Candidate cards: Legislative District 4

Dealing in a new deck … Green Party need not apply … And the most expensive free water.

Ballots will start landing in your mailboxes in just five short weeks, and other than the big races, you probably have no idea who will be on those ballots.

Don’t worry. We’re here to help. 

This election season, we’re making trading cards for the down-ballot races that matter across Arizona, starting with the hot legislative races. Instead of batting averages and uniform numbers,¹ our candidate trading cards give you a basic rundown of candidates’ experience and biographies. 

First Up, Legislative District 4, which covers parts of Phoenix, Paradise Valley and Scottsdale.

Voters here are among the lucky few whose ballots will truly matter in their local legislative races. 

Unlike most of Arizona’s gerrymandered and highly partisan districts, LD4 is incredibly competitive, and voters here have elected both Democrats and Republicans to represent them at the Capitol. It’s a wealthy, Republican-leaning district that rejects extremism and social warriors in favor of those who pledge to focus on schools, the economy and other centrist staples.

Currently, the district’s Senate seat is held by a Democrat. A Republican and a Democrat occupy its two House seats.

This November, both sides are hoping to sweep the purple district, turning it either fully red or fully blue. 

In the Senate race, Democratic Sen. Christine Marsh is running for reelection and faces Republican challenger Carine Werner, a member of Scottsdale Unified School District’s Governing Board.

But Marsh has a strong campaign track record, ousting former Sen. Nancy Barto in the last election and offing former Republican Rep. Kate Brophy McGee before that. 

In the race for the district’s two House seats, Republican Rep. Matt Gress is also seeking reelection, but his Democratic seatmate Laura Terech resigned this year. 

That left the door open to two Democrats fighting for both House seats: Kelli Butler, a former state lawmaker, and Karen Gresham, a local school board member. 

Unfortunately for Gress, he’s not able to use the “single-shot” strategy that Democrats have employed to boost his odds of keeping the seat. 

Republicans are also playing to win, and have two nominees for the two House seats, including Republican Pamela Carter, who ran a failed 2022 bid for Scottsdale City Council.

You can see the candidates in action on Friday, Sept. 27, when Hank will moderate the Clean Elections debate for LD4. 

See full-size images of all the cards here.

Just the candidates who might win: The Arizona Citizens Clean Election Commission is barring Green Party candidate Eduardo Quintana from its U.S. Senate debate after adopting new rules this year that debaters need to have received at least 1% of the vote in the primary, KJZZ’s Wayne Schutsky reports. Quintana was a write-in candidate who beat out two Green Party sham candidates who were actually on the ballot in the primary. Kari Lake wants him at the debate, likely figuring he’ll pull support from Ruben Gallego.

Watch quietly: Conservative activists told Arizona election officials that they plan to once again monitor Arizona’s ballot drop boxes to catch alleged election cheaters, the Republic’s Mary Jo Pitzl reports. Election officials worry that the surveillance will amount to voter intimidation, as a court found another conservative group was doing when it showed up armed to monitor the boxes in 2022.

"I want to be extremely clear that I will not stand for any voter intimidation, and that includes using 'open-source' information to identify individuals using a drop box to vote," Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement.

Adios Bobby, welcome Suresh: The Arizona Board of Regents approved Suresh Garimella’s contract Thursday as the University of Arizona’s new president. The gig comes with an $810,000 base salary, presidential housing, a $10,000 annual car allowance and a lucrative pension plan, the Arizona Daily Star’s Ellie Wolfe reports. Garimella is stepping in after President Robert Robbins said he’d resign amid a $177 million deficit. 

Endorse at your own peril: Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, who recently appeared alongside Donald Trump, is in trouble with local GOP activists for endorsing independent Jacob Kartchner for the county board of supervisors, the Herald-Review’s Terri Jo Neff writes. Kartchner is a retired deputy running against former Republican lawmaker Frank Antenori for the seat. 

Auditor with no records: After an Arizona Auditor General’s report found Santa Cruz County’s former treasurer embezzled $39.4 million, Rep. Matt Gress said he plans to run a bill that would give the auditor general’s office independent access to financial institution’s records, per the Republic’s Sarah Lapidus. The office, which is controlled by lawmakers, not the governor, couldn’t directly get the treasurer’s finance records from a financial institution and instead got investment statements she allegedly fabricated to hide the theft. 

Haze the new guy: The mayor-elect of Payson is threatening to sic the Justice Department, state Sen. Wendy Rogers and the Securities Exchange Commission on the town after the council approved a bond package that he doesn’t like, the Payson Roundup’s Peter Aleshire reports. Not-yet-mayor Steve Otto argues the decision should be up to the next council. 

“(T)hese items are not threats as I’m sure you’ve seen in the last several years that I do exactly what I say I’m going to do,” he said of his threats to the council.

Giving up on a Dem Senate?: After a court ordered Gov. Katie Hobbs to submit her agency directors to the state Senate for confirmation once again this year, three of her “executive deputy directors”² are out since the Senate won’t confirm them, Capitol Media Services’ Bob Christie writes. Department of Child Safety leader David Lujan, Department of Veteran Services leader Dana Allmond and Department of Environmental Quality leader Karen Peters are all getting demoted to deputy directors after Republicans warned Hobbs that the caucus won’t confirm them next year.³

The demoted agency directors will be fine. Your favorite local newsletter writers, however, really need this job. Help us keep it by clicking the button today!

No animus, they swear: Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma want the U.S. Supreme Court to keep them from being questioned and revealing emails related to passing a 2022 law that prohibits transgender girls from competing on girls' school sports teams, the Republic’s Madeleine Parrish writes. The law is temporarily halted as litigation plays out, and a U.S. District court judge already ruled the legislative leaders have to submit to questions and reveal emails that could prove whether the law was passed with "constitutionally permissible purpose.” The duo’s claiming legislative privilege. 

Bob Thorpe sighting: Hank moderated a Clean Elections debate between the candidates for Coconino County recorder last week. Longtime Recorder Patty Hansen is retiring and Democrat Aubrey Sonderegger and Republican former lawmaker Bob Thorpe both want the job. The Daily Sun’s Cody Bashore has the write-up.

We can’t resist a good HOA fight story. 

In today’s edition of “Stupid Stuff that Makes Your HOA Mad,” a Goodyear HOA is fining a local man for giving out free, cold water. 

David Martin’s generosity caught the attention of the local HOA, which is fining him $100 per month. Even though people have offered to pay the fine for him, he’s not taking it. Nor does he plan to stop giving out water.

“(The fines) won’t be paid,” he told 12News’ Troy Lynch, adding that the local HOA nuts should “come get a bottle of water and chill.” 

1. Or magical powers, if you’re into that kinda thing.

2. That’s what Hobbs has been calling her de-facto, unconfirmed agency directors.

3. Though that assumes Republicans are in control of the Senate.