Candidate updates -

In the "not surprised by the move, just that it took so long" department:

- Embattled Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination in the CD4 primary.  Maybe it was being outed as gay (the kiss of death to a political career in Republican circles), maybe it was threatening to use his position to have his ex deported (an allegation that Babeu has denied, but not exactly helpful to any variety of political career), or maybe it was the investigation into whether Babeu had his deputies campaign for him (the loss of a political career pales next to a possible loss of freedom if the investigation into that goes poorly for Babeu), but his exit from the race was a matter of "when", not "if".

In the "we wish he would just get the message already department" or the "don't go away mad, just go away" department:

- Rumors have spread that former state legislator Russell Pearce is dropping out of the Republican primary in LD25.  However, he has denied that and as of this writing, he is still in the race.

In the "who?" department:

David Crowe, a Republican-turned-Democrat, has dropped his primary challenge to Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva.


In other news, other candidates are dropping, dropping off nominating petitions at the Arizona Secretary of State's office.

State Senator and CD9 Congressional candidate David Schapira delivering his petitions to the AZSOS.  He's the first CD9 candidate to do so (picture courtesy the Schapira campaign)







The full list of candidates who have submitted nominating petitions to the AZSOS is here.  Some of the highlights:

- Former state senator Ken Cheuvront submitted his sigs on May 8.  He's running for a return to the state senate in the new LD24.  Current state representative Katie Hobbs is also running for that seat.

- Current state representative John Fillmore submitted his sigs for the LD16 Senate race on May 11.  Current state senator Rich Crandall is also running in that district.

- Current member of Congress David Schweikert beat current member of Congress Ben Quayle...in the race to submit sigs, doing so on April 30.


The list of Maricopa County candidates who have submitted sigs is here;