Gotta love it when extremist Rs eat other Rs

Maybe the new GOP symbol should be from Medium (note: I don't agree with the author's "both sides" premise. but I like the pic)- 

From Arizona Capitol Times, written by Reagan Priest, dated 6/10 -

Freedom Caucus announces primary challengers for 

Arizona Corporation Commission

Two Republican state representatives announced their plans to challenge two incumbent Corporation Commissioners in 2026, saying the two commissioners have not done enough to support President Donald Trump’s energy agenda and protect ratepayers. 

Reps. David Marshall, R-Snowflake, and Ralph Heap, R-Mesa, were recruited by Arizona Freedom Caucus Chair and state Senator Jake Hoffman to run against Republican commissioners Kevin Thompson and Nick Myers. The two commissioners were first elected in 2022 and are eligible to run for a second term next year.

Note: Ralph Heap is the father of Justin Heap (R-MAGA), the current Maricopa County Recorder.

Hoffman recruited Marshall and Heap to run in the R primary because he feels that Thompson and Myers, as bad as they are, aren't Trumpy enough.

He's also recruited Kimberly Yee, the current (and termed out) AZ state treasurer, to mount a primary challenge to Tom Horne, the incumbent AZ Superintendent of Public Instruction.

He has recruited Rep. Alexander Kolodin to challenge incumbent Democrat Adrian Fontes for AZ Secretary of State.  Kolodin may face a primary is his quest to the R nominee for SOS.

Hoffman has endorsed Andy Biggs in the R primary for governor (Dear Leader hedged his bets and endorsed the two major candidates in that race which kind of obviates that move by Hoffman),  Given Biggs' noted inability to fundraise means that he'll need Hoffman more than the basically self-funding Karrin Taylor Robson will.

In fact, the only race where Hoffman hasn't issued an endorsement (at least, not that I can find) is the race for AZ Attorney General.  Fellow state senator Warren Petersen is running in that one.  Or maybe I should say "Senate President Warren Petersen."

Hoffman isn't likely to do something to tick him off while both are members of the state legislature.

Note: as of this writing, neither Marshall nor Heap have formed committees for their runs at ACC slots; however, both have filed Statements of Interest with the SOS.

Get out your popcorn and watch your wallets: Kimberly Yee is in the race for AZ Superintendent of Public Instruction

From Arizona Agenda, written by Hank Stephenson and Nicole Ludden

Horne gets flanked

The Freedom Caucus slate is almost complete.

Ever since MAGA candidates swept the polls in November, Republican state Sen. Jake Hoffman has been preparing for 2026 by drafting or latching on to Republican candidates to take back the statewide offices the GOP lost in the 2022 midterm election.

Yesterday, Hoffman introduced his newest Freedom-Caucus-backed candidate: Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee.

[snip]

Her angle? Horne is too weak on school vouchers.

On 5/27, she filed a Statement of Interest with the AZSOS.

As of this writing she hasn't formed a new committee/updated an old one for this run.

Yee is looking to unseat Horne in the R primary for Hoffman, who went looking for a viler human being than Horne.

Apparently, he found one in Yee, who has pledged to continue the school voucher grift.

Interestingly, Hoffman, in a tweet on X, referred to the school voucher program as "wildly popular."

From the same article from Arizona Agenda (I'm not on X) -

"Wildly popular"?

Maybe with the people who benefit from the grift.

With the people who pay the freight?

Not so much.

Idle speculation time: Lieutenant Governor

In honor of Republican candidate for governor Karrin Taylor Robson already running TV spots...well more than a year before her primary.

In 2022, Arizona voters approved Proposition 131, which created a Lieutenant Governor (Lt. Governor) position in Arizona politics.

The language is now part of Article 5, Section 1, Paragraph C of the Arizona State Constitution.  The candidates for lt. governor will be named by the candidates for governor before the general election.

It's time for some speculation about who they might name. :)

Note: this is NOT a prediction; my prognostication abilities when it comes to internal R politics are less than optimal

My thinking is that the primary candidate for the will be current state treasurer Kimberly Yee.  She's termed out of the treasurer's slot, and while she may run for governor (again!), my guess is that the only way she gets through a primary with Robson and Andy Biggs is if they split the MAGA vote and she gets the rest.

Probably not gonna happen.

I *do* think that she'd help Biggs more in the general - if nothing else, she's seen as less crazy than him.

On the other hand, if/when he feels it necessary to boost his nutjob bonafides, Kari Lake is available.

On the Democratic side, I have no clue (not even for idle speculation).  Though, I bet that whoever is interested in the gig is busily jockeying both for position and for Governor Katie Hobbs' attention.

Yee is out of the R primary race for governor

According to the stories, at least in part because of the fact that she raised significantly less money than the other R frontrunners in the race (I still think she would have lost the R contest for the nomination, but I've been wrong about R races before :) ).  There *was* a difference between her fundraising totals and those of the others, particularly Steve Gaynor, but it's not what many folks think.

From Yee's report covering 2021 -

From Gaynor's report, of the same period -

The stories like to state that Gaynor is the "money leader," but he's mostly self-funded/trying to buy the job - he injected $5 million of his own money into the campaign.

Given that the job he's seeking would pay ~$380K over 4 years, it seems like a bad investment.

In the interest of being thorough, from Kari Lake's report covering the same period -

In short, Yee seems to have made the correct decision, but not because she's behind Gaynor.

Yee out of the governor's race. Will run for re-election as treasurer instead.

From KJZZ -

Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee drops out of governor's race to focus on reelection

Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee announced Saturday that she will drop out of the race for governor and focus on running for reelection for her current position. 

Yee, a Republican, said in her announcement that there is “more work to be done” as treasurer, but did not offer any additional explanation.

The R disdain for society is not new; Cheeto just made it fashionable for his adherents

Matt Gaetz, Devin Nunes, Ted Cruz, and even Cheeto himself (and others) didn't invent Republican hatred of society; others did it before them.

In June of 2013, in a special session, the Arizona legislature voted to expand eligibility for AHCCCS, what Arizona calls Medicaid.  The vote was not unanimous (not hardly).

The special session bills were HB2010 and SB1009.  HB2010 was later substituted for SB1009 and the AZSenate ended up voting on HB2010.

Every member who voted against it didn't even pretend to represent their constituents (because it helped them) or even Arizonans as a whole (because the expansion benefited them, too), they just argued that "good Republicans" wouldn't vote for it.

In other words, the people opposed to the measure favored their party and ideology over the folks they (allegedly) worked for.

Some of the people are out of the legislature/politics; some are still there; others have moved on to other political positions - Kimberly Yee was the a state senator but is now the state's treasurer and is running for governor, Nancy Barto and Judy Burges are still in the legislature, Michele Reagan was a state senator but then be Arizona Secretary of State and now a Justice of the Peace in north Scottsdale; Kelli Ward was then a state senator and is now chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party; Andy Biggs was then president of the AZSenate and is now a (presumed) treasonous member of Congress; Brenda Barton and Paul Boyer are still in the legislature; Karen Fann is now president of the AZSenate; David Gowan, David Livingston, and Rick Gray are still in the legislature; J.D. Mesnard and Warren Petersen are still in the legislature; Justin Olson was then a state representative and is now a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission; and Kelly Townsend and Michelle Ugenti (now Ugenti-Rita) are also still in the legislature.  Ugenti-Rita is now running for AZ Secretary of State.

Townsend and Ugenti-Rita famously dislike each other, but they are united in their dislike for Arizonans.

In case someone doesn't believe me, or are simply gluttons for punishment, video recordings of previous legislative meeting can be found here.

To watch these meetings, set the dropdown menu to 2013, 51st Legislature, 1st Special Session.

The highlighted vids are the relevant ones.

Statewide candidate update

Is there a legislator who isn't running for higher offiee?

I know there are, but sometimes, it seems that all of them are.

The one Democrat on this list, Aaron Lieberman, is a sitting legislator (LD28).

Shawnna Bolick, is also a sitting legislator, and unlike Lieberman, but like her Republican colleagues, absolutely hates the voters of Arizona.

Steve Gaynor, a Republican businessman and failed 2018 candidate for Arizona Secretary of State, is, for lack of a better word, "colorful".

Current and former legislators running for higher office:

Katie Hobbs (D), Lieberman (D), Kimberly Yee (R), and Matt Salmon (R) are all running for governor.

Diego Rodriguez (D) is running for attorney general.

Reginald Bolding (D), Bolick (R), Mark Finchem (R), and Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R) are all running for secretary of state.

Walt Blackman (R) is running for Congress.

That's 10 so far, but I'm guessing that won't be the final number.

Handicapping the R primary for governor (early edition)

 

No, she's not running in the R primary, but I thought it would be best to lead off with a pic of the person that I think will be the next governor of Arizona.

Let's be clear - after Cheeto won the R primary in 2016, I am loathe to make predictions in an R primary, so I'm not counting anyone out there.

Having said that. my guess is that the R primary for governor of AZ will come down to state treasurer Kimberly Yee and developer Karrin Taylor Robson.

Former TV news anchor Kari Lake, and the others, have a chance, but most of their support seems to be of the "whistling past the graveyard" variety.

Plus, Fife Symington, convicted and pardoned former governor of AZ, and Joe Arpaio, convicted and pardoned former sheriff of Maricopa County AZ, will make their quadrennial flirtations with a run in efforts to garner some media attention.

Yup, it's going to be a crowded R primary, full of folks looking for a chance to replace Dougie.

While one or two big "names" may jump into the race later, right now, it appears that it will come down to Yee and Robson.

And in a race that close, it may come down to endorsements and support from R legislators and Ducey himself.

It would seem that Yee, a former legislator and current associate of Dougie, would seem to have an edge in that area, but don't underrate Robson's ties in this area.

In addition to being the daughter of Carl Kunasek, a long-time member of the legislature and Arizona Corporation Commission, and sister of Andy Kunasek, a former member and chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, before she was a Robson, she helped funnel money to some of the members of the legislature, building relationships there.

And as Republicans, while they may have friendships with Yee, their first loyalty, once and always, is to money.

Don't discount Ragan's presence as treasurer, both here and on Robson's gubernatorial committee.

She's a former staffer for former US Senator Jon Kyl, who was noted for being all about the money, and has ties to Kirk Adams, a former legislator and former chief of staff for Dougie, also noted for being all about the money.

In short, get your popcorn out.  The R primary is going to be interesting, with a lot of back channel calling in of favors and public contortions as R legislators try to have it both ways.

Disclosure time: I assume that the Democratic primary will come down to Katie Hobbs, current Arizona Secretary of State, and someone else (I don't know who yet, but there always is one).

I used to live in her LD and was impressed by her work as a legislator and have been impressed with her work as AZSOS

I've already decided to support her in the primary and have already given a (small) donation to her campaign.

I recommend that readers do the same.