Voters in southern Arizona’s heavily Democratic Legislative District 2 have thrown out Republican Rep. Chris Ackerley, who won a seat in the state House just two years ago.

Two years ago, Republican Chris Ackerley blindsided Democrats when he won a seat in the state House from a Democratic stronghold in the heart of solidly blue southern Arizona. Ackerley faces his biggest challenge yet.

Gov. Doug Ducey is looking to maintain the status quo in the in the face of a proposed policy change in the budget that would make it far more difficult for overcrowded school districts to get state funding to expand.

Before leaving office, former Gov. Jan Brewer urged Arizona lawmakers to settle a nearly $2 billion dispute over inflation funding for K-12 education. Gov. Doug Ducey, in his State of the State address in January, pleaded with lawmakers to settle the case as well.

Recent criticism by state Treasurer Jeff DeWit appears to have done little to dampen Republican enthusiasm for Gov. Doug Ducey’s proposal to increase state land trust payments to K-12 schools.

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.

Soon-to-be-freshmen representatives swarmed the halls of the state House on Dec. 8 and 9 for a two-day crash course, cramming in bits and pieces of what they need to know to be successful lawmakers.

In the upcoming 2015 legislative session, one-third of the lawmakers in the Arizona House of Representatives will be freshmen. The 21 freshmen lawmakers – including four who are returning to the Capitol after absences, some for more than a decade – come from diverse backgrounds. They include a surgeon, a dentist, two teachers, two restaurant owners, a judge and a talk show host, to name a few.

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.