Tag: Arizona

Legendary Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, Sponsor of SB 1070, Dies at 75

Rachel Alexander

Longtime Arizona Legislator Russell Pearce of Mesa, who served as Senate President in 2011, passed away Thursday at age 75. The sponsor of Arizona’s nationally known SB 1070 curbing illegal immigration, which Governor Jan Brewer famously signed into law in 2010, died peacefully at a hospital surrounded by family and friends after becoming sick earlier in the week. 

Pearce was loved on both sides of the aisle, famous for his friendship with Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) going back to when she was in the state legislature and considered the most liberal member — the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers awarded her the Vladimir I. Lenin Award. According to one source, Sinema moved her desk at the legislature to sit next to Pearce. 

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Undisclosed Amounts from Special Interests Sponsor Katie Hobbs’ Inauguration Event

Rachel Alexander

Democrat Katie Hobbs was sworn in as Arizona’s governor on Monday, in the first of two inaugural events this week. A third related event is raising eyebrows, a ball which is funded by special interests, including lobbyists, companies that do business with the state, developers, and builders. Hobbs refuses to disclose how much they are contributing.

Michele Swinick of the Save my Freedom Movement told The Arizona Sun Times she believes it is inappropriate for Hobbs not to disclose the amounts contributed by special interests. “The public has a right to know who is putting the most money into bribing their taxpayer-funded government,” she said. “This is a continuing pattern Hobbs has so it’s not a surprise that she would start out her very first fraudulent day of office with this move protecting her friends. She hid herself from the Arizona Voters during her campaign and now she’s showing you, yet again, how she operates. At least you can give her credit for one thing, she’s been consistent.”

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Close Political Races Like Abe Hamadeh’s Where the Outcome Partially or Completely Flip-Flopped

Rachel Alexander

The election challenge in the race for Arizona Attorney General is not over yet, and may go on longer than expected due to new ballots showing up favoring Republican Abe Hamadeh. After the recount, which was ordered automatically due to the close race, Democrat Kris Mayes’ lead dropped from 511 to 280 votes. Throughout U.S. history in extremely close races, ballots are closely scrutinized and often some are thrown out, or others that weren’t counted were added in, often flipping the race. 

Hamadeh tweeted on Thursday, “Katie Hobbs and SOS Office abused our courts and made a mockery of the justice system. They knew the results of the recount was going to show a LARGE discrepancy due to tabulation errors and fought against our election contest knowing this. They deceived the courts.”

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Nearly 816,000 Apprehended, Gotaways Reported in Arizona in Fiscal 2022

The Center Square

At least 815,786 people were apprehended or evaded law enforcement after illegally entering Arizona in fiscal 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data obtained by The Center Square from a Border Patrol agent.

This is out of a record 3.3 million illegal entries reported by Border Patrol for all nine southwest border sectors in the fiscal year.

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Arizona’s Population Growth Leads the West in Latest Census Estimate

The Center Square

More than 94,000 people are calling Arizona home than they did amid the waning months of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The U.S. Census released its annual state population estimates Thursday morning. The measure dips into state births, deaths, immigrants from outside the country and those moving into one state from another. The data is from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.

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Arizona Could Soon Look to the Mexican Coast for Answers on Water Problems

The Center Square

Arizona officials have taken some of the first steps to bring seawater from the Mexican coast to the faucets of Phoenix, even if lawmakers want a more deliberative process.

Arizona’s Joint Legislative Water Committee held a public meeting on Tuesday to discuss the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority’s push to create a desalination plant amid the state’s water crisis.

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Kari Lake, Dennis Prager, Josh Hawley, and More Headline TPUSA’s AmericaFest 2022 on Sunday

Rachel Alexander

Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest continued its second day in Phoenix on Sunday, featuring a long lineup of well-known conservatives. Some of the standouts Sunday included Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who is currently fighting the results of a botched election in Arizona which resulted in Democrat Katie Hobbs being named the winner, co-founder of PragerU and talk show host Dennis Prager, and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). 

The theme of many of the speakers was to stay positive and avoid the negativity and self-centeredness of the left, see the good in the country, and the values and institutions like marriage and children which formed it. Lake’s speech focused on voter disenfranchisement that occurred in her race, declaring, “My pronouns are ‘I won’” and “election integrity is the single most important issue of our lifetime.” 

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Charlie Kirk, Laura Ingraham, and Tucker Carlson Rally Thousands at TPUSA’s AmericaFest 2022 in Phoenix

Rachel Alexander

Turning Point USA, an organization for young conservatives launched in 2017 in Phoenix, now rivals CPAC for attendance at its annual December AmericaFest. With over 10,800 purchasing tickets, AmericaFest 2022 launched Saturday evening featuring speeches by TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, then followed by country music concerts.

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‘America First’ v. ‘Arizona First’ Candidates Face Off for Maricopa County Republican Committee Board

Rachel Alexander

The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) is holding its biannual election for the board in January, and two slates of candidates have declared their candidacies for the five slots. One slate has labeled itself “America First,” while another is calling itself “Arizona First.”

The America First slate, which is also going by #TeamTruth and emphasizing election integrity, consists of Craig Berland for chair, Shelby Busch for 1st vice chair, Jeff Greenspan for 2nd vice chair, Diana Jones for secretary, and Lawrence Hudson for treasurer. The slate promises, “We promise to put the GOP clearly on the side of True Reform of Arizona Election Laws: mail-ins limited to true absentees, and precinct hand counts. Empower PCs to make the party grassroots, not top down.”

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Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline Warns About the Destruction of the Rule of Law if Kari Lake’s Election Lawsuit is Dismissed

Rachel Alexander

As Kari Lake’s lawsuit contesting the results of the gubernatorial election winds its way through the legal system, various legal experts are speaking out on the merits of the case. Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, who is currently a professor at Liberty University and director of the election integrity legal organization Amistad Project, warned on Friday that if Lake’s lawsuit is dismissed, allowing Democrat Katie Hobbs to become governor, it will undermine the rule of law. 

Kline tweeted, “If Hobbs is successful in dismissing Lake’s suit it only proves 1) election officials can violate procedure and law without accountability 2) partisan private vendors can still be used to conduct core government functions 3) legislators & others have failed to learn from 2020 and 4) many of those who claimed to fix the 2020 problems are wrong!” 

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Protesters Block Construction of Border Wall with Shipping Containers as Biden Administration Sues Arizona

Rachel Alexander

Outgoing Gov. Doug Ducey ordered gaps in the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border patched using shipping containers earlier this year, but protesters are blocking workers from finishing the project. At the same time, the Biden administration hit Arizona with a lawsuit also attempting to stop the construction. 

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who has taken on the Biden administration numerous times over its inaction on the border, vowed to defend the state in court, hinting that he would not be cowed into a settlement. “President Biden says there are more important things to talk about than the border, yet his DOJ is suing to immediately tear down our crowd control structure,” he tweeted. “Once again, we’ll see you in court.”

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State Rep. Sonny Borrelli Files Lawsuit Contesting Maricopa County’s Election Results

Rachel Alexander

Candidates and other interested parties have started filing lawsuits contesting the election results in Arizona, particularly in Maricopa County, where 59 percent of the vote centers were plagued with ballot tabulation problems, causing long lines in heavily Republican areas forcing some voters to leave without voting. One of those lawsuits was filed on Monday by State Senator Sonny Borrelli (R-Lake Havasu), challenging the use of AI to verify signatures, which Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has stated is illegal.

Attorneys for the election integrity organization True the Vote drafted the complaint. It asserted, “Maricopa County ran 1.3 million images, on monitors, past the eyes of a few dozen of its Signature Verifiers at such a rapid clip that it was physically impossible for them to verify the Delegated Software’s adjudications about those images reliably.” True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht told The Arizona Sun Times, “Many voters in Mohave County reported concern that their votes were being diluted by events in Maricopa County. We listened, retained counsel, and got to work. This litigation seeks to uncover the source of their concerns. We look forward to seeing it tried in court.”

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Complaints Emerge About Thousands of Newly Found Deactivated Voters Appearing on Voter Rolls Right Before Arizona Republicans Lost

Rachel Alexander

Complaints are circulating that the number of voters on inactive status in Maricopa County greatly and abnormally increased between April and the general election this year. One of the Republican candidates who believed this may have influenced his race is Christian Lamar, who lost by 1,990 votes in the State House race in Phoenix-area LD 2. 

Lamar told The Arizona Sun Times, “So far, a majority of 7,400 ‘newly found’ voters in my district still have a status of deactivated or removed. Also, they are mostly party not determined (unaffiliated) and more Democrats than Republicans in ‘newly found’ voters. From mostly blue precincts too.” He asked the Maricopa County Recorder for more information about the high numbers of inactive voters and was told there are currently 29,765 in his district of 161,134 registered voters, a number he finds “strangely high” considering about 82,000 voted. 

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Mark Finchem Files Lawsuit Contesting Election Results, Contends at Least 60,624 Ballots Were Not Counted in Maricopa County

Rachel Alexander

Three of the Trump-endorsed candidates in Arizona who lost their races filed lawsuits contesting the election results. Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh, and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem all filed lawsuits on Friday.

Finchem’s complaint, which was filed jointly in Maricopa County Superior Court with Jeff Zink, a Republican candidate who lost his race challenging Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-07), named Gallego, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who was declared the gubernatorial winner over Lake, and incoming-Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who defeated Finchem, as defendants.

Zink was later dropped from the complaint in an amended complaint filed on Monday.

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Kari Lake Files Lawsuit Loaded with Evidence Contesting Election Results

Rachel Alexander

Two weeks after filing a complaint requesting data from the 2022 midterm election in Maricopa County, gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has filed another lawsuit against election officials contesting the election results, alleging voter disenfranchisement and suppression. Lake called for a forensic audit of the printer-tabulator problems, an inspection of ballots and voter registration records, including signatures, disqualification of illegal votes, and redoing the election as well as other relief.

Kurt Olsen, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, told The Arizona Sun Times he believes the election anomalies were “intentional since they didn’t test all of their equipment and follow the appropriate processes when problems arose.” He asked, “Why haven’t they done their own forensic audit 30 days later?” He said Maricopa County officials’ cavalier attitude about the problems and their lack of trying to find out what happened is telling. “Does anybody believe this widespread failure, oh shucks, just happened?” he wondered.

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Arizona Faced a Similar Contentious Gubernatorial Race in 1916 That Dragged Out with Accusations of Voter Fraud

Rachel Alexander

As the protests and litigation continue in Arizona, challenging the results of the 2022 midterm election where four Trump-endorsed candidates lost, some are looking at history to understand how the litigation may end. In 1916, a contentious gubernatorial race in Arizona, also fraught with accusations of voter fraud, resulted in a clear winner not being established until the next year, when the Arizona Supreme Court declared the Democrat, the winner.

Arizona historian and writer Donna Reiner relayed the story of that election for Arizona Agenda this fall, revealing how due to the feuding over who won, there were two governors both claiming to hold office for several months. It was Arizona’s third statewide election, after becoming a state in 1912, and incumbent Gov. George Wiley Paul Hunt, a Democrat and Arizona’s first governor, faced Republican challenger Thomas E. Campbell of Yavapai County.

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Arizona to Invest Nearly $14 Million in Career Training, Development Programs

The Center Square

Arizona plans to invest nearly $14 million to support career training and development programs for Arizona high school students and underserved communities, Governor Doug Ducey announced Thursday.

“Arizona is a land of limitless opportunity,” Governor Ducey said in a press release. “We are a state where anyone can get a good education and find a quality job. This funding will cement our position as a national model for preparing workers for tomorrow’s jobs – it will empower Arizonans by dramatically increasing job training opportunities.”

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Pacific Legal Finds Arizona Among States That Allow Home Equity Theft

Neil Jones

The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) released a comprehensive report Tuesday detailing that 12 states plus Washington D.C. have laws in place that allow for home equity theft (HET), including Arizona.

“Our findings are alarming,” said Angela Erickson, strategic research director at PLF. “Home equity theft is robbing thousands of people of their homes and all the equity they’ve built.”

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Arizona Saw Continued Job Growth in October

The Center Square

Arizona had a rise in both employment and unemployment last month.

Arizona added 7,300 nonfarm jobs in October, a 0.24% increase in the state’s labor force participation. However, the state’s unemployment rate rose by 0.2% to 3.9%. It marked the fourth consecutive month where the state’s unemployment rate rose. Arizona’s rise in unemployment is due to a rising labor force participation rate. Since May, the state’s unemployment rate has increased from 3.2% to 3.9%, according to Common Sense Institute Arizona. 

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Arizona Moves Closer to Certifying Election Results, Braces for Possible Election Challenges by Kari Lake and Others

Rachel Alexander

A staffer for Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake told The Arizona Sun Times that the candidate is preparing a lawsuit challenging the election results.  Lake said during a Monday evening interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters that she has concerns about certifying the election. “I can’t imagine our version of Joe Biden, Katie Hobbs, would win,” Lake said. “She didn’t campaign, she hid in her basement. She is a twice-convicted racist. I can’t believe the people of Arizona would vote for her and that she would win. But if that what’s happens at the end of the day, how do you certify an election that is this botched? And she’s the one that would certify her own election where it was botched. Where the machines didn’t work in more than a third of the polling centers.”

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Kari Lake Receives 54 Percent of Sunday Night Ballots from Maricopa County, 69 Percent from Pinal County

Rachel Alexander

Election officials released updated results Sunday evening showing Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake gained ground on frontrunner Democrat Katie Hobbs in Maricopa County by 54.6 to 45.4 percent. In Pinal County, Lake bested Hobbs 69.5 percent to 30.5 percent.

In all, the votes of little more than 97,000 of the estimated 192,900 remaining ballots from Maricopa County were tabulated – meaning about 94,000 ballots remain. In Pinal County, an estimated 10,000 ballots are untabulated.

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Arizona Political Operatives Optimistic for Republicans as They Analyze the Slow Release of Election Results

Rachel Alexander

Although there are still a few races in Arizona that have not been called yet, many analysts believe overall it’s looking like good results for MAGA candidates. The rate of return of ballots in the remaining precincts appears to be heavily favoring Republicans, since a large portion of them are from red counties and people who voted in person on election day. 

George Khalaf, managing partner of The Resolute Group and owner of the Data Orbital polling company, told The Arizona Sun Times he was “confident all statewide Republicans (outside of Masters/Finchem) will prevail.” He said, “I believe there is still a path for Masters/Finchem but that will depend a lot on how well they with the Early Ballots dropped off on Election Day. When it is all said and done, I think Kari wins by around 3 percent (close to our final poll).” 

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Ric Grenell Predicts Blake Masters Will Win as Latest 75,583 Ballots Come In from Maricopa and Pima Counties

Rachel Alexander

Trump-endorsed Blake Masters pulled closer to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) after the results of counting more ballots were released shortly after 6 p.m. PST the day after the midterm election. Although Kelly took the lead initially on election night, his numbers have been shrinking as the types of ballots being counted last trended toward Republicans. 

Most of the new batch of ballots was early ballots that were dropped off between Friday and the Tuesday election. There were a much larger number of ballots dropped off on election day in Maricopa County than in the 2020 election, 275,000 versus 170,000.

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Central Arizona Water Conservation District Candidates Discuss Water Shortage, Taxes at EZAZ Forum

Rachel Alexander

The grassroots group EZAZ held a forum featuring the candidates running for the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) Board of Directors on Sunday. At least one of the candidates, Republican Legislative District Chair Cory Mishkin, said the coming water shortage was manageable, and called out California for causing problems. A couple of the candidates expressed concern that property taxes are being used to subsidize developers and municipalities.

Jeff Caldwell, EZAZ’s secretary and volunteer coordinator, asked each candidate five questions, as well as allowing them to give opening and closing statements. The candidates were not provided the questions in advance.

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Judge Rejects Progressive Groups Request for Restraining Order to Shut Down Ballot Drop Box Observers

Rachel Alexander

Voters concerned about ballot harvesting are organizing volunteer shifts observing ballot drop boxes, but some progressive organizations have filed lawsuits attempting to stop them. An organization called Protecting Democracy Project filed a lawsuit this week against the organizers as well as some of the volunteer observers on behalf of the League of Women Voters (LWV). The Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans (AARA) and Voto Latino (VL) also filed a lawsuit.

The LWV lawsuit names Lions of Liberty, which is organizing ballot drop box watching in Yavapai County, its affiliate Yavapai Preparedness Team, Clean Elections USA, which is organizing nationwide efforts, and several individuals and John Does. The AARA and VL lawsuit named similar defendants. The latter lawsuit included a photo of some “Doe Defendants,” revealing three people dressed in normal clothing sitting on lawn chairs. 

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Arizona Voters Reporting Numerous Election Discrepancies Such as Unrequested Ballots on New Election Integrity App VotifyNow

Rachel Alexander

Concerned voters are ramping up efforts to combat voter fraud, and one innovative election integrity company has created an app to report and share suspicious incidents. VotifyNow is a downloadable app that compiles nationwide reports from observers, such as voters in Arizona complaining about receiving unrequested ballots in the mail. On election day, the app will provide users with information about what incidents are being reported in their localities. 

VotifyNow founder Johnny Vieira told The Arizona Sun Times, “Our mission is to restore confidence in elections. We spent the last 16 months developing VotifyNow using very smart code and algorithms to help voters accurately report suspicious incidents with the touch of just a couple buttons. We put this much time into our platform to help users avoid false flags and give them confidence knowing anything they report will be vetted thoroughly before ever being shared with others, unlike other groups and media out there.“

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Arizona Candidates on the Right Get Together for Massive ‘Big Tent’ Rally

Rachel Alexander

Patriots of Arizona put on a rally Monday night at Dream City Church in Phoenix featuring a long list of candidates running for office, from local school board candidates to Kari Lake for governor. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed several of them, and most of his picks are leading in the polls. Emceed by pundit Kevin Jackson, the theme of the evening was how Republicans are set to sweep Arizona on Nov. 8. 

Jackson opened the event telling the crowd of several hundred and 27 organizations, some which had booths outside the event, “I’m Kevin Jackson and my pronouns are FJB.” The president of Patriots of Arizona, Bonnie, thanked the church for hosting the event, noting that “Other churches have not opened their doors.

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Center for Arizona Policy’s Cathi Herrod: Abortion Clinics Are Reportedly Getting Around Arizona’s Abortion Law

Rachel Alexander

After the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich declared that Arizona’s old law banning almost all abortions was back in effect. Some abortion doctors and clinics have been finding ways around it, even though legal challenges successfully got an injunction put in place temporarily halting the 1901 law last Friday. Arizona’s new law banning abortions after 16 weeks, which went into effect this month, has survived requests for injunctions.

Cathi Herrod, the president of the Center for Arizona Policy, posted a statement on the local conservative tipsheet Republican Briefs about what has been reported occurring. “At least one Arizona abortion ‘clinic’ is now reportedly giving pregnant women ultrasounds to determine gestational age, then facilitating a telehealth appointment with a California doctor, who then sends the abortion pills to a post office in a California/Arizona border town to be picked up by the expectant woman,” she said. “Another abortion ‘clinic’ reportedly has been referring women to a doctor in another country with the abortion pills then being mailed to an Arizona woman from India. Still, others are raising funds to pay for women to travel to other states for abortions. One abortionist sends women to his facility in Las Vegas for abortions.”

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Grover Norquist: Katie Hobbs Says She Won’t Raise Taxes But Refuses to Sign Americans for Tax Reform’s No-Taxes Pledge

Rachel Alexander

During a recent Arizona Chamber of Commerce gubernatorial candidate forum, Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is running for governor, said she would not raise taxes as governor. When asked by ACC President and CEO Danny Seiden if she would raise taxes, Hobbs responded, “Absolutely not. I am pro-growth.” She pointed out that raising taxes requires a two-thirds vote in the Arizona Legislature, which would make it difficult. 

Instead, Hobbs said in a new ad that she will cut taxes to help Arizonans deal with inflation; cutting income taxes for 800,000 families and exempting diapers, baby formula, and over-the-counter medicine from sales tax. However, in 2015, she voted against HB 2001, which indexed the Arizona income tax for inflation.

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Trump Strongly Hints He May Run for President Again at Arizona Rally for MAGA Candidates

Rachel Alexander

Former president Donald Trump held a Save America rally in Mesa, Arizona on Sunday afternoon to support the MAGA slate of candidates he’s endorsed in the state and to talk about the attacks he’s under. He dropped multiple hints at Mesa’s Legacy Sports Park that he may be running for president again in 2024.

Trump said, “We’ll be making a decision soon. I think everyone is going to be really happy.” He added later during the event that he got more votes in 2020 “than any sitting president in history. Now we may just have to do it again. Stay tuned.”

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Trump in Arizona to Push for Lake, Masters

The Center Square

Former President Donald Trump plans to visit Arizona for the second time in three months. 

Trump, who lost Arizona’s electoral votes in his re-election bid, plans to headline a rally on Sunday, Oct. 9, at Legacy Sports Park in Mesa. In Trump’s announcement, he said the rally will be in support of “Kari Lake, Republican Nominee for Governor of Arizona and Blake Masters, Republican Nominee for U.S. Senate in Arizona, and the entire Arizona Trump Ticket.”

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As Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward Alleges Maricopa County Broke the Law in the 2022 Primary Election, Groups Launch Drop Box-Watching Operations

Rachel Alexander

The Arizona Legislature was unable to get a bill passed this year clearly banning unmonitored absentee ballot drop boxes, so local activists are organizing schedules of volunteers to watch them, concerned after reports of unusual activity during the primary election this year. Existing law, A.R.S. 16-1005(E), prohibits absentee ballot drop boxes operated by entities other than the government, but legal disputes remain over how much the government is required to monitor them.

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Poll: Arizona Democrats Riding on Abortion Rights to Make Up for Poor Biden Approval

The Center Square

Democrats in Arizona say they’re more interested in November’s election, with abortion laws becoming their battle cry. But, they will have to outwork President Joe Biden’s mid-term approval ratings.

A recent Arizona Public Opinion Pulse poll from OH Predictive Insights found that 59% of Arizona voters think there should be limits on which abortions should be legal in the state, while just 9% say it should be illegal in all instances; the latter category supports a stricter law than the one that is currently on the books in Arizona. Meanwhile, 41% of voters said abortion should be legal in all circumstances.

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Left Rages at Sinema over Filibuster Support

Peter D'Abrosca

The political left is raging at a U.S. Senator from Arizona who refuses to join her fellow Democrats in abolishing the filibuster. 

“I committed to the 60-vote threshold, it’s been an incredibly unpopular view. I actually think we should restore the 60 vote threshold for the areas in which it has been eliminated already,” Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said in a speech at the University of Louisville during a conference called The Future of Political Discourse and the Importance of Bipartisanship.

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Arizona’s School Choice Expansion Very Likely to Be Halted as Signatures Mount for ESA Blockage

Rachel Alexander

Arizona’s historic legislation expanding school choice to every child in the state appears likely to be placed on hold right now, as a ballot measure aimed at stopping the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) expansion will probably make the 2024 ballot. Save Our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ) said its signature collectors turned in 141,714 signatures for “Stop Voucher Expansion” to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on Friday. Only 118,823 valid signatures were required by Sept. 24, leaving plenty of room for error with bad signatures.

Jenny Clark, the founder of Arizona-based Love Your School and a new appointee to the Arizona State Board of Education whose children participate in the ESAs, told The Arizona Sun Times, “Today 11,000 Arizona students had the opportunity of an ESA put on hold. Every day that a child struggles in a school that’s not working for them is detrimental. But this is far from over. We will be monitoring the signature verification process, and continuing to walk alongside Arizona families and their children.”

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Group Sounds Alarm on Arizona Voting Machine Readers Lacking Accreditation

Rachel Alexander

For the last year and a half, three Arizona activists have been investigating the lack of accreditation of voting machine readers used in Arizona. Concerned that the machines are susceptible to fraud — not just fully electronic voting machines but also electronic voting machine readers that are used with paper ballots here in Arizona — the trio has made several unsuccessful attempts legally to halt their use in the elections this year, as well as calling upon elected officials in the state, executive, and legislative branches for assistance.

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Court Allows Arizona’s Near-Total Abortion Ban to Go into Effect

Admin

Arizona’s Pima County Superior Court lifted an injunction Friday that had prevented enforcement of a state ban on abortion unless necessary to save a mother’s life, allowing the law to go into effect.

The court declared the state measure, now called Arizona Criminal Code § 13-3603, unconstitutional within weeks of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. After Roe v. Wade’s June reversal, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich motioned the Pima County Superior Court to remove the decades-old injunction against enforcing the statute.

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New Super PAC-Funded Ads Arrive to Revive Blake Masters’ Campaign Against Senator Mark Kelly

Rachel Alexander

As Blake Masters pulls to within striking distance of incumbent U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), according to new polling by Trafalgar Group, the Frontiers of Freedom Action (FFA) Super PAC has jumped in to the Arizona media market to buy ads focused on opponent Kelly’s voting record.

The Arizona Sun Times asked Frontiers of Freedom President George Landrith, who also heads the FFA, why he thought the race was still winnable after Masters lost significant financial support. Landrith pointed to the gubernatorial race in New Jersey last year, where the Republican candidate, Jack Ciattarelli, was also a little-known newcomer like Masters, and written off by some in the Republican Party. Ciattarelli surprised everyone, losing by only 3.1 points in a very blue state.

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Grassroots Groups Pressure Arizona Officials to Follow 110 U.S. Counties and Not Use Voting Machines

Rachel Alexander

Voters concerned about election fraud are increasing the pressure on public officials to take additional steps during elections this year to provide additional security, including counting ballots by hand instead of using electronic voting machines for tabulation. Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jim O’Connor sent all Arizona county election officials and sheriffs a letter on August 30 urging the change, and now grassroots organizations are following up with their own campaign.

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Arizona Congressman Urges California to Cut Its Colorado River System Water Use

The Center Square

A U.S. Congressman has a request for California Gov. Gavin Newsom: reduce the state’s use of water from the Colorado River. 

U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, a Phoenix Democrat, penned a letter to Newsom telling him that because the Colorado River system faces becoming a deadpool, it needs every basin state to take action to prevent an economic catastrophe.

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Florida and Arizona Top-Ranked States in Heritage Foundation’s Education Freedom Report Card

Susan Berry, PhD

The Heritage Foundation ranked Florida, followed by Arizona, as the states that most empower parents in their children’s education and support education freedom.

On Friday Heritage published its first Education Freedom Report Card which provides measures of the concept in four categories: school choice, academic transparency, regulation freedom, and spending.

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GOP Support Swells for Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly

Rachel Alexander

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) has lined up numerous endorsements from prominent Arizona Republicans, announcing nearly 50 Republicans and independents behind him in July and over 40 more this month. As a Democrat in a traditionally red state, he is trying to portray himself as a moderate in the race against Trump-endorsed Republican candidate Blake Masters. 

Arizona political consultant Jason Rose told The Arizona Sun Times the endorsements may be very effective, pointing out how well they worked for a previous well-known Arizona Democratic politician and citing the endorsement of Mesa Mayor John Giles. “Former Governor Janet Napolitano reinvented effective Republican receptivity for Democrats,” he said. “Mark Kelly is now following that model. His ads along these lines are designed not for everyone but the narrow slice of swing voters that have and will determine such elections. Having them anchored by the Republican Mayor of one of the largest Republican cities in America is impressive, and will be effective. After all, where is Blake Masters’ Democrat group for him?”

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Arizona Citizens Defense League’s Founding President and Chief Lobbyist Dave Kopp Has Died

Rachel Alexander
David Kopp

Dave Kopp, the longtime lobbyist and founding president of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), a Second Amendment organization in Arizona, passed away at age 56.

Kopp fought cancer for 12 years but succumbed to the illness on August 24. Several people in the Arizona gun industry told The Arizona Sun Times Kopp was responsible for transforming Arizona into the top-ranked state for Second Amendment-friendly laws.

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McConnell-Linked Super PAC Cuts Funding for Blake Masters in Arizona

Admin

A Mitch McConnell-linked Senatorial Republican Super PAC has pulled millions of dollars in ad buys in Arizona, where Trump-backed Blake Masters will likely face a tight race in November.

The Senate Leadership Fund, a group aligned with McConnell, is cancelling ad buys worth nearly $8 million in Arizona, where Masters is running, set for early fall. The ads are about half of what the super PAC bought, leaving the rest to start in early October, according to Politico.

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Kari Lake Accuses Mainstream Media of Biased Coverage, Ignoring Her Homelessness Plan

Rachel Alexander

Kari Lake, the Trump-endorsed former news anchor running for governor in Arizona, expressed frustration about the mainstream media’s failure to cover her comprehensive plan to combat homelessness.

A news search reveals that other than one story in February from KTAR, the mainstream media has ignored her plan. KTAR, a radio station which politically leans right, is not considered a mainstream news outlet.

Lake issued her plan earlier this year.
“You choose to cover bogus stories to try and stir the pot,” Lake told reporters during a press conference about her homelessness policy on Aug. 12, directly addressing Brahm Resnik, a partisan local reporter for Channel 12. “And the people of Arizona are on to it, Brahm, that’s why they’re not watching you. That’s why you have just 2,000 viewers for your 10 o’clock newscast. “We have had this policy out for a number of months now, almost a year as a matter of fact. And none of you, not a single one of you, have tried to cover this story. You get caught up in a bunch of b.s. stories that the public doesn’t care about.” 

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Judges Reject Arguments Challenging Two Progressive Initiatives on Arizona’s Fall Ballot

Rachel Alexander

Two initiatives sponsored by progressives are still on the ballot for now, after judges rejected challenges from conservative groups challenging them. The “Voters Right to Know Act” (VRKA), which adds new disclosure requirements regarding campaign spending, was challenged over submitting incorrect campaign addresses. The “Protection from Predatory Debt Collection Act” (PPDCA), which is backed by a California-based employee union and makes broad changes to debt collecting laws, was challenged for an “inaccurate and misleading” ballot description. Despite the adverse rulings, attorneys say they plan to appeal. 

President Scot Mussi, president of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club which filed the lawsuit against VRKA, said there is another reason the ballot initiative may ultimately fail. “The practical implications of it is that this information will be used to dox, harass and intimidate anyone for supporting various organizations,” he said Monday. He cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision from last year that rejected California’s effort to have nonprofits identify their major donors.

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