(Updated) SWAG List of Arizona State Candidates in 2018

 The candidate petition challenges are now completed, and write-in candidates who qualified for the primary election have been added by the Secretary of State.

Early voting for the August 28 primary is currently underway. “No Party Preference” voters, so-called “independents,” who tend not to vote in primary elections must request a ballot for the party primary in which you want to vote (you cannot vote across party primaries). Vote!

The primary election is Tuesday, August 28, 20i8.

Arizona Legislature

District 1

Jo Craycraft (D) Senate (CCE)
Karen Fann (R) Senate
Ed Gogek (D) House (CCE)
Jan Manolis (D) House (CCE)
Noel Campbell (R) House
Jodi Rooney (R) House
David Stringer (R) House

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Preliminary Citizens Clean Elections Debate Schedule

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission has announced its preliminary debate schedule. The schedule is subject to further change. Be sure to check back at the Citizens Clean Elections web site.

Legislature

Monday, June 11, 6:00 p.m.: LD 30 Clean Elections Debate at Glendale Civic Center – Glendale.

Tuesday, June 12, 6:00 p.m.: LD 24 Clean Elections Debate at Hampton Inn Biltmore – Phoenix.

Wednesday, June 13, 6:00 p.m.: LD 22 Clean Elections Debate at Hampton Inn – Surprise.

Thursday, June 14, 6:00 p.m.: LD 15 Clean Elections Debate at Hilton Garden Inn – Phoenix.

Friday, June 15, 6:00 p.m.: LD 20 Clean Elections Debate at Thunderbird School – Phoenix.

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(Update) SWAG List of Arizona State Candidates in 2018

The candidates listed below managed to collect enough signatures to file to run with the Arizona Secretary of State as of the filing deadline of May 30, 2018.

There could be legal challenges filed to the petitions of some candidates. There could also be write-in candidates who may qualify for the primary ballot. The list also does not include independent candidates who may qualify for the general election ballot.

The GOP culture of corruption runs so deep in Arizona that several shameless GOP candidates who were disgraced are actually running for office again. Fired Department of Economic Security Director Tim Jeffries has filed to run for the state House. Rep. Don Shooter, who was expelled by his colleagues earlier this year for sexual harassment, is running to get his old Senate seat back. Former House Speaker David Gowan, who traveled the state on the public’s dime while running for Congress in 2016 and raised eyebrows with promotions, construction, and pay hikes while speaker, is running again for the state Senate. And Ken “Birther” Bennett, who as Secretary of State demanded proof of President Obama’s birth certificate for eligibility on the ballot in 2012, is running for governor against Doug Ducey, the ice cream man hired by Koch Industries to run their Southwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Arizona, financing him with a record amount of “dark money” in 2014. These are just the highly publicized instances of corruption. If we start digging, we will find more.

You can make a $5 contribution to a  Citizens Clean Elections (CCE) candidate on the Arizona Secretary of State’s E-Qual page.

The primary election is Tuesday, August 28, 2018.

Arizona Legislature

District 1

Jo Craycraft (D) Senate (CCE)
Karen Fann (R) Senate
Ed Gogek (D) House (CCE)
Jan Manolis (D) House (CCE)
Noel Campbell (R) House
Jodi Rooney (R) House
David Stringer (R) House

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CD 8 Special General Election Results

Arizona Secretary of State is reporting that the Special General Election for CD 8 (unofficial) results are: Debbie Lesko (R)   91,390  52.6% Hiral Tipirneni  (D)  82,318  47.4% Voter turnout was 38.3 % of the 455,660 registered voters in CD 8.  This vacancy occurred when long-time Republican Congressman Trent Franks resigned in December, 2017 after … Read more

Kris Kobach and his ‘proof of citizenship’ law on trial

GOP voter suppression specialist, Kris Kobach, is unbelievably the Secretary of State of Kansas. He is the author of  the so-called “Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act,” Prop. 200 in 2004, provisions of which require proof of citizenship to register to vote and presenting a photo I.D. to receive a ballot.

In 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sitting en banc in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council, held that the requirement to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote is invalid as preempted by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) — but the requirement to provide voter identification at the polling place is valid. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in a 7-2 decision, with Justice Antonin Scalia delivering the Court’s opinion, the Ninth Circuit’s ruling that Arizona’s proof of citizenship requirement is preempted by the NVRA.

Kris Kobach had enacted a similar law in Kansas, the Kansas Secure and Fair Elections (SAFE) Act in 2011.

The response of Kobach to the Supreme Court ruling, along with a series of hanger-on Arizona Secretaries of State, all Republicans, was to set up a dual voter registration system, one for the NVRA federal voter registration form which would allow citizens to vote only in federal races (denying them their right to vote in state and local races),  and one for state voter registration forms, that require proof of citizenship, and allow voter to vote in all races and ballot measures.

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