Primary Prepping: LD16 House Republicans
A primary pile-on … Water’s for suing … And protect and serve ramen noodles.
While this sprawling legislative district that covers parts of Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties leans Republican, it’s considered one of Arizona’s few highly competitive districts.
Right now, the district is represented by one Republican and one Democrat in the House, making it one of the five split districts in Arizona — and one of the rare opportunities for Republicans to pick up a seat and increase their razor-thin margins in the House.
The chance to be the Republican who flips that seat back into GOP hands has drawn four contenders in the Republican primary for the district’s two House seats.
Republican Rep. Teresa Martinez and her seatmate, Democrat Rep. Keith Seaman, are running for reelection in the district. Seaman successfully single-shotted his way into the district in 2022 and will attempt the strategy again this year, increasing his odds of holding on in the Republican-leaning district.
Baptist pastor Rob Hudelson, who lost the seat for Republicans in 2022, and Gabby Mercer, who has run unsuccessfully for Congress twice and also lost a run for Pima County Board of Supervisors in 2020, are running as a team to oust the Republican incumbent Matinez, who they call a RINO.
Donald Trump told the duo to “kill the RINO,” Hudelson wrote in a Facebook post.
Chris Lopez, a small business owner with little online presence, is also running.
The two winners of the GOP primary will face Seaman in the November election.1
Rob Hudelson
Hudelson is a Baptist Church pastor and says he’s “uniquely qualified to bring biblical principles to the legislature.” He was one of the district’s GOP nominees for the House seat in 2022, but he lost to Seaman, turning the seat over to Democrats for the first time.
What else does he do?: Hudelson previously served on the Coolidge City Council, where he authored a resolution to only allow Christians to pray before council meetings. He’s also the president of Timepiece Family Media, a family-owned and operated media productions company, according to his LinkedIn.
Fun fact: Hudelson directed and produced a Christian film called “Friday At Noon” that ponders the question, “Can the atheist call anything wrong?” In it, students kill a fellow student after being taught “evolutionary theory” and the protagonist kidnaps their teacher’s daughter to teach him a lesson, per the trailer.2
Campaign website: www.robforstaterep.com/
Chris Lopez
Lopez doesn’t divulge much about his background on his campaign website, except that he’s “a small business owner” of a company that employs carnival workers,3 and he “has dedicated his life to upholding Conservative values.”
Website: www.lopezforaz.com
Rep. Teresa Martinez
Martinez was appointed to replace former Republican Rep. Bret Roberts in 2021 and was elected to her seat in 2022. She’s currently the Republican Majority Whip.
Career experience: Martinez previously worked as the political director of the Arizona Republican Party and ran Hispanic outreach for U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar. She was also a voting rights ambassador for former Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan and a congressional liaison for former U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, who was convicted of 17 felonies for crimes committed in office and pardoned years later by Trump.
Fun fact: Before diving into the political world, Martinez was a long-term substitute teacher at Casa Grande Union High School and worked at the Frito Lay factory.
Campaign website: www.martinezforarizona.com
Gabriela "Gabby" Saucedo Mercer
Mercer ran for Congress in 2012 and 2014 and lost to U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva by wide margins both times. She immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1986 and earned U.S. citizenship through marriage five years later, and supports “self-deportation through the removal of all forms of subsidies currently granted to illegal immigrants,” per her campaign website.
What does she do?: Mercer works as an “independent distributor” for Isagenix, a multi-level marketing company that sells weight loss products.
Fun fact: She once compared food stamp recipients to animals on her Facebook page.
Campaign website: www.gabbyforaz.com
It ain’t over: Gov. Katie Hobbs signed Arizona’s budget into law and called it a bipartisan win even though “Nobody got everything they wanted” in the $16.1 billion budget deal, the Arizona Mirror’s Gloria Gomez reports. The budget also has bipartisan disapproval and could invoke a lawsuit for reallocating $75 million in opioid settlement funds that Attorney General Kris Mayes said was an illegal way to fill a budget hole. Meanwhile, the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority, which also saw huge sweeps, met in executive session yesterday to also consider suing, noting state law requires sweeps to its funds receive a three-fourths vote from lawmakers, which the budget didn’t get. Finally, Hobbs signed three major water bills yesterday, declaring they promote reasonable growth and protect groundwater. The new laws will benefit developers, encouraging farmland to convert to housing, allowing companies to transport water from a rural basin to urban areas and weakening groundwater replenishment requirements, the Daily Star’s Tony Davis explains.
They don’t call her the “veto queen” for nothing: Hobbs vetoed a slate of Republican bills that would make health care providers pay for "detransitioning,” subject teachers to jail time for having sexually explicit materials in a library and require the state health department to license out-patient facilities that provide psilocybin-assisted therapy, per Capitol scribe Howie Fischer.
All proceeds from today’s subscriptions will be used to fund our own psilocybin-assisted therapy to help us get through this election season.4
She’s not on the ballot: A Republican group launched an ad campaign urging Hobbs to cooperate with the criminal investigation into the alleged pay-to-play scheme with a group home business that donated to her campaign and inaugural fund, then got its state contract amended to be more lucrative. The six-figure ad buy from State Solutions, which is aligned with the Republican Governors Association, started airing today, per Center Square’s Cameron Arcand.
The belated voice of reason: Former Gov. Jan Brewer is pleading with her fellow Republicans to knock off the election denialism, publishing an oped in the Republic and telling KTAR’s Bruce and Gaydos that “deniers out there are creating havoc” and “it needs to be addressed.” A clearly frustrated Brewer went off, saying it’s ruining the Republican Party’s ability to win races in Arizona. Meanwhile, a Superior Court judge rejected Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby’s request to dismiss the felony charges against them for conspiring to delay canvassing the votes in the 2022 election, KJZZ’s Camryn Sanchez writes. And Mark Finchem also lost his appeal to avoid paying legal fees in his lawsuit challenging his loss in the 2022 Arizona secretary of state race and the judge ruled he has to pay a “reasonable portion" of current Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ legal fees, the Republic’s Mary Jo Pitzl reports.
“I think everyone in their heart, they know we can’t continue down this path. It’s killing us as Republicans. It’s killing us,” Brewer said.
What’s in a name?: The ongoing saga over naming a light rail transit hub after U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor or U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton continues after a Phoenix City Council member released internal texts that show Mayor Kate Gallego knew about plans to select Pastor for the name before she asked it be named after Stanton, the Republic’s Taylor Seely writes. The mayor’s office contends she planned the Stanton naming for months. Meanwhile, the Mesa and Tempe city councils are considering expanding streetcar service, and Valley Metro is asking for community input through June 28, per Axios’ Jessica Boehm. You can weigh in on where the extensions go, but not what to name them.
Love knows no borders: Democratic state Rep. Lydia Hernandez and Latino leaders held a press conference to praise President Joe Biden’s new executive order allowing undocumented spouses of American citizens to apply for legal status without leaving the country, KJZZ’s Wayne Schutsky reports. Hernandez’s husband of 28 years is still undocumented. In other presidential news, VP Kamala Harris is coming back to Arizona on Monday to mark the second anniversary of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, 12News’ Brahm Resnik notes.
The power of news: Arizonans celebrated Juneteenth yesterday, the holiday commemorating when Black slaves in Texas found out they had been legally freed two-and-a-half years earlier by the Emancipation Proclamation. Axios has a map showing the timeline of the spread of freedom. Arizona began recognizing Juneteenth thanks to a bill from former Democratic Rep. Reginald Bolding back in 2016, but it’s not actually a state holiday.
After arresting a DoorDash driver for a misdemeanor warrant discovered during a traffic stop, two Phoenix Police officers finished the delivery, surprising a local resident with bags of groceries.
Considering the recent devastating report from the Department of Justice on the Phoenix Police Department’s longtime pattern of aggressive, racist, policing, perhaps the department could slot a little overtime for more of this.
Fun fact, Seaman’s daughter, Democrat Stacey Seaman, is challenging Republican Sen. TJ Shope for the district’s Senate seat.
We couldn’t find the full film online, unfortunately. But we did find this single review on Youtube from someone who had seen it. “Saw it, good movie. If you can forgive a little bit of stiff acting, and some sub par technical quality (hey, it was their first feature, after all), then it is well worth it! Engaging story, good plot line, great arguments, and the ending was pretty great! =)”
You’ll notice most of his official campaign video and photos were shot at the Arizona State Fair.
For legal reasons, we’re required to tell you that is a joke. Also, if this pitch doesn’t get at least two of you to upgrade to a paid subscription today, we’ve seriously misjudged our audience.
Hudelson's claim to be "uniquely qualified to bring biblical principles to the legislature" means he is totally unqualified to be a legislator due to his ignorance of the First Amendment. "Hudelson previously served on the Coolidge City Council, where he authored a resolution to only allow Christians to pray before council meetings." Yep, confirmed -- this is totally unconstitutional.
Martinez is hardly a RINO. Gosar and Kari Lake were her guests on Opening Day 2022.