The Free Agenda: The race is over!
For a lucky few politicians, 2024 is done ... That contract wasn't getting extended anyway ... And who's up for a legislative spring break bourbon crawl?
Before Arizona’s voters have had a chance to bubble in their primary ballots, there are already some clear indications of who will be representing them in the state Legislature next year.
Candidates have submitted their nomination papers, and two House and four Senate seats are already basically filled, as candidates face no opposition in either the primary or general election.
In Tucson’s Legislative District 20, only Democratic Reps. Betty Villegas and Alma Hernandez filed enough signatures to get on the ballot, guaranteeing1 them another term in the heavily Democratic district.
The district’s Senator, Democrat Sally Ann Gonzales, likewise faces no opposition in either the primary or general election and should sail to victory without having to do any campaigning.
Meanwhile, in the U.S.-Mexico border-straddling LD21, Democratic Sen. Rosanna Gabaldón, faces no challengers and has already essentially won her election by having only collected 721 signatures from voters in her district.
Same for Republican Sen. Frank Carroll, who represents Sun City in LD28, and Democratic Sen. Theresa Hathathlie, who represents the Navajo Nation and northeastern Arizona in LD6.
And that’s not even counting the dozens of races where candidates don’t face primaries and the district is so politically lopsided that the opposition party has no realistic shot of winning in the November election.
And while some lawmakers are already done with the campaign season, having fielded no challengers, others are just gearing up for the fight of their lives.
Which six legislative primaries are we most excited to watch? 🍿
Click the button to find out! 👀
Au revoir, Robbins: University of Arizona President Robert Robbins will resign at the end of his term in June 2026, and maybe earlier if the Arizona Board of Regents can find a replacement, per the Republic’s Helen Rummel and Sasha Hupka. Robbins has taken the brunt of the blame for the university’s $177 million budget shortfall that caused layoffs and ended tuition guarantee for future students – not to mention the UA’s acquisition of an online school that was fined for defrauding students and recent revelations from the Republic that he hired a lobbyist to get rid of said fines.
“Although this is a difficult decision, it is the right decision for me and for the university that I love so dearly,” Robbins wrote in an email to the campus community.
With room to spare: Supporters behind the campaign to put abortion rights in Arizona’s Constitution say they’ve gathered enough signatures to make it on November’s ballot, the Republic’s Stacey Barchenger writes. The group needs 383,923 signatures to make it and reports getting over 500,000, but supporters plan to keep the petition drive going to withstand signature challenges.
The paydays stay: As we predicted, state legislators are planning to take something of a spring break and meet once a week after they finish considering most of the bills this week, Ray Stern reports for the Republic. The move not only allows the legislators seeking reelection to shift focus to their campaigns, but all lawmakers to keep collecting per diem payments. The daunting task of solidifying a state budget lies ahead, but Toma said "budget meetings are back on the schedule.”
The Legislature may be taking a break, but we’ll still be here every weekday without per diem payments. Your subscription can soften that blow, however.
Holding the seat while fighting cancer: U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva announced Tuesday he’s been diagnosed with cancer but included few details about the diagnosis, the Tucson Sentinel’s Dylan Smith reports. Grijalva hasn’t voted in the House of Representatives since February, but said his congressional office is open for constituent services. The representative announced his diagnosis after he filed nominating petitions to appear on the ballot.
Dammed if you do: The Salt River Project is considering building a new dam by flooding a portion of desert land to create a pumped storage hydropower system, KJZZ’s Katherine Davis-Young reports. SRP already uses the Mormon Flat Dam to generate enough power for about 13,000 homes, but the utility wants to expand its hydropower capacity to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Conversationalists are already bringing up concerns about damaging environmentally sensitive land with a man-made lake.
We’re already fatigued: Republican lawmakers have successfully sent two voter referrals to the ballot in attempts to bypass Gov. Katie Hobbs’ veto, and there are still 15 measures that could be sent to voters, the Arizona Mirror’s Caitlin Sievers reports. Lawmakers sent four items to the ballot last year, and 13 pending citizen initiatives could make for ridiculously long ballots. Maricopa County has already announced it will have a two-page ballot this year, which could grow to three pages, raising serious concerns about voter fatigue when filling out a ballot feels more like homework than a civic duty. Meanwhile, Hobbs will get the chance to veto or sign a bill that would make it a felony for protestors to block highways during demonstrations, UA Don Bolles fellow Leah Britton writes in the Mirror.
That's a lot of plane parts: Arizona broke records by exporting $28.79 billion worth of goods last year, Hobbs announced in her international State of the State address, per AZPM’s Paola Rodriguez. The rest of the countries’ exports declined by 2.2%, while Arizona’s increased by 5.5% for products like aerospace parts, semiconductors and metal ores.
Snip snip: Due to a heightened demand for vasectomies in the wake of the Roe v. Wade reversal, Planned Parenthood of Arizona is now offering the procedure for $750 without insurance, Axios Phoenix’s Jessica Boehm writes. The group started a vasectomy program in southern Arizona last March, but demand is spiking in metro Phoenix.
A sinking feeling: A Phoenix condo complex is experiencing its second sinkhole on the property since February, which homeowners said happened after a water main break, AZFamily’s Casey Torres reports. The HOA isn’t doing much to resolve the issue, and one resident said he worries the buildings will start collapsing.
Lawmakers are preparing to hunker down into spring break mode and only visit the Capitol once per week so the House and Senate leaders can “work on the state budget,” they told the Republic.
But it looks like House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen are working more on their campaign budgets than the state budget.
Did you expect your lawmakers to just hang around during spring break?
Not when there are out-of-state bourbon crawl fundraisers to host!
Click the button to see where they’re going.
There is one caveat to these no-challenger races: A challenger from the opposite party can file to run as a write-in during the primary election. If they get enough write-in votes in the primary – it varies by race, but it’s the same as the number of signatures they would have needed to qualify for the primary ballot, usually about 400-600 for legislative races – they qualify to appear on the general election ballot. It’s a longshot strategy, but it’s how Republican Sen. Don Shooter and a handful of others have made it to the Capitol.