Ducey announced the appointment Monday, noting Driggs' experience as an attorney and lawmaker.

Republican lawmakers are working with the Secretary of State’s Office to overhaul the state’s campaign finance system with a 54-page rewrite critics say is too long and complicated to rush through the Legislature.

Driggs is out of the LD28 Senate race and Brophy McGee is in, dramatically changing the dynamic of what was expected to be a winnable seat for Meyer and the Dems. Coordinated announcements of support soon followed from Biggs and Ducey, both of whom endorsed Brophy McGee’s run for the Senate, as did an announcement from Brophy McGee’s campaign.

Sen. Adam Driggs won’t seek re-election this fall. The Phoenix Republican and son of former Phoenix mayor John Driggs announced his decision not to seek a sixth term in the Legislature in a press release Tuesday afternoon.

Arizona lawmakers pulled an all-nighter and worked well past sunrise Saturday morning to approve a $9.1 billion budget proposal after Republican leadership spent the day rounding up the votes to get it across the finish line.

Democratic Rep. Eric Meyer is the Republican Party’s great white whale in the Arizona House of Representatives. For six years, he has eluded a string of Republican candidates and fended off their attacks, beating the odds in three straight elections to win a House seat in the Republican-leaning but defiantly moderate Legislative District 28.

Jockeying for Senate leadership positions has begun, and one incumbent member of the Republican’s leadership team may be in jeopardy of losing his post.

It may be hours before polls close and votes are counted in Arizona’s 2014 primary elections, but for a handful of candidates, today is just a formality. Five senators and two representatives are running unopposed in both the primary and the November general election, ensuring their place at the Capitol. And election is all but assured for many more candidates who are running on one-party-dominant districts.

A major pension-overhaul proposal floated by police and fire unions could make it to the Arizona Legislature during a special session in the coming weeks and then be referred to voters in the November general election.

Although the 2014 election season is just heating up, a quieter campaign has been continuing for months — the election of legislative leadership.