Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Oberbillig ruled today that Republican Darin Mitchell, a candidate for state House in Legislative District 13, does not live in the district he sought to represent and must be removed from the ballot.

Democrat Kyrsten Sinema holds a narrow lead over Republican Vernon Parker in Arizona’s 9th Congressional District, according to a poll commissioned by Sinema supporters.



But after testing a slew of negative messages against both candidates, Sinema’s lead widened to double digits.

After avoiding the media for more than two weeks, legislative candidate Darin Mitchell appeared Thursday in a Maricopa County Superior Court, finally answering questions about where he lives.

The attorney for a Republican lawmaker is asking a judge to bar two counties from printing ballots until residency questions surrounding the man who beat him in last month’s election are settled.



But elections officials say the early deadline for printing fewer than 250 ballots for military and overseas voters makes that impossible, and could mean that Darin Mitchell’s name appears on the ballots for the district’s other 94,000 voters that will be printed later this month – even if a judge rules that he is ineligible to hold office.

After winning a three-way Republican primary for two House seats in the heavily Republican Legislative District 13 on Aug. 28, the road to the Arizona House of Representatives was wide open for political newcomer Darin Mitchell.

Darin Mitchell, the political newcomer who beat Rep. Russ Jones in last week’s Republican primary election for a Legislative District 13 House seat, released a statement yesterday saying he lives in the district – and out of the district.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the top-two primary initiative can go to the November ballot, rejecting an opposition group’s argument that a trial court erred in not giving the group enough time to introduce evidence against it.

Rep. Steve Montengro is standing by his running mate, saying he has no reason to believe Darin Mitchell lives outside Legislative District 13, despite overwhelming evidence and Mitchell’s own admission that he doesn’t live in the district he seeks to represent.

Slightly more than 26 percent of registered voters in Maricopa County cast ballots in the Aug. 28 primary election, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office reported.

A new report showing Arizona had the steepest education spending decreases nationwide in recent years strengthens the argument for a 1-cent per dollar sales tax benefiting schools, proponents of the initiative said Tuesday.