Legislative candidates face fierce competition ahead of July primaries

Key Points:

• There are two months until Arizona’s primary election

• All 90 legislative seats are up for grabs 

• LD3, LD6, LD7, LD8, LD19, and LD20 are all predicted to be highly competitive

With less than two months until Arizona’s primary election date, candidates running for the state Legislature are ramping up their campaigns for their party’s nomination.

This election will see all 90 seats up for grabs at the Legislature, but not every race will be competitive. Of Arizona’s 30 legislative districts, 10 districts will have a noncompetitive primary election for either House or Senate seats due to a lack of challengers. 

As for the other 20 districts? Competition is alive and well. 

Here are some districts to watch during this year’s primaries. 

Legislative District 3:

After not having a primary opponent in 2024, Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, will be challenged this election cycle by Republican Robert Wallace, a Turning Point Action regional manager who unsuccessfully ran for Fountain Hills City Council in 2024.

This primary race between Kavanagh and Wallace has already seen some attention after Kavanagh’s political action committee paid for a website called “The Weird Wallace Archives” to highlight some beliefs and statements Wallace has shared on the YouTube account Spiritual Realities, including traveling to “different dimensions,” being haunted by “bathroom spirits,” and believing to be a reincarnated “Black gangbanger.”

Wallace has also run an attack website on Kavanagh which scrutinizes Kavanagh’s 19 years at the Legislature. Most significantly, it criticizes Kavanagh for his attempts to give lawmakers a pay raise with a ballot measure he sponsored in recent legislative sessions.

In 2022, Kavanagh defeated Republican Jan Dubauskas by 3% of votes in his primary election before moving on to a comfortable general election win in the northeast valley district that’s friendly for Republicans. Either Kavanagh or Wallace will go on to face Democrat Jeff Fortney in the general election.

Legislative District 6: 

In this northern Arizona district, two Democrats who both have legislative experience in the area will be running against each other for a Senate seat.

Rep. Myron Tsosie, D-Chinle, is facing a term limit in the House at the end of this year following his election to the chamber in 2018. He will face former state Democratic Sen. Jamescita Peshlakai, who served in the Senate from 2017 to 2021, before resigning to accept a job with the U.S. Department of the Interior in then-President Joe Biden’s administration. 

Jamescita Peshlakai’s mother, Mae Peshlakai, D-Cameron, is Tsosie’s seatmate in the House. Mae Peshlakai’s sister, Angela Maloney, is also seeking to replace Tsosie in the House. Ian Teller, a Democrat who is endorsed by current Sen. Theresa Hathathlie, D-Coal Mine Mesa, is also running for the House. 

The winner of the Democratic Senate primary nomination in this district will go on to face Republican Lloyd Johnson, who Tsosie and Mae Pseshlakai both defeated in 2024’s House race by more than double of Johnson’s votes. 

Legislative District 7:

The GOP House primary race in LD7 was one of the most crowded in the 2024 election cycle with six candidates. This year is shaping up to have similar numbers. 

Incumbent Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, is running for his seat and former state Rep. David Cook is again running for the House after he was termed out in 2024 and lost to Sen. Wendy Rogers when he tried to switch chambers. 

Two other Republicans who unsuccessfully ran for the House in 2024 are trying again in the district, which covers Flagstaff and portions of Coconino, Navajo, Gila and Pinal counties. Andrew Costanzo and Barby Ingle are again running, although with two fewer candidates this time around. 

In 2024, Blackman and former state Rep. David Marshall had comfortable Republican primary wins as each candidate defeated the runner up by more than a 10% margin each. Costanzo finished fourth in the 2024 primary race with 13% of votes and Ingle finished sixth with a little more than 7% of votes. 

The winner of this House primary will face the single Democratic challenger, Sam Martin. 

Legislative District 8:

The Tempe district of LD8 features three Democrats all looking to hold on to their legislative seats.

Incumbent Reps. Brian Garcia, D-Tempe, and Janeen Connolly, D-Tempe, are running for their House seats while Claudia Kline, the president of Young Democrats for Arizona, is entering as a third candidate for consideration. 

On the Senate side, Sen. Lauren Kuby, D-Tempe, is facing a challenger in former state Rep. Deborah Nardozzi, who briefly served in the state House to fill a vacancy in the chamber when former state Rep. Jevin Hodge resigned in 2024 amid sexual misconduct allegations. 

The Yellow Sheet Report, a sister publication of the Arizona Capitol Times, reported in April that Nardozzi is being backed by former Republican state Sen. Steve Kaiser because they have similar positions on housing policy. Kaiser hasn’t endorsed Nardozzi formally, but he is knocking on doors to help her campaign in the Democratic district.

Legislative District 19:

Two veteran Republicans are attempting a chamber switch in this southeastern district, setting up a competitive House primary race for a former House speaker. 

Both Sen. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista and Rep. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, are termed out of their chambers at the end of this year. The two lawmakers are running for their counterpart chambers this year so both could stay in the Legislature.

Griffin is running unopposed in her primary race, but Gowan, who served as speaker in the chamber in 2015–2016, is entering a three-candidate primary with incumbent Rep. Lupe Diaz, R-Benson; and Republican Cheryl Caswell, a conservative grassroots activist who has worked with Turning Point Action. 

Democrat Ryan Slawson attempted to run for the Senate to challenge Griffin, but he was kicked off the ballot after a legal challenge and falling one signature short of qualifying for the ballot. 

Legislative District 20:

Tucson-area Democrats in LD20 will also see competitive primaries in the House and Senate with a termed-out House member looking for a chamber switch. 

Rep. Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, is attempting to switch chambers since her House term will expire at the end of this year. She’s running against former Tucson City Councilwoman Rocque Perez, who has criticized Hernandez’s record and accused her of not representing Democratic values.

Hernandez has been one of the more successful Democratic members of the Legislature in getting bills passed with Republican majorities in the House and Senate, a feat her campaign is highlighting.

Perez attempted to knock Hernandez off the ballot with an election lawsuit that alleged she was ineligible to run for office over unpaid campaign finance fines. The Pima County Superior Court and the Arizona Supreme Court both found that she doesn’t need to formally face penalties.

Hernandez’s Senate counterpart, Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales, D-Tucson, is trying to switch chambers as well since she is term-limited also. Incumbent Rep. Betty Villegas is running again for her seat and two other Democrats, Genoveva Diaz and Ben Koehler, are also running for the House.