The AZ Political Podcast

This week puts us exactly one year away from the 2026 General Election — when you’ll pick the people you think should serve in the top five governmental offices in Arizona, as well as a midterm election that’ll determine if President Trump gets more — or less — help in the House of Representatives. Adrian Fontes joins the podcast to discuss how secure our elections will be. 

Congressional District 5 is looking for a new representative as Andy Biggs runs for governor. Mark Lamb, former Pinal County sheriff, sits down with Jim Sharpe breaking down his decision to run for the open seat. 

Former Congressman, Matt Salmon, joins the AZ Political Podcast with Jim Sharpe to talk all things governement shutdown. The two discuss how Salmon was in Congress the last time a complete federal budget was passed, what they think will pull us out of this shutdown and when it might end. 

Jim Rounds breaks down the difference between the money that’ll be lost to Arizona’s economy permanently — and the spending that will simply be postponed — compliments of the government shutdown shutdown.

Arizona U.S. Congressman David Schweikert sits down with Jim Sharpe to explain his decision to leave Washington D.C. and run for governor in Arizona

On this weeks episode of the AZ Political Podcast, Jim Sharpe welcomes Charlene Fernandez, the newly elected Arizona Democratic Party Chair. The two talk about the chairwoman's experience that has led to her being elected, what has kept her busy so far, and much more.

Former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard joined the AZ Political Podcast with Jim Sharpe to discuss the indictment of former FBI director James Comey and Arizona’s water future.

On this week episodes of the AZ Political Podcast, Jim Sharpe sits down with Mike Noble, the man in charge of the polling firm, Noble Predictive Insights. The two talk about the Republican Primary, how the party a voter is in does more to determine that they think should be taught in school, Republican attitudes toward election integrity, and much more.

The assassination of Arizona resident and conservative activist Charlie Kirk is the topic of this AZ Political Podcast episode. Former Arizona U.S. Senator and founding director the the ASU Insititute of Politics, Jeff Flake, sat down with Jim Sharpe to discuss political violence in America.  

On this episode of the AZ Political Podcast, Jim sits down with political consultant Emily Ryan where they talk all things lobbyist. Emily explains that there is a good chance YOU are represented by a lobbyist and why lobbying is not nearly as bad as it sounds

Two weeks ago on the AZ Political Podcast, we had Andy Biggs talk about what he would do if he were elected Governor. Now, Republican primary rival, Karrin Taylor Robson gets her chance to do the same. Robson talks about her endorsement from President Trump, wanting to create a "voting holiday", and much more.

On this weeks episode of the AZ Political Podcast, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne gets the chance to respond to his Republican primary opponent, Kimberly Yee. Yee had made comments about Horne's ability to do his job on a previous episode of the AZ Political Podcast.

Rep. Andy Biggs joins the AZ Political Podcast with Jim Sharpe to discuss his run for Governor of Arizona.

Both U.S. Senators for Arizona are hosting town halls and other speaking events in states across the country, sparking rumors of potential of Presidential campaigns in the 2028 election. Political journalist, Jon Gabriel sits down with Jim Sharpe to talk about the probability Ruben Gallego or Mark Kelly heading to the White House.

If you've never heard a breakdown of the numbers behind the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office federal oversight case, you have to hear them on this week's AZ Political Podcast. Jim Sharpe sits down with Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan to talk about these numbers, as well as MCSO's compliance score, and even a little bit of the Sherrif's personal life.

On today's episode of the AZ Political Podcast, Democratic political consultant with Lumen Strategies, Stacy Pearson sits down with Jim Sharpe to discuss Adelita Grijalva winning the Congressional District 7 special primary election. They also discuss problems within the Arizona Democratic party, and if Gallego has a real shot at Presidency.

On today's episode of Arizona's Political Podcast, Chuck Coughlin, president and CEO of HighGround Inc, joins Jim Sharpe to talk about Elon Musk's dreams of a third American political party. Coughlin explains how it is seemingly impossible to create a successful third political party. The two also discuss recent rumors about Sen. Gallego running for President.

How do we feel about President Trump? How different are our answers when we’re asked to rate him based on his immigration policies versus his economic policies? What do we think of Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs? And how does she stack up against her likely Republican opponents (Andy Biggs and Karrin Taylor Robson) in next year’s race to be governor? Jim Sharpe sits down with Mike Noble of Noble Predictive Insights who shares the results of his most recent polling. 

Matt Salmon joined Jim Sharpe on this week's political podcast to discuss the President's "Big Beautiful Bill," as well as the president's recent policies and the dysfunction in Congress and among the parties. 

The Arizona Democratic Party could end up with a change at the top — prompted by top elected Democrats in Arizona — because they aren’t very fond of the way state chair Robert Branscomb has been running things. Democratic political consultant Tony Cani joined Jim Sharpe on this week's AZ Political Podcast to discuss the party's infighting. 

Political consultant Matt Kenney joined the podcast this week to discuss the already underway republican race for Governor in Arizona and who will run to be Arizona's first lieutenant governor. 

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes joined the AZ Political Podcast with Jim Sharpe and explained why she's already sued the Trump administration 13 different times. Mayes also discussed how she’s going about punishing people and reovering some of the $2.5 billion dollars lost in Arizona’s fake rehab/sober living scandal. Sharpe also asked Mayes what she still finds attractive about her old Republican party and its principles. 

On this episode of the AZ Political Podcast with Jim Sharpe, senate president Warren Petersen updates on progress to pass legislation that speeds up Arizona’s slow ballot counting process; tackle the state’s major water issues; increase education funding (including teacher pay); and find new funding for public safety.

Danny Seiden, the president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, discusses whether the new tariffs from President Donald Trump will cause Arizona’s fortunes to rise or fall and whether they could lead to future fallout for candidates representing the party of the president who implemented them.