Bringing the heat to Chicago

The delegate scramble … Cornel “calls the crap out of” people … And it’s true he’s on the city council.

Thousands convened in Chicago yesterday to kick off a four-day, grandiose convention to host an official vote on a motion that’s already been decided: Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee for president.

The delegates responsible for making that decision at the Democratic National Convention already convened in a virtual roll call to nominate Harris, but the week’s events are key to sustaining Democrats’ optimism after Harris took over Biden’s spot at the top of the ticket next to her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. 

As Harris herself said, we exist in the context, and this year’s convention didn’t fall out of a coconut tree.¹

DNC organizers scrambled to overhaul programming after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in late July. Before that, former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt that inspired Republican National Convention delegates like Tempe’s Joe Neglia to don fake ear bandages in a bizarre show of unity. 

We probably won’t see any ear band-aids in Chicago, the DNC’s venue, which is strategically placed near swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin. 

And while the convention is more than 1,000 miles away from Arizona — another semi-purple state key to Harris’ campaign strategy — the Grand Canyon state was represented at the DNC after Tucson Mayor Regina Romero presented the Democratic platform last night. 

And on Thursday, Arizona’s delegates are expected to give the state’s Democratic presidential nomination to Harris. 

But who are they? And how the heck did they get there? 

The Arizona Democratic Party elected 85 delegates to represent the state at the convention. Most of them were selected by precinct committee persons across the state. 

The only requirements to be a delegate are to be registered Democrat and run from the district you live in. But you also need the estimated $3,300 to $5,000 it takes to attend the DNC.

There are 47 delegates divvied up between the state’s nine congressional districts based on each district’s share of Democratic votes for president and governor in 2020 and 2022. The DNC requires an equal number of men and women in each state’s delegation. 

This year, the district-based delegates selected by precinct committee persons across the state include notable names like Pima County Attorney Laura Conover, Bisbee Mayor Ken Budge and Corporation Commissioner candidate Joshua Polacheck. Markus Ceniceros — who previously worked on the campaign of disgraced former lawmaker Leezah Sun and was cited for stealing campaign signs — is also a delegate. 

Nine pledged party leaders and elected officials (or PLEOs) were selected as delegates at the state Democratic convention. This year, they include Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Tempe Mayor Corey Woods. 

Some office holders automatically become delegates, including Gov. Katie Hobbs, the Democrats on Arizona’s congressional delegation, and Arizona’s Democratic National Committee members. 

The 16 at-large delegates, also selected at the statewide convention, include Sen. Eva Burch, Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, Sen. Priya Sundareshan and former state Rep. Daniel Hernandez. 

Fontes is attending the full week as a delegate, and Hobbs is heading out to Chicago today. 

That means Attorney General Kris Mayes is Arizona’s acting governor until Hobbs returns tomorrow night.

The Grand Canyon Institute is a non-partisan think tank that provides fact-based research and education to decision-makers and the public on policies that affect the economic, fiscal and social future of Arizona.

---

“We have been calling the crap out of you”: Lawyers tied to the Republican Party freaked out over the weekend after the Associated Press reported several of the Arizona electors for Cornel West backed out, the AP’s Dan Merica and Brian Slodysko reported Monday. The lawyers knocked on doors and bombarded the electors with texts and phone calls, but they still missed the filing deadline on Saturday. 

“It is unclear whether West qualified for the ballot in Arizona,” the AP story ends.

It’s terrible until it isn’t: Progressive groups raised red flags when the pro-crypto PAC Protect Progress spent $1.4 million to support Yassamin Ansari in the Democratic primary for the 3rd Congressional District seat. But they’re quiet now as the PAC spent $3 million on ads supporting U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego’s Senate campaign, Axios Phoenix’s Jessica Boehm reports. 

Too good to be true: Outlandish claims that your political donations will be matched 80 times over might not actually pan out, the Republic’s Laura Gersony reports. Shocking, right? But it’s a tactic Virginia-based fundraising firm TAG Strategies LLC is using for a group of candidates, including Kari Lake’s Senate campaign and Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana. Gallego made similar claims when he was running for Congress, although on a smaller scale. 

Public-ish: The Scottsdale City Council is moving toward using recycled wastewater for residences, but they aren’t exactly shouting it from the rooftops, the Scottsdale Progress’s Tom Scanlon reports. Council members are set to vote on a two-year plan at their meeting tomorrow, but they buried the hot-button issue in the meeting’s consent agenda, which usually doesn’t come up for public discussion.

Finally: In an era when you can get a subscription for anything, why not do it for pools? Two Valley guys offer a rental service for above-ground pools, the Phoenix Business Journal’s Amy Edelen reports.

Dive right into the cool waters of Arizona politics
with a subscription to the Arizona Agenda. 

Tops in the country: Business is booming in the Phoenix area, where nearly 40 million square feet of industrial space is under construction, KJZZ’s Christina Estes reports. That’s more than any other city in the country, and way ahead of Savannah in the second-place slot with 26 million square feet. 

Throwing their weight around: Two federal agents walk into a bar in Bisbee. One gets drunk and puts his hand up a bartender’s skirt. The other flashes his badge to intimidate a witness. Both get charged with felonies, but neither one goes to jail. Those are the allegations against ATF Special Agent Joseph T. Davis, who was accused of touching the bartender, and Special Agent James Christopher McFeely of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the accused badge-flasher, the Herald/Review’s Terri Jo Neff reports.

Chandler City Councilmember OD Harris is a world-class bullshitter. 

Nearly every detail of his very impressive biography is fabricated, altered or otherwise suspect, the Republic’s Sam Kmack reports in a long exposé picking apart the details of Harris’ life, as Harris presents it. 

From his military records, to his Masters degree in accounting, to his “successful” businesses and “productive” nonprofit, to his “best-selling” book — it’s all Harris’ invention. 

It’s not exactly shocking, coming from a guy who, as we previously noted, demands free food from restaurants, believes his Chandler shirt is more powerful than a badge, and thinks a seat on the city council gives him the authority to inspect local hotels. 

But Kmack’s piece is hilarious and worth a read. 

Here are just the highlights that made it into the bullet points:

1. If you don’t understand the meme reference, here’s an explainer.