Candidate and campaign committees update

As expected, with the calendar turning to the new year, campaign season is heating up.

...As expected, Democratic state senator Kyrsten Sinema resigned her office and announced that she is running for Congress, most likely in the new 9th Congressional District.  She doesn't live in the district, but under federal law, she only has to live in the state, not the district. 

As of right now, she is the only official candidate in the race, though State Senator David Schapira is exploring a run, and AZ Dem chair Andrei Cherny and others are rumored to be considering a run for the seat also.  Republicans who are rumored to be eyeing the seat include Hugh Hallman, the outgoing mayor of Tempe, and Steve Moak, who lost to Ben Quayle in the CD3 R primary last year.

...Also as expected, Republican Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu officially announced that he is running for Congress, probably in the new CD4.  State Sen. Ron Gould is still officially exploring a run and will announce his decision soon.

Other potential candidates are expected to announce their intentions in the coming days and weeks.

On the legislative front, new candidates/committees include:

Scott Prior of Apache Junction, Libertarian

Matthew Cerra of Mesa, Democrat

Reginald Bolding of Laveen, Democrat

Ed Bunch of Scottsdale, Republican

Ken Cheuvront of Phoenix, Democrat (a former state senator, looking for a return to the Senate)

Douglas Coleman of Apache Junction, Republican

Jean Cheuvront McDermott of Phoenix, Democrat (between her middle/maiden name and the fact that Ken is the chair of her election committee, it's probably a safe guess that she is related to Ken Cheuvront)

Scott Morris of Peoria, Republican

Judy Novalsky of Apache Junction, Republican

Kelly Townsend of Gilbert, Republican (a tea party type, who went to many meetings of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission to berate the commissioners for not producing Republican-friendly maps)

More to come...