Primary Prepping: LD14 House Republicans
ChatGPT will be running this country soon … Don’t tip, pay a fair wage … And that goofball mugshot smile.
After four terms serving the Gilbert and south Chandler area, Republican Rep. Travis Grantham is not seeking reelection this year, leaving a coveted open seat in his solidly Republican Legislative District 14.
Grantham told KJZZ he wants to respect term limits1 and “would just like to take a short break for personal matters.”
Now, five Republicans are battling it out in the GOP primary for the district’s two House seats. And the district’s other incumbent, Republican Rep. Laurin Hendrix has to hold on against a hard-charging pack of challengers. He’s hoping to remain among the top two vote-getters in the primary and avoid being jostled out of his seat.
Senate President Warren Petersen represents the district in the Senate, and he is running unchallenged in the primary. And in this Republican stronghold, the primary is likely all that matters.
Joel Coen
Coen is the president of TruNorth Advisors, a financial advisory firm.
Career experience: He was previously the general manager of a Best Buy and COO of a moving and storage company, per his LinkedIn.
Fun fact: We ran all of his policy papers through AI detectors and they all came up as “highly confident” that they’re AI-generated.2 But at least he does seem to speak competently about the issues in the accompanying videos.
Campaign website: www.coenforaz.com
Rep. Laurin Hendrix
Hendrix is seeking his second term representing LD14 and served one term in the Legislature starting in 2009. He also served on Gilbert’s City Council and the Maricopa County Community College District board.
Plus: He’s a real estate broker and has managed or owned businesses ranging from auto repair to retail sales.
Fun fact: He’s a licensed private pilot and lists hobbies like flying remote control airplanes, hydroponic farming and backpacking.
Campaign website: www.votehendrix.com
Lalani Hunsaker
Hunsaker is the director of government relations3 for Charter One, a charter school management company.
Career experience: The “unapologetic conservative” was an intern and staffer from 2000-2004 for the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.
Fun fact: Hunsaker served on the American Leadership Academy’s board, a group of charter schools with an interesting origin story in Arizona.
Campaign website: www.votelalani.com
Andrew Jackson
Jackson is a precinct and state committeeman for LD14 and lists his current occupation as a pastor, teacher and author on LinkedIn.
Career experience: Jackson was a former pastor in Mesa and an adjunct professor at Gilbert and Mesa Community Colleges. He’s the author of many books on religion and tweets on politics.
Fun fact: He was a third-round draft pick by the New York Mets out of high school.
Campaign website: www.andrewjacksonaz.com
Khyl Powell
Powell owns an industrial real estate development company in Gilbert.
Career experience: He was a former employee of the Phoenix Police Department and FBI. Powell also served on Gilbert’s Planning and Zoning Board and has voiced concerns at several Gilbert City Council meetings.
Fun fact: He received The Boy Scouts of America’s Silver Beaver Award for adult leaders in 2013. Also, he has the coolest campaign logo of the bunch.4
Campaign website: www.khylpowell.com
It is confusing: Lawmakers were attempting to confuse and mislead voters with a decoy measure when they sent “The Tipped Workers Protection Act” to the ballot ahead of the One Fair Wage Act citizen initiative, per One Fair Wage initiative backers who filed a lawsuit. As the Phoenix Business Journal’s Brandon Brown explains, the citizen initiative, One Fair Wage, would increase the minimum wage to $18 over time. The legislative referral, “Tipped Workers Protection Act,” would allow restaurants to pay tipped workers less than minimum wage, as long as they made at least $2 above minimum wage including the tips.
Energize the base: Pollsters are attempting to quantify how much the Arizona Abortion Access Act could boost voter turnout, both for those who support abortion rights and opponents. Cronkite News’ Alex Cunningham notes recent polling suggests it’s far more likely to motivate Democrats to vote, as happened during Michigan’s blue wave of 2022 when overall turnout increased nearly 5% from the previous primary due in part to a pro-choice initiative on the ballot.
Education ain’t cheap: The Arizona Department of Education has revised its projections and now expects nearly 100,000 Arizona students to receive school vouchers by next June, with a price tag of $864 million per year, KJZZ’s Wayne Schutsky reports.
Ouch: Is Congressional District 1 Democratic hopeful Amish Shah “the next Kyrsten Sinema” as his Democratic Primary opponents claim? Or is that just a derisive label Democrats slap on any Democrat who isn’t an ideologue? The Republic’s Laura Gershony ponders those questions and more in a great profile of Shah, the only Democrat with an actual voting record at the Capitol, and the crowded six-way primary race to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. David Schweikert.
Catch more dollars with honey: When lawmakers swept around $160 million from the state’s long-term water planning office to make ends meet in this year’s budget, the office considered suing. But even though the law is pretty clearly on the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority’s side, it’s not suing the Legislature over the sweeps just yet, the Republic’s Ray Stern reports. Instead, WIFA sent lawmakers a resolution hinting that future illegal raids on water infrastructure funds “may not be tolerated,” per Stern.
"I wouldn't say it's definitely settled," WIFA Director Chuck Podolak said.
Under new management: After abruptly firing all the members of the Arizona-Mexico Commission shortly after taking office, Gov. Katie Hobbs recently hired its new executive director: Eva Masadiego, who previously served as Hobbs’ director of operations. Masadiego sat down with KJZZ’s Mark Brodie on “The Show” to talk about the new role and how she hopes the commission can focus on quality of life and sustainability issues in Arizona and Sonora.
Survival of the loudest: Mesa Mayor John Giles was one of nine mayors featured in a New York Times survey of their thoughts on their cities, the nation and their challenges and hopes.
“It’s horrible … And it splashes into school board meetings and to city council meetings. I hope we survive it,” Giles said when asked to assess the national discourse.
Homeownership is a prison: Home prices are expensive all over the Valley so homeowners who want to upsize or move to a new neighborhood are finding themselves “stuck,” Axios Phoenix’s Jessica Boehm reports. Homeowners can still upsize by downgrading their neighborhood or by “getting a higher-paying job or adding a second income via marriage,” as the piece helpfully explains.
Rest in peace: The Payson Roundup has a wonderful tribute to local reporter Teresa McQuerrey, who died of complications from surgery after working in her community for 50 years. You may recognize her byline from our “Other News” section.
“She always showed up. She always got the story written. She paid tender attention to the facts. She always made her deadlines,” editor Peter Aleshire wrote, lines any reporter would be proud to have in their obituary.
We promised you that when Republican state Sen. Jake Hoffman’s mugshot was available, we’d pass it around.
So thanks to the East Valley Tribune for reminding us and writing a whole story about the mugshot itself, including this gem:
“Trump’s campaign used his mug shot on coffee mugs, T-shirts and other memorabilia after it was released and raised a reported $7 million. Hoffman gave no indication if he would follow suit,” the Tribune wrote.
In case you’ve missed our many previous footnotes on the topic, the Arizona Legislature does have term limits and they’re pretty much a sham. Also, they’re a bad idea to begin with but that’s an edition for another day.
As we’ve noted when busting other candidates for using AI to write their policy positions, these detectors aren’t 100% accurate. But we know ChatGPT when we see it.
Also known as a lobbyist.
Although Jackson’s weird Arizona-Agenda-inspired eye logo is a close second.
Has anyone (e.g., a journalist or political reporter) ever asked why running for the legislature attracts so many individuals in the real estate profession? Perhaps it's a bias I have when reading their bios, but maybe not?!
Justin Beaver made popular the strategy of making your mug shot look like your publicity photo, unlike Glen Campbell.