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
The Breakdown – A Heartbeat from the 9th Floor: Secretary of State
In this week’s segment of The Breakdown, we arrive at yet another open seat, and the one that is next-in-line to the Governor’s seat, Secretary of State. And it’s because of the 9th floor that this seat is open, as former Secretary of State Katie Hobbs made the slightly surprising and gutsy (or silly, depending on how it turns out) … Read More
The 2021 Campaign Finance Reports are In: What Do We Know about Arizona Races?
By Ronald Sampson Money is not the end all be all of politics, but it is the best determinant of success of a campaign. You need money to get your message out and to demonstrate your level of support. The first Arizona campaign finance reports for this election season are now in, and they cover an entire year’s worth of … Read More