Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

Who knew a Caucasian man would end up changing his name to Cesar Chavez and re-registering as a Democrat in the hopes of representing a heavily Latino congressional district? The weirdness of that story once again confirmed Arizona’s reputation as, well, the Wild West of state politics.

A rundown of the people and groups who ended 2014 on the upswing and those who are glad to see the year come to an end.

Attorney General Tom Horne says his loss in the Republican primary came about because he was targeted for defeat by the state’s largest circulation newspaper. Horne spoke about that, his accomplishments and disappointments in office, and what is next for him in a recent exit interview with the Arizona Capitol Times.

Courts in 2014 struck down Arizona laws by siding with gays, abortion providers, and illegal immigrants. Public school students also got a big win in court, but that case probably won’t be resolved any time soon.

All 90 lawmakers kept their noses clean through the legislative session, marking 2014 as one of the rare years when a personal legal trouble didn’t become an issue at the Capitol.

Life goes on after election losses. Some of those knocked down in the November election are already pulling themselves up, preparing for the next run for office. Others are moving on, disillusioned with politics. Still others are angling for jobs with new administrations

When Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano punched her ticket for President Obama’s Cabinet, Republicans were ecstatic that they’d get to replace her with Brewer, a staunch conservative with a record spanning more than two decades. Then Brewer made a swift departure from the conservative playbook, calling for a temporary sales tax increase to deal with the state’s massive budget woes.

Secretary of State Ken Bennett isn’t ready to ride off into the sunset after a nearly 30-year career of political and appointed office, but he’s not trying to execute a grand plan of attaining high political office either.

The 2014 legislative session will forever be remembered as the year lawmakers attempted to approve a bill allowing religious-minded business owners to discriminate against gay people, landing Arizona in the national spotlight as much as the immigration measure, SB1070, previously did. But lawmakers debated dozens of other bills that made interesting headlines and many that flew below the radar. The Arizona Capitol Times takes a stroll down memory lane to recall some of the most attention-grabbing bills of 2014.