It's local democracy day

Do your civic duty! … How many judges does it take? … And if you have to ask, the answer is always yes.

, and

Nov 04, 2025

It’s Election Day again. (Yaaay!)

That means we’re having an Election Day sale.

If you’re thinking, “What election?”, then it’s time to go dig through your snail mail pile and find that ballot you forgot about. There are a lot of important issues for you to weigh in on.

And because hardly anyone votes in local elections, your vote really matters.

In a presidential race, 70%-80% of voters cast a ballot. Most of today’s local elections will probably see turnout in the high teens — optimistically, maybe 25%.

Finally, today’s local elections also start the one-year countdown to next year’s election. (Booo!)

So please take advantage of our Election Day sale to make sure that when November 2026 rolls around, you’re the most informed voter on the block.

Across Arizona, voters are heading to the polls today to make decisions that hit closer to home than the fights in Washington, D.C.

A Mesa recall election will demonstrate whether Turning Point USA has the juice to oust a Mesa City Council member in a post-Charlie Kirk world. Chandler is finally settling the question of how long a mayor can serve. And Tucson is picking three of its six city council members while deciding on a long-term municipal plan.

Across Maricopa County, roughly 30 cities, school districts and fire districts have ballot questions asking voters for more money.

The off-year election will decide how much you’ll pay in property taxes, and how much your schools, fire departments and cities can afford to provide with those tax dollars. Even if you rent, the ripple effects show up in your classroom sizes, fire response times and higher monthly rent.

The ballot questions throughout Maricopa County include 21 school districts posing bonds and overrides, which are pretty much requests to raise or extend local property taxes for school funding.

The Buckeye Union High School District, for example, is asking voters for permission to take out $163 million in bonds, essentially a mortgage paid back through property taxes over decades. And the Fowler Elementary School District’s override election asks voters for permission to renew a local tax at a higher rate.

If you haven’t voted yet, you can still drop off your ballot by 7 p.m. today at one of the county’s drop box locations.

But since a lot of you overachievers already cast your ballots, here’s a breakdown of the most interesting races to watch when the numbers start coming in tonight.

Prop 409: Valleywise Health

Through Proposition 409, Maricopa County Voters will decide if they want Valleywise Health to use $898 million of their property tax dollars to build new facilities, like a behavioral health hospital, and upgrade old ones.

If you’re wondering why a hospital wants your tax dollars, Valleywise Health isn’t a corporate chain like Banner Health or Dignity Health. It’s a public entity that traces back to 1877, when Maricopa County built a “pest house” to treat people with contagious diseases like smallpox. Voters approved a Special Health Care District in 2003 that gave an elected board the authority to raise taxes, if voters approve.

Since it’s publicly funded, the hospital is expected to absorb the cost of care for people who can’t pay.

The concept for Valleywise’s master plan for its main Phoenix campus.

Still, the publicly funded entity received a lot of private dollars to push out campaign media in support of Prop 409. The campaign’s Voters Right to Know Act (VRKA) reports list more than $1 million in donations that meet the $5,000 limit for disclosure under the law.

That includes $50,000 from retired PetSmart CEO Phil Francis and former Valleywise Health Foundation board chair Juanita Francis. The foundation is a tax-exempt arm of the hospital that raises and manages donations, and it also gave the pro-Prop 409 campaign $350,000.

The campaign is up against a counter-narrative claiming Valleywise subsidizes healthcare for undocumented immigrants. Federal law requires all hospitals to treat patients in need of emergency care, and Valleywise says only a small fraction of those it serves are undocumented.

If Prop 409 fails, chief clinical officer Dr. Michael White told AZFamily that emergency department wait times will increase, and the growing demand for behavioral healthcare will go unmet.

Mesa recall

Even national outlets are framing Turning Point’s push to oust Mesa City Council member Julie Spilsbury as a test of the group’s political muscle post-Kirk.

It’s an important political observation to make: The group appears to be turning a tragedy into a campaign strategy.

Spilsbury, a registered Republican, is being punished for endorsing Kamala Harris last year. While the council is nonpartisan, the recall organizers also cite her votes to raise council member salaries, increase utility rates and permit a hotel to house homeless people as reasons to recall her. The votes on those first two topics were unanimous.

Turning Point helped pay for signature collectors to force a special election, and the VRKA reports it has bothered to file list more than $23,000 in campaign media spending against Spilsbury and for Dorean Taylor, Turning Point’s chosen replacement.

That money helped fund things like email blasts to people who attended Kirk’s memorial service, asking them to “Help Us Keep Charlies Legacy Alive,” [SIC] by voting to recall Spilsbury, Politico reports. Another text campaign told supporters: “Today is Charlie Kirk’s birthday. He would have been here in Mesa today.”

Tyler Bowyer, chief operating officer of Turning Point Action, has littered the internet with attacks on Spilsbury. One of them includes a Turning Point PAC-funded ad where Mesa high school students — set to dramatic music — question why Spilsbury let men into girls’ bathrooms, referencing her 2021 vote for a city ordinance banning sex-based discrimination.

Spilsbury is counting on that outside spending to help make her case for keeping her seat.

“This recall is not a Mesa-grown movement,” she says in a campaign video. “It’s funded by an out-of-state, dark money group that does not share our values.”

Chandler’s term limits

Two major Chandler-based politicians are pulling a “Freaky Friday,” at least partially spurred by a city charter crisis that Chandler is asking voters to solve.

Republican Rep. Jeff Weninger is running to be the next Chandler mayor in 2026, while Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke is running for Weninger’s seat at the Capitol.

Before then, Chandler’s Prop 410 will decide how long someone can consecutively serve as an elected local government official.

Hartke’s 2022 mayoral opponent filed a lawsuit against the city in May, claiming Hartke’s two terms as mayor violate the charter’s term limits clause.

Hartke is in his second term as mayor after two terms on the city council, and he had originally planned to run for council again. But the city charter appears to ban anyone from serving more than two consecutive terms total — mayor, council, or a mix.

A judge ruled Hartke’s challenger filed the lawsuit too late, but Chandler wants its voters to clear things up anyway. If approved, Prop 410 would clarify that someone can serve eight years as a council member, and then eight years as mayor without taking a break between.

East of Chandler, Apache Junction is going through a similar debacle. Its special election asks voters to extend the mayor’s term limit from two years to four years.

Current Apache Junction Mayor Chip Wilson wants voters’ support, writing in an op-ed that the two-year limit “forces a cycle of near-constant fundraising and campaigning, which distracts from representing Apache Junction’s best interests.”

Wilson is up for reelection in 2026, and if Apache Junction voters pass the measure, he’ll serve for four years.

Tolleson

Dozens of school district funding measures are up for a vote today, but we’ll be keeping a close eye on one particularly messy West Valley school district.

The Tolleson Union High School District is asking residents to approve a $125 million bond and a separate override measure. The district says the bond will fund security upgrades and maintenance across its campuses, while the override will “help maintain present levels of service” for things like extracurriculars and college readiness.

We’re guessing that’ll be a tough sell, considering the district was recently subjected to a special legislative audit over allegations of financial mismanagement.

Earlier this year, the district made a $25 million lease-back deal with the neighboring Isaac School District to solve Isaac’s budget shortfall. Republican Rep. Matt Gress was among the most vocal critics of the deal and requested two years’ worth of Tolleson’s financial records.

Superintendent Jeremy Calles responded with a $26,000 bill for the records.

A growing group of parents and educators regularly packs Tolleson’s school board meetings, demanding answers for the governing board’s decisions. Some fed-up community members recently launched a recall campaign against governing board president (and former lawmaker) Leezah Sun and vice president Steven Chapman.

The recall isn’t on today’s ballots, but the outcome of the bond and override decision could be a good temperature check.

Tolleson City Council member Adolfo Gamez wrote in his argument against the bond override that while he usually supports school spending measures, “We are now faced with a district board and superintendent whose abusive spending has reached an out-of-control level.”

Tucson City Council

Despite several statewide efforts, Tucson still holds off-year elections for its city council and mayor.

Today, voters will pick three city council members, with at least two guaranteed to be first-time members. Who knows? A Republican could even find their way onto the council for the first time in more than 15 years.

Three school districts are asking voters for more funding, including Southern Arizona’s largest district, Tucson Unified. Tucsonans will also decide Proposition 417, a massive municipal plan that weaves together strategies to increase affordable housing, climate resilience, public transit and reduce poverty. Joe read all 265 pages of the plan and turned it into this fun civic engagement quiz.

Check out today’s Tucson Agenda for a breakdown of the local elections south of the Gila River.

Snapping to attention: After two judges said the Trump administration needed to use a contingency fund to cover costs for the SNAP program, Trump officials announced they’d spend $4.65 billion to partially cover costs for November, the Associated Press reports. Meanwhile, local food banks from Kingman to Prescott to Tucson are bracing for a surge in demand from residents. Arizona Public Service announced the utility is donating $1 million to the effort. And Republican state Rep. Leo Biasiucci wants to further restrict what type of food people can buy with SNAP benefits, per Capitol scribe Howie Fischer.

Walking the line: Democratic U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego’s brand of populism has made him the darling of national media, and a case study for Democrats who want to win in swing districts or states next year, the Republic’s Ronald J. Hansen writes. Still, some Democrats aren’t sure how far to the right Gallego will go on issues like immigration and confirming President Donald Trump’s picks for Cabinet positions.

Room for improvement: Twice as many Arizona schools got a failing grade this year than the year before, the Republic’s Erick Trevino reports. The latest grades show 13 schools got an “F” on their report card from the Arizona Department of Education, up from six schools in the 2023-24 school year. Still, 76% of schools got an “A” or “B.” Meanwhile, some people are starting to question whether school grades accurately show classroom performance or student opportunity, writes Stacy Mantle for the Daily Independent. While the State Board of Education says parents should consider more factors than school grade when selecting where to send their student, education commentator Tiffany Benson says it’s not enough.

“From the data on the class of 2025, college admissions officers and future employers can reasonably conclude that if the applicant is a graduate of Arizona schools, more likely than not, they cannot proficiently read, write, perform math, or understand science in comparison to their peers,” Benson wrote in an analysis.

Sinema’s offer you can’t refuse: The Chandler City Council will vote on a highly-debated data center next week, Ken Sain writes for San Tan News. The $2.5 billion AI data center has experienced pushback from staffers, but support from major names like former U.S. Sen. Kirsten Sinema, who said it’s time to fill the area, which has been vacant for more than five years, and she’s working “hand-in-glove with the Trump administration” to get it done. Chandler made it harder to get approval for data centers in 2022. The proposed Price Road Innovation Park would be the first approved under the ordinance. Meanwhile, Lincoln Property Company purchased half of a partially-occupied data center in the city last week, per Tom Kuebel at KTAR. The company plans to build out the vacant space and install a cooling system that the Dallas-based company says could save millions of gallons of water monthly.

Our ears are always ringing: Political commentators Chris Love and Barrett Marson discussed the Agenda’s Thursday edition — in which we compared the reelection campaigns of Gov. Katie Hobbs and AG Kris Mayes — on this week’s edition of Sunday Square Off with Brahm Resnik.

“Hobbs is probably going to have a blue MAGA hat made — Make Arizona Great Again — she’s like parroting Donald Trump here,” Marson joked.

We don’t get royalties when our articles are discussed on TV.
Also, did we mention the sale?!

In other, other news

After threatening to investigate supposed criminal wrongdoing at the Town of Payson during his campaign last year, Mayor Steve Otto now says there’s no need for a forensic audit of the town’s finances (Peter Aleshire / Payson Roundup) … Attorney General Kris Mayes joined 20 other states that are suing the U.S. Department of Education over a recent change in a student loan forgiveness program (The Hill) ... And the rainstorms in Tempe last month created a literal windfall for a local sawmill, which is turning the trees that fell during the storms into usable wood and furniture (Ignacio Ventura / KJZZ).

Open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act started on Nov. 1, and Arizonans’ 2026 monthly premiums could increase anywhere from 2.5% to 55%, per the state insurance agency.

That’s a pretty wide range. One reader told us yesterday his premiums are set to go up from $7,000 to $27,000 a year.1

If you’re also enrolled through the marketplace, we’d love to hear how your rates are changing. Your experience could help us track what’s really happening behind those percentages.

Send an email to nicole@arizonaagenda.com or drop a line in the comments section. We’ll keep anything you say in the email private.