On May 14, the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission held a debate for the Republican candidates in LD3.
This post will focus only on the candidates for State Senate there. However, I recommend watching the entire thing, especially if you live in the district (I don't). If you don't, I further recommend that anyone living in another district watch the debates for your district, regardless of you partisan affiliation (or non-affiliation). Some of these people will end up on your ballot.
This "debate" was moderated by Hank Stephenson of the Arizona Agenda. "Debate" is in quotes because it was done remotely - all three folks (the two candidates and one moderator) were in different places. Stephenson did a fine job.
No prediction on the outcome of the primary will be forthcoming - I usually apply filters to R races that I apply to D races, and that's the wrong thing to do.
Also, no comments on the staging (the incumbent made sure to wear the Arizona-shaped pin given to legislators to ID them at the Capitol while the challenger was in a room filled with books - pics later).
The incumbent is John Kavanagh while the challenger in Robert Wallace.
While I don't live in the district or am a Republican (shocking, I know 🤯 ), I watched this because I expected there to be some real nuggets here. I was right.
The debate was recorded and is available on YouTube. When a time is given, that's based on the video record.
Wallace is challenging Kavanagh, one of the most conservative members of the legislature, from the right.
He's a 9-11 truther. 'Nuff said.
Kavanagh is NOT the lousiest human being in the lege, though, with a membership like that, that's like saying that a burst appendix is better than cancer.
That may be true, but both are still bad.
First off, Kavanagh heartily believes that he's not there to represent the people of his district. When he takes a position on an issue that differs from that of the majority, they're just uninformed.
52.35
"First of all, I'm not sure if anybody could ever know how a majority of the voters feel about any issue, there's not really polling like that."
53.04
"Now, there may be some situations where a majority might disagree with my position but sometimes that's because the voters don't have all the facts. Sometimes that's because the news coverage was wrong or slanted or or biased or or incomplete."
He also believes that democratically-elected municipal councils aren't allowed to work to protect the residents of their municipalities from the federal government.
56.25
"The city council has no authority to stop [an ICE] detention facility from occurring. The federal government is not beholden to local zoning ordinances."
He may want to be careful about that last - if a Democratic administration is elected in 2028 an decides to put a toxic waste dump in his back yard, he may not be able to stop it.
Though he might like it - toxic waste dumps and ICE have one thing in common.
They poison everything around them.
He's also one the legislators who believe that funding for public education should be held hostage for ESAs/school vouchers.
"Open to a clean extension of prop 123, as long as there's no ballot threat to ESAs.. I would be open to that, but only if there was not a threat at the ballot that these groups are doing to ESAs."
"ESAs make education better and greater in Arizona"
1.21.26
"I would consider next year, a straight-up Ducey-style 123 if the initiatives did not go on the ballot that people are proposing to dismantle or weaken ESAs.. If that were to happen, then perhaps the 123 needs to go up with some sort of ESA protections next year."
And the 2020 election? Wallace thinks it was stolen from Cheeto, and Kavanagh was more circumspect, but...
1.29.10
Stephenson: Do you believe your ballot was accurately and correctly counted in the 2020 election?
1.29.50
"I think there are a tremendous number of irregularities that caused a lot of concern and doubt. As to my ballot, I really have no way of knowing."
1.30.00
Stephenson "Tremendous concern and doubt". Where do you fall on this? Do you think that the 2020 election was accurately and fairly called for President Joe Biden or do you think that Donald Trump won that one?
"I don't know. I'm not prepared to say that the vote count was accurate but I don't have evidence to prove that it wasn't. But clearly, it was a wake up call for the need for election security. [Garbled]If not for actual security, to make sure the appearance of impropriety doesn't taint elections, too."
Kavanagh closed by urging people to vote for him.
Don't make Arizona California. I ask that you vote John Kavanagh for State Senate.
Arizona only wishes it was California.
From the Orange County Register, dated May 2nd -
California economy vs. Trump: What GDP tells us
California’s economy, as measured by gross domestic product, did surprisingly well in the first year of the second Trump administration.
My trusty spreadsheet looked at the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ tally of business output growth for the states and found that California’s GDP was up 2.4% for 2025.
That was the 11th-best performance among the states and topped the 2% expansion of the national economy.
From the Public Policy Institute of California -
California is an economic powerhouse, nationally and globally.
- In 2025, California’s GDP was $4.3 trillion, comprising 14% of national GDP ($30.7 trillion). Texas and New York are the next-largest state economies at 9% and 8%, respectively.
- California’s economy ranks fourth internationally as of 2024, behind the US, China, and Germany. On a per capita basis, California’s GDP is greater than all of these countries.
- California’s economy grew relatively fast in the second half of the last decade, but it has slowed since (4.1% annually from 2015–2019; 3.0% from 2020–2025). By comparison, Florida (5.4%) and Texas (5.0%) have grown faster than California since 2020.
- Over the past 25 years, California’s economy has grown faster than the nation overall (90% vs. 69%) but not faster than other large states like Texas (130%) or Florida (101%). However, on a per capita basis, California’s economic growth has outpaced all other large states over the long term.
Oh, and the staging -
