Country music plays in the background as state House Speaker Andy Tobin tells Graham County Republican Party leaders at a Safford restaurant he has spent seven years fighting for them at the Legislature, and he’s ready to take the fight to Congress.

Farther north, freshman state Rep. Adam Kwasman rallies a rowdy crowd at a Show Low Tea Party event, telling them to stay focused on the project at hand: nominating him to take on the Democratic incumbent in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District.

Specter of anonymous campaign spending looms over 2014

Next year’s elections are shaping up like 2012 — organizations with generic names, big checkbooks and secret contributors spending millions to influence Arizona’s elections.

Shope eyes smaller districts for state representatives

Rep. T.J. Shope wants to cut Arizona’s massive House of Representatives districts in half.

The first-term lawmaker hasn’t completed his plans yet, but is strongly leaning toward a proposal that would split the House districts in half. Rather than have each legislative district elect two House members at large, Shope’s plan would create two separate House districts that would be contained within each Senate district.

The iArizona Committee is headed by Mesa Mayor Scott Smith and backed by a broad coalition of local politicians, construction contractors and business interests. Their ultimate goal is to boost Arizona’s economy and status as a transportation hub connecting Los Angeles, Dallas and Mexico, as well as linking Arizona’s manufacturing and economic hubs to one another.

Gallardo: HB2305 unnecessary, election problems could be solved with leftover HAVA money

Several provisions of HB2305 were drafted in direct response to problems in the 2012 election, when it took 11 days to call a close congressional race and an all-time high number of voters were forced to cast provisional ballots.

At a recent Phoenix City Council District 8 candidate forum in a central Phoenix church, the pews were nearly filled with roughly 80 political junkies getting their fix.

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett now says there's more than 631,000 early and provisional ballots statewide that have yet to be processed and counted.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s re-election campaign launched a robocall Monday warning that county officials don’t want voters to give their early ballot to anyone who offers to deliver it to the recorder’s office.

But that warning, the elections officials say, is not accurate.

The challenge to Rep. Catherine Miranda’s primary election results was filed too late, a judge ruled Monday.

Hispanic activists are threatening to sue Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell if she doesn’t retract and clarify a statement she made last week.