Thanks for all the feedback on issues you want to hear candidates talk about this debate season.
You all delivered more than 100 great questions for candidates, and nearly 1,000 responses to our polls last week. Not bad. And more readers are responding every day.
That was exactly the kind of feedback we need as we redesign and moderate the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission’s debates for the upcoming legislative races.
And when we say “upcoming,” we really mean, like, very soon. The first debate is this week.
Republican candidates for the state Senate in Legislative District 17, which wraps around the northern part of the Tucson area, will debate this Thursday at 6 p.m. You can watch it live here.
LD17 is a great example of why these races matter.
The incumbent Republican senator is retiring, and there’s a contested Republican primary to try to replace him.
But it’s also one of Arizona’s most competitive districts in November.
The candidate Republicans nominate in the primary will have a huge impact on whether the GOP can hold that seat in November. And flipping that seat is critical to Democrats’ plans to take control of the state Legislature next year.
And that’s just the first debate of about 20 contested primaries for the Arizona Legislature.
We understand that in this topsy-turvy world, it might feel like you can’t do anything about politics.
But that’s not true.
In the primary election, fewer of your neighbors vote, so your ballot carries extra weight. When you vote, you get to help shape your party’s policies and personalities before November.
And in November, there are more than enough competitive seats to swing Arizona from Republican control to Democratic control, or bring the GOP into an even stronger position at the Capitol.
Not to mention, every statewide office, your members of Congress, initiatives, judges, school boards, bonds and all sorts of other stuff on your ballot.
These debates aren’t just for political nerds and candidates. They’re where voters like you can make your voices heard.
So please submit a question on Clean Elections’ website.
Speaking of making your voice heard… Here’s a sample of what you told us matters to you when picking a candidate.
Education
When it comes to education, you clearly want to hear from candidates about school vouchers more than any other topic. Teacher pay came in second place.
Interestingly, nobody chose “funding for arts curriculum.” And which bathrooms transgender students use is not even remotely a high priority for Agenda readers.
The environment
Likewise with the environment, there was a clear front-runner: Avoiding water shortages.
But there also was a lot of interest in regulating groundwater (which is pretty similar to avoiding water shortages) and regulating data centers.
Social services
Affordable housing was the top choice among readers, followed by access to food assistance and healthcare for low-income Arizonans.
Economy and infrastructure
What is this, the 2024 presidential election? Inflation was the top concern about the economy and infrastructure.
But, somewhat surprisingly, solar energy was the second most popular response, followed by taxes.
This is all great stuff and we’re using it as we formulate our questions for the debates.
Taking the next step
For a long time, these debates have been straightforward hour-plus videos of candidates talking to a moderator.
That format works fine. Interested voters can sit down and watch candidates answer questions.
But we’re trying to shake things up a bit to better engage voters and candidates.
The problem with the old format is that technical policy answers aren’t all that useful when you’re trying to pick a candidate. Most voters don’t have the context to compare two tax plans or water policy proposals on the fly.
What voters can evaluate — and what actually predicts how someone governs — is how a candidate thinks.
So we redesigned the format to better surface that.
Some of it is still detailed policy talk. But other segments are designed to show you the human running for office — how they think on their feet, how they handle uncomfortable questions about their own record, how they react when the talking points run out.
The goal isn't to reinvent the debate. It's to give you the kind of information you actually use when you decide who to vote for.
We also tried to make these debates worth showing up to for the candidates. They'll get social media clips out of it, access to Clean Elections' statewide polling data, and a guarantee that they’ll all be treated the same, regardless of ideology or party affiliation.
The hope is that more of them participate instead of dodging.
And we’re treating the debates as a resource for the whole state.
Veteran politics and government reporter Gary Grado is writing a preview and recap articles of every debate that any publication is welcome to republish — for free.
That frees up reporters across the state to do the deeper work of investigating candidates and digging into races instead of cranking out basic recaps.
So please tune in this election cycle so you can get to know the candidates and vote informed.
Final stages: Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is gearing up to interview Gov. Katie Hobbs as part of a two-year-long investigation of a state contractor with ties to Hobbs that got a pay raise from state agencies, the Republic’s Stacey Barchenger reports. Hobbs’ office says there is no evidence linking her to the terms of the contract with Sunshine Residential Homes, a company that made big contributions to the Arizona Democratic Party and Hobbs’ inaugural fund.
Announcing the announcement: Arizona House Speaker Steve Montenegro and Senate President Warren Petersen announced they’re planning to release their budget proposal on Tuesday morning. They sent out a press release and filmed a video of themselves talking for nearly two minutes without giving any concrete details about their proposal. But they do say it “does not rely on gimmicks,” delivers “one of the largest tax cuts in state history,” and has enough votes to pass both the House and Senate (which isn’t exactly hard because the GOP controls both chambers). It’s a lot of puffery for a starting point in negotiations that Hobbs is sure to veto. But with that opening salvo, Hobbs says she’s ready to lift the moratorium she put on signing bills into law, per Capitol scribe Howie Fischer. Still, Hobbs says just because she is no longer going to veto every bill that comes across her desk, that doesn’t mean she’s going to stop vetoing bills altogether.
“They're making it real easy to do that,” Hobbs said, by sending her bills they know she won't sign.
Nobody reads the Constitution (continued): The Democratic-controlled Navajo County Board of Supervisors picked the most right-wing of the three Republican candidates to be the next county recorder, Votebeat’s Sasha Hupka reports. The supervisors chose Rep. David Marshall, a member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus and an “election-integrity” evangelist, to be one of the most important elections officials in the county. However, as we’ve repeatedly pointed out, almost every lawyer agrees the Arizona Constitution bars him from taking the job “during the term for which he shall have been elected (as a lawmaker),” meaning he can’t actually hold the office until 2027.
Watch out for the chemtrails: The vacancy Marshall left at the Legislature could be filled by Sylvia Allen, a Republican who claimed the Earth was 6,000 years old and represented the Navajo County area until Sen. Wendy Rogers beat her in the 2020 GOP primary, KJZZ’s Wayne Schutsky reports. The county board of supervisors will pick from three finalists — including Allen — who have been selected by the local Republican Party.
Power drain: The cost of electricity generated by the Hoover Dam could rise so much in the next year that many current users won’t be able to afford it, the Arizona Daily Star’s Tony Davis reports. The dam provides electricity to major cities in the Southwest, including Phoenix (and the Central Arizona Project canals), but the recently announced federal plan to lower reservoir levels would mean less water going through the dam.
Pumping the brakes: Federal officials put a stop work order on the warehouse in Surprise that ICE wants to turn into an immigration detention center, per Project Salt Box, a nonprofit that tracks the $38 billion planned network of detention centers. The stop work order was posted on a government procurement website a few days before Mayes announced she was suing to stop the detention center from opening, on the grounds that federal officials didn’t follow required environmental reviews, the warehouse wouldn’t be appropriate to house immigrants and it could overwhelm the city’s wastewater system, as the New Times’ Morgan Fischer reported last week.
Always an Arizona angle: One of the big players in the MAHA movement has ties to the Grand Canyon State, the Republic’s Stephanie Innes reports. Calley Means moved to Phoenix five years ago and even though he now works at the White House, his wife still runs ShakeUp Superfoods, a smoothie company based in Arizona. And his online payment platform Truemed allows people to use their medical savings accounts to buy wellness products, a program that President Donald Trump recently gave a boost to — although Means maintains that’s “not a story.” Means said he divested from the company last November.
It’s looking like there’s a little bit of trouble in Arizona’s Republican paradise.
Conservative radio talk show host Garret Lewis took a shot at Speaker of the House Steve Montenegro and Senate President Warren Petersen, accusing the two of being weak on Gov. Katie Hobbs after a judge ruled her administration lacked the authority for a water rule it implemented.
But the Arizona Senate Republicans’ spokesperson fired back on Twitter, noting that the duo filed an amicus brief last year that led to the ruling and saying that Lewis “rage-posted” without knowing his shit.
“They did the work. They got the win. You were too lazy to do basic research before hitting send. Embarrassing,” the Republicans tweeted.
It always tickles us to see the right turning its bellicose, chimp-like energy in on itself.
Keep it up, folks!