The AZ Political Podcast

The AZ Political Podcast

The AZ Political Podcast takes a look at the latest news and state of politics in Arizona. KTAR News' Jim Sharpe, also host of Arizona's Morning News, speaks with newsmakers each week plus gives his insight.

Most Recent Episode

The AZ Political Podcast

Howie Fischer, Capitol Media Services Chief Correspondent

You probably shouldn’t watch the entire AZ Political Podcast while you're in the voting booth on November 3, but this episode might be good to watch before you vote so you’ll know at least a little about each of the eight propositions you’ll find on your ballot this fall.

For something more in-depth, consider attending KTAR’s “The Issues That Matter Town Hall” on the evening of September 15 at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West. You can join LaDona Harvey, Mike Broomhead, experts and local leaders, and… me! Reserve your (free) spot through KTAR News’ partner Arizona Talks.

But back to the AZ Political Podcast, where Capitol Media Service’s Howie Fischer, who’s covered the Legislature since the ‘80s, goes through each prop with me, revealing the ones he thinks are designed to make our lives better and the ones designed to make Gov. Katie Hobbs look bad — by putting bills she vetoed in front of voters to approve.

And, yes, there are props on this year’s ballot that are designed to do both.

And there are bills that, while carefully designed, can have unintended consequences.

The props, if approved, would do a lot of different things, like:

• Prohibit the government from taxing you based on how much you drive;

• Stop local governments from taxing food sales — without voter approval;

• Forbid schools from allowing people to use a restroom, locker room, or shower area not designated for their (at-birth) sex;

• Ban non-voter-approved traffic photo enforcement systems (a bi-partisan favorite, by the way); and,

• Require most non-rural school districts to spend at least 60% of their budget on “direct instructional expenses.” Interestingly, non-compliance would leave districts with even less money to use anywhere.

I hope you take the time to watch the “Proposition Primer Edition” of the AZ Political Podcast. Just, please, don’t watch it in the voting booth — or while driving a motor vehicle.

That’s something that’s already prohibited by law.

00:33:45

Sep 10, 2026 8:17 PM

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The AZ Political Podcast

Paul Bentz, Vice President of Research at Highground Inc.

How is it possible that Republicans are the ones with a big registration advantage in Arizona, yet it’s a Democrat — Gov. Katie Hobbs — who has the advantage over Republican Congressman Andy Biggs in the race for governor?

This week on the AZ Political Podcast, we pause our parade of politicos to take a look at what you think of the candidates — by peering through a polling lens with Paul Bentz, the vice president of research at political firm Highground Inc.

While Highground’s latest poll shows Hobbs up by 15 percentage points over Biggs — including sizable leads among female (28%) and independent (35%) voters — Paul believes Hobbs’ lead will shrink as we get closer to Election Day. Whether Biggs can hit the finish line with a win depends on his ability to coalesce Arizona Republicans while convincing some independents to come along for the ride.

Currently, only 70 percent of GOP voters back Biggs. The remaining Republicans are divided between the undecideds (14%) and the GOP-ers that Hobbs has in her corner (12%).

Meanwhile, Hobbs enjoys 93 percent support among Democrats.

We also get a chance to look at the favorability ratings of candidates and leaders — from Hobbs and Biggs all the way to the nation’s tippy-top: Trump. And we take a look at how much he’s helping (or hurting) candidates in our state.

No matter which candidates you plan to choose this fall (and whether or not you think your mind can be changed) I hope you choose to catch the AZ Political Podcast — available at KTAR.com, the KTAR News app and everywhere you get your podcasts.

00:22:54

Sep 2, 2026 6:38 PM

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The AZ Political Podcast

Jay Feely, GOP candidate for Congressional District 1

Republican Jay Feely didn’t call his opponent in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District (CD-1), Dr. Amish Shah, a Democratic Socialist — but Feely did pretty much tell me on the AZ Political Podcast that Shah looks, walks and quacks an awful lot like one.

And says it’s “on him (Shah) to say ‘I don’t believe in those policies.’ He hasn’t done it.”

Feely points to Shah campaigning with, and for, Bernie Sanders and having “donated to these groups that advocate for those very policies… well over $30,000 to these groups and you articulate for these groups… the policies that those groups advocate for” as evidence of Shah’s socialist walking and quacking.

But here’s something that’s nice to hear as we head into what will surely be a hard-fought fall in CD-1: While saying that Shah should own up to his socialism, Feely doesn’t go as far as many Republicans in criticizing the people behind the policies.

Feely believes that the Democratic Party policies that he sees as being ineffective — or even making the problem worse— are born with good intent. That’s far different from many in the GOP who I’ve heard suggest that Democratic Party policies are designed to destroy America.

Jay Feely has no desire to get personal or down-and-dirty in the General Election. He got enough of that in the Primary.

He explains: “In the primaries... you're running against people that have similar beliefs, so it becomes very personal because if they're gonna beat you, they're gonna knock you down.” And he says he had to laugh because "right before the primary I was 'not a true Republican', I was a 'gun grabber', I was a 'Bill Clinton lover'… and then as soon as I win the primary, now I'm a MAGA extreme! You know, which one is it?”

I will leave “how MAGA” Jay Feely is, up to you, but when I asked him if he was trying to distance himself from President Trump’s endorsement (which helped him win the Primary but might be a liability in the General Election), Feely said: “I think what voters want most of all is transparency. So, they don't want you to be one way in the primary and then shift and be a different person with different ideals in the General. They want somebody who's gonna be honest about ‘hey this is who I am.’

“So, I'm not gonna try to pretend that President Trump didn't give me an endorsement and that we haven't been friends for the last two decades.” In fact, Feely sees that friendship as an advantage — especially when his viewpoints differ from the President's.

“I've talked to him about water over the last month… saying 'this isn’t a fair [Colorado River] deal for Arizona when the Upper Basin and those states aren't willing to make cuts' and trying to really advocate for our state.

“One of the advantages that I have is the ability to go and communicate with our president and talk to him because we have a friendship.”

A friendship, by the way, that was founded and fostered around golf — which is also something that serves as a sign that you can take the athlete out of the fight but you can’t take the fight out of the athlete: Jay Feely says he always tries to win when he plays the President — fighting spirit that could serve Feely well between now and Nov. 3.

Aug 24, 2026 7:47 PM

The AZ Political Podcast

Kris Mayes, Arizona Attorney General

All I could get incumbent Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) to say about an investigative interview her office is seeking with Gov. Katie Hobbs (D), is that it’s Mayes’ “hope that we get all the answers we need from the governor’s office.”

The investigation surrounds allegations of a play-to-play scheme where Sunshine Residential Homes received a substantial rate increase from the Hobbs administration to operate foster care group homes after Sunshine donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hobbs’ inaugural fund and the state Democratic Party.

When I asked Mayes, my guest this week on the AZ Political Podcast, about the timeline of her office’s investigation, she told me, “We're moving deliberately as we can to get it completed.

“The way I handle all these cases — including the really high-profile ones — is I leave it to the investigators and our prosecutors… to complete the case and to tell me when they’re done. I don’t think it’s my job to rush anything.”

What if that doesn’t happen before the election? Is she worried that if the results don’t favor Hobbs, she’ll be accused of trying to protect a fellow Democrat?

It doesn’t sound like it: “We have prosecuted Democrats. We have prosecuted Republicans [and] independents. We’re going to call this as we see it. Wherever the facts lead us. That’s always the way I have operated.

“What letter is behind somebody’s name never factors into one of our investigations.”

By the way, Mayes and I talk about topics other than the governor — although, mentioning Hobbs’ unwillingness to debate her Republican opponent, Andy Biggs, prompted Mayes to assure me she will definitely debate her Republican opponent, Warren Petersen (my guest last week on the podcast).

Speaking of Republicans, we also discuss her former status as a Republican and which of her conservative principles migrated over when she switched to Democrat in 2019 and how they’ve colored her work as AG.

Also on this AZ Political Podcast:

• Mayes’ latest lawsuit against tariffs, her winning percentage vs. the Trump Administration in court, and whether she regrets filing any of the more-than two dozen lawsuits she’s filed against the President

• Her office joining a multi-state lawsuit against Facebook and Instagram operator Meta that could result in a $1 trillion+ judgment

• If the AG’s office should play a role in combatting illegal immigration

• Why she left a career in journalism to pursue a law degree and enter politics

That’s a path I definitely don’t see for myself. I enjoy doing the AZ Political Podcast way too much.

Aug 18, 2026 6:57 PM

The AZ Political Podcast

Warren Petersen, State Senate President and GOP candidate for AZ Attorney General

Republican Warren Petersen believes the Attorney General’s Office (which he hopes to be elected to on Nov. 3) “should be focused on public safety rather than politics.” And he believes a political focus is what’s motivated incumbent Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes to sue the Trump Administration more than two dozen times.

That’s not to say that Petersen, my guest on the AZ Political Podcast, would be above suing the federal government if he’s elected. He just thinks it should be done with more prudence — and less partisanship.

In fact, Petersen, who currently serves as state Senate president, says he sees the AG’s office as “non-partisan.” And the decision to engage will be based on whether a federal administration “is abiding by the law or not.”

In contrast to his aspirational office, Petersen says his current office and legislative leadership position is partisan but believes that experience would serve him in a “non-partisan” role. That’s because it forced him to compromise with Democrats in order to get any legislation passed — including the state budget.

While we’re on the topic of the state budget, Petersen said that while he has the support of seven different law enforcement associations (and says Mayes has none), I passed along the displeasure I’ve heard from state troopers over the meager amount within the budget for the Department of Public Safety (DPS).

Petersen told me he tried to get more money for DPS but “we put it on the Governor’s desk, and she vetoed it.” I’m guessing that’s the side of compromise that Petersen will not miss. (By the way, he does have the endorsement of the State Troopers Association.)

When asked if he would use the A.G.’s office to investigate the 2020 election, Petersen asked why Democrats are “so obsessed with 2020?” (Something Republicans could be asked too.) And claimed he’s never said Joe Biden didn’t win in 2020 — but he did say, that if elected, he’d focus on “election integrity.”

As for right now, Warren Petersen is focused on the 2026 election — trying to win it.

Aug 13, 2026 6:37 PM

The AZ Political Podcast

Sine Kerr, candidate for Lieutenant Governor and running mate to Andy Biggs

Former state senator Sine Kerr, Republican Andy Biggs’ pick for lieutenant governor on Arizona’s gubernatorial ballot this fall, says, instead of criticizing her on water issues, Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs should be pointing the finger at herself.

Kerr told me on the AZ Political Podcast that Hobbs “too little, too late” water policy means we’ll be getting too little water from the Colorado River to meet the needs of a growing Arizona — a state Kerr has lived in since she was 3 years old (and whose family has farmed in for almost as long).

The old saying, "whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting," isn't about water pistols at pool parties — it's about the age-old tug-of-war over water in the West. And this fall, the fight over Colorado River water won’t just happen among the seven states that share it — it’ll also take place in the political ring of the governor’s race.

Kerr defends her decision to resign from the Governor’s Water Policy Council in 2023 by calling it a “sham of a council” that Hobbs hoped would produce policy of a “predetermined outcome.” She says that Hobbs put “radical environmental groups” that were anti-agricultural on the council — forcing Kerr, a former chair of the state Senate Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee, to quit.

We do talk more about water, but Kerr and I also talk about:

• The border and how cross-border labor affects agriculture

• Her family’s history (which included her mother crossing the border from Mexico)

• Whether gender is important in politics (we’ve had more women governors than any other state, after all)

• Data centers and their place in Arizona’s economy

• Her unusual first name (pronounced like “Tina,” by the way)

I hope you enjoy getting to know Sine Kerr, because whether you’re a fan of her politics or not, she will always have a place in Arizona political history as the first-ever lieutenant-governor nominee.

00:21:01

Aug 6, 2026 6:32 PM

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The AZ Political Podcast

Sine Kerr, candidate for Lieutenant Governor and running mate to Andy Biggs

Former state senator Sine Kerr, Republican Andy Biggs’ pick for lieutenant governor on Arizona’s gubernatorial ballot this fall, says, instead of criticizing her on water issues, Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs should be pointing the finger at herself.

Kerr told me on the AZ Political Podcast that Hobbs “too little, too late” water policy means we’ll be getting too little water from the Colorado River to meet the needs of a growing Arizona — a state Kerr has lived in since she was 3 years old (and whose family has farmed in for almost as long).

The old saying, "whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting," isn't about water pistols at pool parties — it's about the age-old tug-of-war over water in the West. And this fall, the fight over Colorado River water won’t just happen among the seven states that share it — it’ll also take place in the political ring of the governor’s race.

Kerr defends her decision to resign from the Governor’s Water Policy Council in 2023 by calling it a “sham of a council” that Hobbs hoped would produce policy of a “predetermined outcome.” She says that Hobbs put “radical environmental groups” that were anti-agricultural on the council — forcing Kerr, a former chair of the state Senate Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee, to quit.

We do talk more about water, but Kerr and I also talk about:

• The border and how cross-border labor affects agriculture

• Her family’s history (which included her mother crossing the border from Mexico)

• Whether gender is important in politics (we’ve had more women governors than any other state, after all)

• Data centers and their place in Arizona’s economy

• Her unusual first name (pronounced like “Tina,” by the way)

I hope you enjoy getting to know Sine Kerr, because whether you’re a fan of her politics or not, she will always have a place in Arizona political history as the first-ever lieutenant-governor nominee.

00:21:01

Aug 6, 2026 6:31 PM

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The AZ Political Podcast

Dr. Terry Ruiz, democratic candidate for state superintendent of public instruction

As someone who started her career as a 7th grade math teacher, Dr. Terry Ruiz is hoping the numbers work in her favor in this November’s General Election for Superintendent of Public Instruction — when she’ll face state Treasurer Kimberly Yee, the Republican nominee.

The numbers certainly added up for Ruiz in the Democratic Primary Election: She beat Brett Newby, her challenger in that race, by nearly 60 percentage points and with almost twice as many votes.

Ruiz, my guest on this week’s AZ Political Podcast, is also hoping that she can make the numbers line up to increase spending on public education in Arizona.

And get the math a little more in line when it comes to how she feels money should be spent through Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program — but she didn’t express a desire to end ESAs. Instead, she says she just wants to “follow the rules.”

Interestingly, when prompted, she admitted the state superintendent has somewhat limited power to affect change. For instance, she can’t increase spending on Arizona schools — that’s the job of the Legislature.

She can’t pay teachers more — that’s something determined by the state budget and individual schools and districts.

And, she can’t really add staff to the Department of Education — but, she says, good administrators move staff into place to focus on the problems at hand and she sees overspending within the ESA program — and underspending on public education — as problems.

Her other priorities include setting up an office for rural and small schools; working on teacher retention and getting more certified teachers in classrooms; and, she wants to see Arizona’s 13 Career and Technical Education districts expand their programs.

As someone who is a product of Arizona’s K-12 and post-secondary educational systems — and as someone who has served within both those systems (including her last job as president of Glendale Community College), Terry Ruiz believes she’s not only up for the job of superintendent, but she also has the education under her belt to help do it.

Aug 4, 2026 4:0 AM

The AZ Political Podcast

Chuck Coughlin, president and CEO of High Ground Consulting

Even though the color of Arizona’s statewide offices were 100-percent ruby-red Republican at the completion of 2010’s election cycle, could 2016 see a complete color change to through-and-through blue?

That’s a possibility laid out by political consultant Chuck Coughlin, my guest this week on the AZ Political Podcast. The fact that Chuck — who oversaw Republican Gov. Jan Brewer’s 2010 win (the start of that four-year run of Republican rule) — makes this prospect of a bounty of blue all the more intriguing.

It all boils down to whether Democratic disdain for Donald Trump drives them to the polls. And whether enough independents come along for a ride in their blue car.

On the “Primary Postmortem/Preview and Pivot to the General Election” edition of the AZ Political Podcast, Chuck does make a prediction: incumbent Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs will refuse to debate her Republican opponent, Andy Biggs, this fall — a repeat nonperformance of 2022 when she refused to debate Republican Kari Lake.

We also take a look at Arizona’s high-profile congressional races for 2026: wondering how the national Democratic party failed so miserably with its backing of losing primary candidate Marlene Galán-Woods in the 1st Congressional District (CD1) and asking if Amish Shah, the CD1 Democratic winner, can rise to the occasion this time and beat Republican Jay Feely? (That's something he failed to do against Republican David Schweikert in 2024.)

In the southeast Valley’s 5th Congressional District (CD5), we ponder if the Republican winner, former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, will continue to “give the Heisman” to the Press when they press him on his sexual misconduct allegations? Is CD5 so red that Democrat Elizabeth Lee doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in a Gilbert summer — leading to Lamb never having to talk about his alleged history of dirty talk?

Get caught up on what the big races will be on the AZ Political Podcast. Then buckle up and, please, keep your hands inside the ride at all times — because Arizona’s 2026 midterm elections will be a wild ride.

Jul 23, 2026 9:9 PM

The AZ Political Podcast

Stan Barnes, Copper State Consulting, & Stacey Pearson, co founder of Lumen Strategies

Could something that was once unthinkable: Republican Rep. Andy Bigg’s 5th Congressional District flipping to Democratic control, become a reality? And could it come true due to Republican infighting?

With 2026’s Primary Election fast approaching (it’s this Tuesday, July 21), Stacy and Stan, my favorite politically polar-opposite tactician twosome, join me for a special A-Z Political Podcast Primary Preview.

I get Democratic political consultant Stacy Pearson of Lumen Strategies and Republican strategist Stan Barnes of Copper State Consulting to make a few predictions and give their insight into the races (realistically) still being run.

This is a fascinating question: what effect will Republican Daniel Keenan’s ad campaign have in 5th Congressional District’s primary? Will it help him make inroads on the GOP's primary frontrunner, former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb?

Will Keenan’s ubiquitous ads (featuring sexual misconduct allegations against Lamb) result in a Keenen win — or simply leave Lamb limping so badly into the General Election that the southeast Valley district flips Democrat?

That might have been the most “out there” prediction of the podcast, but there are plenty of other riveting races we look at, including:

• The Democratic and Republican primary races in the northeast Valley’s 1st Congressional District, where Democrats Amish Shah and Marlene Galán Woods and Republicans Jay Feely and Joseph Chaplik are battling it out in their respective primaries to replace David Schweikert in Congress.

• The Attorney General’s race — where former Democrat Rodney Glassman is trying to secure the GOP nomination by throwing a lot of shade on state Senate President Warren Petersen hoping to face Democrat Kris Mayes in the fall.

• The race for state superintendent of schools — where sitting supe Tom Horne is being “primaried” by fellow Republican (and current state treasurer) Kimberly Yee in a race that’s gotten a bit nasty.

Check out the AZ Political Podcast, so after the Primary you can give Stacy and Stan a bad time about what they got wrong — as long as you ignore my mistakes.

Jul 16, 2026 4:0 AM

The AZ Political Podcast

Andy Biggs, US representative and candidate for AZ Governor

Jim Sharpe sits down with Congressman Andy Biggs with less than two weeks to go until the primary election for Arizona governor. Biggs discusses his campaign strategy, the urgent need to combat Medicare and Medicaid fraud within the state's recovery industry and how he manages to balance a statewide campaign with his duties in D.C. He also shares his Day 1 vision for reaching across the aisle to work on unifying issues such as water conservation, power generation and data center regulations.

Jul 9, 2026 7:36 PM

The AZ Political Podcast

Carine Werner, Arizona State Senator

Seeing Democrats and Republicans work together “really well” — even “collaboratively" — in an election year, is not only encouraging, but it can also give you faith in our system of government. Too bad that getting to this place politically requires tackling an issue awful enough that it can cause one to lose faith in humanity.

Republican state Senator Carine Werner told me on the AZ Political Podcast this week that Arizona’s child welfare system is so broken that trying to reform it was daunting and an all-hands-on-deck (Rs and Ds) approach was necessary. And so were 13 new laws.

Werner fills us in on what those laws attempt to reform and fix: the Department of Child Safety (DCS); runaway prevention; foster care group home supervision; cooperation between the state of Arizona and the state’s sovereign tribes; and how the abuse of children is reported as well as how those reports are received — and acted upon.

But Werner feels there’s more work to be done, saying, “We don’t want to take our eyes off the ball, we want to continue to work on this.”

One of the things she says she’d like to undertake in the next legislative session is staffing, retention, and pay for DCS workers. She knows the job they do leads to high burnout, leaving DCS with little institutional knowledge to train the next generation of workers.

There’s no way this gets fixed overnight, but if you’d like to insert a dose of hope in your life by hearing how there are people who actually care about what happens to Arizona’s most vulnerable children — and then sprinkle on a little extra hope by seeing that our elected leaders can work together when necessary — please take the time to watch this edition of the AZ Political Podcast.

Jun 30, 2026 4:0 AM

The AZ Political Podcast

Marlene Galán-Woods, candidate for CD1

Will the second time be the charm for Marlene Galán-Woods? Will her second attempt to win the Democratic nomination in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District (CD-1) lead to her being Arizona’s second Latina in Congress? (Adelita Grijalva became the first when she won last year’s special election in CD-7.)

Galán-Woods won’t get the chance if she comes in second to Amish Shah, the Democrat who won 2024’s CD-1 Primary. (Shah went on to lose the General Election to Republican David Schweikert.)

Shah and two other men, Rick McCartney and Johnathan Treble, will be sharing a debate stage with Galán-Woods Tuesday night.

Galán-Woods tells me on this week’s AZ Political Podcast that with Schweikert out of the CD-1 picture (he’s running for governor), Democrats’ chances of flipping the seat have greatly increased. And she argues that she represents her party’s best chance to beat whomever the Republicans nominate in the CD-1 race.

On the podcast, Galán-Woods also discusses her personal journey: starting out as the daughter of poor Cuban immigrants to realizing her dream of being a broadcast journalist.

And she shares her political journey: what caused her to go from being a solid Cuban-American Republican to a Democrat worthy of receiving the endorsement of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Even though this was my first time interacting in the media with Marlene Galán-Woods, in the interests of full disclosure, I should mention I was friends with her late husband, former Republican Attorney General Grant Woods — who took a similar political journey before his death in 2021.

Jun 22, 2026 2:0 PM

The AZ Political Podcast

Stan Barnes, Copper State Consulting

Nothing’s more important on Arizona’s political calendar this week than the Republican gubernatorial debate. So much so that not only will KTAR News carry it live on-air and online (at 6 PM Wednesday), doing a preview of the debate on the latest AZ Political Podcast was a no-brainer.

I also didn’t have to use much brain power to pick the guest for this topic: Republican political consultant Stan Barnes, who is long-time friends with the two top candidates fighting to face Democratic incumbent Gov. Katie Hobbs this fall, Congressmen Andy Biggs and David Schweikert.

With so many similarities between Schweikert and Biggs, Stan believes they won’t debate policy — nor does he think there’ll be any personal attacks between the two. So, he thinks the debate will come down to one thing: a candidate’s electability versus Hobbs.

Stan tells me that, at his core, Shweikert believes he is the guy to hobble Hobbs and that if he loses the nomination (the direction polling is pointing), Hobbs not only beats Biggs, that defeat could also lead to Democratic majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature — a political place Arizona hasn’t been in since 1966.

For those who think it’s unfair that lower-tier candidates don’t ever get mentioned, Stan and I do talk about Ken Miceli and Scott Neely: two East Valley businessmen who will be on the GOP ballot and the debate stage with Biggs and Schweikert.

Stan thinks they’ll likely have their biggest impact on Wednesday night when he presumes they’ll go after the front-runner, Biggs. Will they score enough points to move Schweikert up? Or will they just make it look like it’s three against one?

You can get answers by watching the debate on KTAR.com, but I’d suggest doing that after you watch the pre-game show: the AZ Political Podcast.

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Jun 16, 2026 4:0 AM

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The AZ Political Podcast

Stacey Pearson, co founder of Lumen Strategies

Will you get to decide if firing squads will be part of a list prisoners can choose from when they’re executed in Arizona? How do you feel about mail-in voting? Would you vote by mail to enshrine into the Arizona constitution the right to vote by mail?

Those are just a couple of the dozens of examples of what you could be voting on this year. That’s because Arizona is one of a handful of states where you get to be a quasi-legislator and partake in direct democracy by creating (or rejecting) laws in the voting booth.

On this week’s AZ Political Podcast, I get to talk with political consultant Stacy Pearson of Lumen Strategies not only about the ballot measures you could see this fall, but also the four types of ways they end up on ballots: two that are initiated by citizens and two that are referred by the Legislature to voters.

Stacy’s firm is engaged in trying to get an initiative called the “Constitutional Right to Early and Mail-in Voting Amendment” on Arizona’s ballot and there are some big hurdles to get there: State law requires that almost 384,000 signatures need to be gathered (and tens of thousands of extras to make up for those ineligible to sign) and submitted by July 2. And there are potential legal challenges to the signatures as well as challenges to the wording of the initiative.

Whew! It takes a lot of initiative to get an initiative in front of voters.

We also discuss what happens when two opposing ballot measures pass; how it’s possible for two similar ballot measures to split the vote and both fail; and the electoral track record of ballot measures.

Initiatives and referendums make for fascinating politics because it’s voters making government “of the people” and “by the people” by bringing “power to the people” to create law.

Jun 11, 2026 4:0 AM

The AZ Political Podcast

Daniel Keenan, Republican candidate for Arizona's 5th Congressional District (CD-5)

For Republicans. Daniel Keenan is the "Mark Lamb alternative" in Arizona's 5th Congressional District. Keenan joins Jim Sharpe for the AZ Political Podcast where they discuss his reasoning to run for office, his background, and the recent Mark Lamb controversy.

Jun 3, 2026 12:9 PM

The AZ Political Podcast

Andy Biggs, US representative and candidate for AZ Governor

Do Andy Biggs' connections in Washington and Mexico make him a good candidate for Arizona's top job? Joining the AZ Political Podcast is Rep Andy Biggs who says he will use these connections to improve relations with our southern neighbor.

May 26, 2026 8:30 PM

The AZ Political Podcast

Chuck Coughlin, president and CEO of High Ground Consulting

Will Arizona's 1st congressional district seat flip democratic in the July 21 primary? Chuck Coughlin joins the AZ Political Podcast with Jim Sharpe to discuss what he says will be a very interesting race.

May 21, 2026 4:0 AM

The AZ Political Podcast

John Trobough, candidate for Arizona's 1st congressional district

Technology executive John Trobough joins The AZ Political Podcast with Jim Sharpe to discuss his run for Congress in Arizona's 1st District. He breaks down his views on artificial intelligence, data privacy, and how he plans to apply his tech background to legislation on Capitol Hill.

May 12, 2026 4:0 AM

The AZ Political Podcast

David Schweikert, U.S. representative and candidate for Arizona Governor

If he was already governor, Republican Congressman David Schweikert says he might not have signed the Republican budget that Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs just vetoed. Schweikert joined Jim Sharpe to discuss his race for Governor.

May 7, 2026 4:0 AM

The AZ Political Podcast

John Cohen, Former Undersecretary for Intelligence at DHS

Former Undersecretary for Intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security John Cohen joins the AZ Political Podcast with Jim Sharpe to discuss how rhetoric is leading to political violence ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Apr 30, 2026 7:28 PM

The AZ Political Podcast

Mike Noble, CEO of Noble Predictive Insights

Pollster Mike Noble dives into why Republican Congressman David Schweikert should suspend his campaign for governor, endorse fellow Congressman Andy Biggs, and ask for the lieutenant governor nomination. Schweikert should do all this in order to save the GOP’s chances of wresting the Governor’s office from Democrat Katie Hobbs.

Apr 23, 2026 7:57 PM

The AZ Political Podcast

Kevin Sartor, mayor of Surprise

The mayor of Surprise, AZ joins the Arizona Political Podcast with Jim Sharpe this week. Kevin Sartor goes in depth on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility coming to his city.

Apr 16, 2026 4:0 AM

The AZ Political Podcast

Greg Stanton, Arizona congressman

Congressman Greg Stanton joins the AZ Political Podcast at what he calls an “incredibly serious moment” in American history. Stanton reacts to President Trump’s actions toward Iran, calling the situation an unauthorized war and warning that threats of total destruction are reckless and unacceptable.

Apr 7, 2026 7:10 PM

The AZ Political Podcast

Juan Ciscomani, Arizona representative

S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Arizona, talks tight elections, Department of Homeland Security funding negotiations, and bringing both parties together for Arizona's water future. He's this week's guest on the AZ Political Podcast with Jim Sharpe.

Mar 25, 2026 9:42 PM