She used to be known as “Charlene’s daughter,” but campaign consultant Lisa Fernandez has emerged from the shadow of her mother, Yuma Rep. Charlene Fernandez, and made a name for herself as a political player in Arizona.

The day after the November 6 election will be followed by another kind of vote, as elected Arizona senators and representatives will meet with their fellow Republicans and Democrats to choose leaders for their respective parties.

Two House Democrats who planned to run as a team for separate caucus leadership roles are now challenging each other for the top spot.

After nearly two months of working in hearing rooms on the first floor of the Arizona House of Representatives, research and Democratic staff will soon be allowed to return to their offices in the basement following a minor renovation.

In the Senate, minority leaders don’t often vote with the GOP. In the House, it’s the top Democrat, Rebecca Rios of Phoenix, who casts the most votes with her Republican colleagues.

Arizona state employees will pay higher premiums and copays for health insurance next year, and some lawmakers say funding sweeps approved by the Republican-controlled state Legislature are partly to blame.

Throughout the 2017 legislative session, the House floor was a hotbed of animosity, as Democratic lawmakers repeatedly tested the boundaries of what they could say about their colleagues, and Republican lawmakers repeatedly tested the limits of how far the chamber’s rules could stretch to limit speech.

House Democrats suspect that mold in the basement of the House of Representatives is causing headaches and lightheadedness during the work day.

A pair of upsets are catching the political establishment by surprise: Two southern Arizona Democrats in heavily Democratic legislative districts are trailing Republicans in state House races.

It appears the second time's the charm for Yuma Democrat Charlene Fernandez, who is beating her challenger in the Democratic primary for an open House seat in Legislative District 4.