Primary Prepping: LD23 House Democrats
Primary Prepping: LD23 House Democrats
The stakes are high … The immunity is broad … And Pam is not interested.
Democrats have a sizable voter registration advantage in the sprawling Legislative District 23, which covers the southwest corner of Arizona. But the numbers aren’t so solidly in Democrats’ favor that they can afford to sleep on it.
That’s what happened last year, and it cost them not only a seat, but the chance at a 30-30 split in the state House.
Nobody saw Republican Rep. Michele Peña coming in 2022 when she won one of the two House seats in this relatively safe Democratic district. She had run a successful write-in campaign in her party’s primary and beat one of the Democrats in November.1
Now, both Democrats and Republicans are focused on LD23, which could determine which party takes control of the state House next year — making it one of the few competitive districts in play this November.
But first, Democrats need to decide who they trust to win the district’s two House seats back.
Current Democratic Rep. Mariana Sandoval is seeking another term and faces Democratic challengers James Holmes and Matias Rosales in the primary for the district’s two House seats.
Rosales is a San Luis City Council member who’s on a substantial number of local boards and commissions and can bank on name recognition. There’s not much online background on Holmes, the other contender, besides his work experience in the transportation sector.
As the incumbent, Sandoval has a leg up and has gained endorsements from notable Arizona politicians like U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva and congressional candidate and former state Sen. Raquel Terán.
The top two vote-getters in the primary election will face Peña in November, as she once again attempts the ”single-shot” strategy to overcome the district’s long odds for Republicans.
James "Jimmy” Holmes
Holmes began a campaign for the U.S. House seat representing Arizona’s District 8 in 2022 but withdrew before the primary.
Career experience: He’s worked in the transportation sector for more than 30 years and in real estate. He’s a truck driver, per his financial disclosure statement.
Fun fact: Holmes notes on his website that he has Native American heritage from the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes.
Campaign website: www.jimmyholmes.com
Matias Rosales
Rosales has served 12 years on the San Luis City Council. He currently chairs Yuma County’s Planning and Zoning Commission and the Arizona Real Estate Advisory Board, which advises the state Real Estate Commissioner
What else?: Rosales is the associated broker and owner of Realty ONE Group Gateway. He’s the board president of the Yuma Association of Realtors.
Fun fact: After moving to Arizona in 2004, he tried to start a video store which failed amid the proliferation of streaming services.
Campaign website: www.matiasrosales.com
Rep. Mariana Sandoval
Sandoval is running for a second term after voters elected her to the district in 2022. She lost a bid for LD13’s House seat in the 2020 general election.
Plus: Sandoval has worked as a paralegal in both government and nonprofit sectors, including a 12-year stint at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. She served on the Agua Fria Union High School District Governing Board for three years.
Fun fact: Sandoval co-founded AZ Education Guardians in 2020, and the group advocates for civic engagement in educational reforms.
Website: www.sandovalforaz.com
All presidents are created equal: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday granted former President Donald Trump broad immunity from prosecution for his role in the January 6 attacks on the Capitol, the New York Times reports. Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee, thrilled to have people talk about anything but the presidential debate, is launching a takeover campaign on newspaper homepages across the country, including the Republic. Their ad highlights his refusal to agree to accept the results of the 2024 election.
See the Incompetence: Arizona’s “See the Money” campaign finance disclosure portal, which has been the bane of every politico since its inception, still doesn’t show a huge portion of campaign spending, the Republic’s Mary Jo Pitzl reports. Independent expenditure committees, or IEs, are now required to disclose donors thanks to Prop 211. But if they are disclosing donors, you wouldn’t know it anyway because there are no reports on “See the Money” and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ office hasn’t answered calls from reporters or campaigns about why, Pitzl reports. The Republic’s Laurie Roberts joined the pile on, demanding Fontes get his act, and website, together.
“And still, we are left in the dark, thanks to a Secretary of State’s office that is either incompetent or just not all that interested in letting the sun shine in. It’s been two years, Secretary Fontes. Why are we still in the dark?” Roberts wrote.
Leaking is patriotic: Crafting the state budget these days is less like thoughtful planning and more like online dating apps where lawmakers see a picture and “swipe left or right,” longtime Capitol lobbyist Kevin DeMenna told Mark Brodie on KJZZ’s “The Show.” DeMenna praised budget document leakers, saying that’s the only way stakeholders, the public and even some lawmakers know what’s in the budget. He also called for doing away with lawmakers’ exemption from the open meeting law, saying it would create better budget processes and outcomes.
As goes Cochise…: Some of the hottest local races in the state are happening in Cochise County, where all three supervisor seats are open, and only one of the supervisors who attempted to not certify their county’s 2022 election results is running for reelection. The Herald-Review’s Terri Jo Neff delivers a primary primer on Supervisor Tom Crosby’s reelection campaign against fellow Republican Clint Briseno, who has the backing of several law enforcement and public safety associations.
Devastation: One Phoenix woman is over-the-top upset that her neighbor is building a casita close to her property line after the city passed a pro-casita ordinance allowing them to do that earlier this year, AZFamily reports. It’s a story you’re going to hear many iterations of after Arizona’s pro-casita law goes on the books later this summer.
“I cried, and I cried, and I cried some more,” Phoenix resident Kelly Schultz said. “It was devastation, I think is a good term.”
Can’t come (mon)soon enough: Last month was officially the hottest June in Phoenix ever, clocking in with an average high of 97 degrees, per the National Weather Service. The high is projected to stay above 110 for the foreseeable future, with no more rain on the horizon.
Former Maricopa County Sheriff turned serial loser of elections Joe Arpaio is continuing his annual exercise to get Pamela Anderson to notice him by tweeting at her.
Every year on her birthday2, he sends her a tweet reminding her about that time she joined one of his stunts in serving vegetarian food to prisoners. For Arpaio, it was a form of punishment, kind of like pink underwear.
There’s a lot to pick apart in this tweet — from the beautiful use of parentheticals (especially meat) to the all-caps emphasis on VEGETARIAN.
But our favorite part is he does these every year without fail3 and yet he slightly rewrites them. You’ll notice that over time, the number of meals she delivered has grown from 7,000 to 15,000.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this edition incorrectly stated Republican Rep. Michelle Peña unseated an appointed incumbent Democrat. Brian Fernandez was appointed to the House, but he chose not to run for re-election and instead ran successfully for Senate. These were open House seats in 2022 and Peña ran against Jesus Lugo, Jr. and Mariana Sandoval, who were not incumbents.
Additionally, we wrote that Matias Rosales is a former member of the San Luis City Council. His current term ends in December.
Which is also Hank’s dad’s birthday. Happy birthday, Larry!
Arpaio tweets annual birthday wishes for quite a few celebrities. He’s big on birthdays, including his own, which he shares with Donald Trump.
So...now we get to see how many ways we can parse the definition of "official". Still think Jack Smith and other prosecutors can go after Chump with guns blazing. Nothing "official" about goading people into rioting or trying to sucker poor, dumb, Pence into the old switcheroo.
Hate to be a stickler, but the "average high" wasn't 97 degrees in June, that was actually the "average temperature". Wishing Phx had an average high of of less than 100 in any of our summer months!