By Alexander Lomax It’s been the dawn of a new day for Democrats in Arizona: out from under the thumb of Republican domination with several significant statewide wins, they now have a degree of power. With Governor Katie Hobbs in the 9th Floor, they’re no longer an afterthought in governance. Even though they do not control the House or Senate, … Read More
Ruben Gallego is Running for the US Senate: What a Potential Three-Way Race Means
Senator Kyrsten Sinema has been quite the magnet for attention. She has relished her position as a swing Senator, one of the very few of the 100 senators that is a genuine question mark on many votes. She seems to enjoy the spotlight, with her fashion and mannerisms often getting the press’s attention. But one very clear point of attention … Read More
Both State Parties Chooses Their Leadership. What Differences Will We See?
Photo Credit: AZCentral.com This past weekend was the culmination of the post-election festivities in Arizona: the state party reorganization meetings. They serve as a referendum on the performance of the party and provide insight into where the parties might go for the next few years. We outlined the candidates for party leadership in a recent article that you can read … Read More
Chaos at County Reorganization Meetings: What Does That Portend for Next Two Years?
The political election cycle is a standard and predictable one: first there are primaries, then there are generals. Then there is either celebration or disappointment, followed by co-opting of credit or the pointing of fingers. And then…re-organization. Where the parties signal their level of satisfaction or anger with the direction of their party and choose their leadership accordingly. As is … Read More
Elections 2022: What We Learned About Arizona Politics (Candidate Edition)
As of writing on Wednesday night, there are STILL a few votes trickling in and waiting to be counted. In what would likely be the single tightest election for Arizona state races in our state’s history (and if we’re wrong, please show us where), there is almost certainly one race that is going in for a recount, and perhaps two. … Read More
Arizona Statewide Campaigns: The Final Sprint in the Money Race
We are in the final stretch for political campaigns, and the extremely important Q3 campaign finance reports were just released. These will give us our final peer into the financial capacities of campaigns before early ballots are mailed out, so we looked into the most critical statewide races to see how the candidates are doing. First, we start with the … Read More
Trump is Coming to Town, Cementing This Year’s Elections Dynamic: Team Trump versus the Democrats
Photo Credit: Ross D. Franklin, APIt was already obvious that Arizona’s statewide campaigns were turning into a pro-Trump vs Democrats referendum. That is now becoming even more blatant and clear as Trump will be holding a rally in Mesa on October 9th. Kari Lake and Blake Masters are singled out as the key benefactors of this benevolent visit by the … Read More
To Debate or Not to Debate: The Contrast in Conversation in the Arizona Governor’s and Secretary of State Race
By Ronald Sampson To debate or not to debate; that is normally not a question for close races. If you’re up by a large margin, it is more reasonable to simply shrug off the demand for one, but one would be hard pressed to find examples of Arizona candidates refusing to debate in a tight race. Yet that is what … Read More
Can Katie Hobbs Follow the Napolitano Path to the 9th Floor?
Arizona’s gubernatorial office, located on the 9th floor of the Executive Office downtown, has been constantly occupied by Republicans since the time of Janet Napolitano. This year, Katie Hobbs offers the best possibility for Dems to retake the 9th floor since Napolitano’s last term which ended in 2009. So can she follow that same template to victory? To be fair, … Read More
Does the Arizona GOP Have a Full-On Civil War on its Hands?
By Ronald Sampson Arizona isn’t a stranger to bitter GOP primaries; after all, in a right-leaning state, the winner of the primary is usually the winner of the general election. Real power is on the line, and whenever that’s the case things can get ugly and nasty. This year seems to be taking the cake however, it’s coming at an … Read More