Phoenix Democrat Joe Downs easily has the coolest campaign pledge of this election cycle. “If you elect me county treasurer,” he promises in a recent YouTube video, “Russell Pearce is fired on Day One.” For those new to school, the 35-year-old Downs is referring to former state Senate President Russell…
Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell is sending the results of the August 30 primary election for certification this morning, without first checking to see if she actually lost her job. In theory, a judge’s ruling on Friday in the lawsuit by Congressional District Five candidate Christine Jones could have meant…
Doubts as to whether the Democratic Party sincerely believes it has a strong future in Arizona – not just this November but in elections beyond – might be put to rest later today, when, New Times has learned, the national party will announce a new, long-term effort to strengthen its place in Arizona…
The lawsuit against the state by Arizona Congressional candidate Christine Jones has exposed a serious flaw in Maricopa County election policy, and more votes will be added to the total, a judge ruled on Friday. Jones, who is running in Congressional District 5, sued the state and county after last…
Third-party candidates rarely impact the outcome of a presidential election, yet in almost every political cycle, they’re typically cast as “spoilers,” and their supporters are chastised for “throwing away” their votes. But in a year like 2016 — a year that is anything but typical and one in which both…
The Log Cabin Republicans are accusing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee of bullying their pal Sheriff Paul Babeu, and they want it to stop, like, right now. Yep, the nation’s pre-eminent gay GOP organization is seriously peeved that, the day after Babeu emerged victorious from the August 30 Republican primary…
Some people were upset to see that late U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater’s name is no longer on the state Republican Party headquarters in central Phoenix. One concerned citizen went as far as to contact the Arizona Republic to investigate, curious if the missing moniker might be a political statement about…
Christine Jones, candidate for Arizona’s Congressional District Five, has no intention of going gently into the good night. Her loss by nine votes in the primary election last week to Republican competitor Andy Biggs is so close, it’ll trigger an automatic recount — but Jones is already on the offensive. Jones and…
Aaron Flannery could be forgiven if he believed a seven-term county politician whose job includes overseeing county elections managed to pull a fast one on him. Flannery was the first Republican in 28 years to challenge Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell. After 309,179 Republicans cast their ballots in last week’s…
Back in November, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey publicly demanded that the federal government stop sending Syrian refugees to Arizona. But hundreds have arrived in the state since then — so many that Arizona now leads the nation in resettling the refugees. Millions of Syrians have been displaced from their homes since a brutal…
Donald Trump gave a large crowd of enthusiastic supporters at the Phoenix Convention Center the harsh rhetoric on illegal immigration they wanted to hear on Wednesday night. Forget any softening of the Republican presidential candidate’s message on the subject. Hours after meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico…
John McCain and Joe Arpaio smashed their Republican competitors, Christine Jones and Paul Babeu appear headed for Washington, D.C., and Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell might be in trouble. That’s just some of the fallout from Arizona’s 2016 primary election on Tuesday, which featured contests that are being watched nationally…
No hackers, no hour-long lines and no real problems — that’s the message from the Maricopa County Elections Department so far today as state voters go to the polls for the primary election. If you haven’t voted yet, it should be smooth sailing. Polls close at 7 p.m. Locate your…
The FBI believes that the infiltration in late June of Arizona voter-registration databases may be linked to foreign hackers who stole data from an Illinois election site, Yahoo News reported on Monday. Michael Isikoff, Yahoo’s chief investigative correspondent, reported that he’d obtained an FBI warning about cyberattacks on elections databases…
Mexican-American civil rights activist Dolores Huerta visited Phoenix last week to encourage Latinos to turn out and vote against presidential nominee Donald Trump. At an August 26 press conference with several other Latino leaders, including including U.S. Congressman Ruben Gallego and State Representative Rebecca Rios, Huerta called Trump “bizarre” and…
The campaign manager for a group trying to raise Arizona’s minimum wage said on Wednesday that the effort was helped considerably by his own timely loan of $100,000. Bill Scheel is one of three founding partners of the public-relations and political-strategy firm Javelina, which Arizonans for Fair Wages and Healthy Families hired to…
Talk about a win for science! The state of Arizona is finally backing out of its fight to require that doctors tell their patients that it’s possible to “reverse” a medication abortion. Also known as the “abortion pill,” a medication abortion terminates a pregnancy through the use of two drugs,…
Advocates of criminal-justice reform in Arizona enthusiastically praised the U.S. Department of Justice’s announcement this week that it will phase out all federal private prison contracts. But proponents of privatization reached by New Times are equally quick to criticize the decision and to emphasize that it won’t affect state policy…
If you’re a Republican, you know things are bad when Democrats throw you a lifejacket by attacking your opponent. Democratic Congresswoman and U.S. Senate hopeful Ann Kirkpatrick and the über-liberal, pro-choice advocacy group Emily’s List recently stuck their noses in the Arizona GOP primary for Senate in support of Kelli…
Arizona Department of Economic Security Director Tim Jeffries has followed up controversy over his Lady of Lourdes e-mails by sending an e-mail to all DES staff calling out his “haters.” In an e-mail he sent out on Saturday to all 7,000-plus DES employees, the former businessman, whom Governor Doug Ducey…
Muslim-bashing conspiracy theorist John Guandolo must reckon that Arizona’s cop shops are lined with gold. In June, New Times reported that a 2014 visit to the Valley by Guandolo and a couple of fellow anti-Islam lecturers for a one-day “training” session hosted by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office cost the county about…
For a hardcore anti-immigrant like Sheriff Paul Babeu, who refers to the undocumented simply as “illegals,” the support of pro-“illegals” former Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe might seem odd. But Kolbe and Babeu share a great deal when it comes to their personal histories — far beyond the fact that both men…
