Given the adverse presidential playing field, Democrats won a lot of races, nationally and in Arizona, that they easily could have lost, and arguably should have.
Category Archives: State and local
Do bruising defeats mean the end of open primaries as a reform?
Looking at the electoral challenge a little differently.
A big GOP win, but not really a mandate
At both the national and state level, Republicans mostly won seats they should have already held.
Read the column …
An endorsement of non-endorsements
There is a principled argument against newspapers endorsing candidates, although not the one made by Jeff Bezos.
The state of play in the presidential race
Harris has given Democrats a good chance of retaining the presidency. That didn’t seem possible three months ago.
What does it mean for the state if there is a GOP Legislature, or a Democratic one?
There’s a lot for swing voters to weigh this election, beyond which of the specific candidates put before them is the less offensive.
The Arizona political divide: bomb throwers vs. pragmatists who want to govern
Hobbs should consider propounding, before the election, a center-left agenda that doesn’t scare right-leaning swing voters that she would pursue if given a Democratic legislative majority.
State finances are still rickety
This should be a big issue in state legislative races, but won’t be.
An unpersuasive case against the Phoenix PD
Missing context undermines the claim that the Phoenix Police Department should be removed from any measure of democratic control and accountability via a consent decree.
Is immigration the Arizona GOP’s last hurrah?
HCR 2060 is best thought of as a political Hail Mary pass. Substantively, it doesn’t amount to much.