

We start with the campaign account for Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, which deleted a tweet with the image to the right and a message saying, “Stopped at @Costco when I landed in DC to stock the office w/ treats & snacks for constituents that visit from #OH14.” The photo of a smiling Joyce, cradling two ample bags of Life Savers, was deleted after just two minutes. There was no other mention of treats purchased for his office. His account did not respond to a request for an explanation.

The official account of newly-elected Gov. Doug Ducey, R-Ariz., deleted a whopping 111 tweets this week that ranged from 12-16 weeks old. They included many behind-the-scenes images of his campaign, including a number with Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., and even a photo of him kissing his wife at a rally with Mitt Romney. Sometimes it’s obvious why tweets are deleted, such as a catawampus image or truncated message. However, these deletions from Ducey share no common theme, aside from their date range. The deleted tweets even include a Yom Kippur greeting and this photo of a cupcake. While the size of this bulk deletion is hardly unprecedented for Politwoops, Ducey stands out for ignoring multiple requests for comment and increasing the rate of deletions from last week’s 41.

The official House account for Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., deleted a tweet about peanuts after 4 hours and later replaced it with this different message to spread more hashtag love:

A message change by the official Twitter account of Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., caught by the Sunlight Foundation's Politwoops project.

Another deletion getting attention this week was this one from the official White House account that included a screenshot of a number of trending hashtags. In covering the deletion on Politwoops, CNN wrote that it was removed “presumably for showing four blurred trending hashtags #SugeKnight, #MittRomney, #Presidentin2016 and #SugarDaddysBeLike in the attached image.”

Please let us know with a quick email if there are accounts Politwoops is missing, and have a good weekend!