Democrat Randall Friese has taken a 233-vote lead over Republican Rep. Ethan Orr in what has become a seesaw race for the second House seat in Tucson’s Legislative District 9.

The devastating recent state budget projections have some lawmakers eyeing additional taxes on e-cigarettes as a new source of revenue that could help bridge the $1 billion projected deficit by next year.

In their quest to oust Republican Rep. Ethan Orr from one of the two House seats in the Democratic-leaning Legislative District 9, Tucson Democrats found their dream candidate in Randall Friese, a man with a bio that’s hard to criticize.

With a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana looming over the 2016 election, Republican Rep. Ethan Orr of Tucson wants the Legislature to beat voters to the punch and legalize it.

The top five political quotes from Arizona this week.

The three candidates running for two House seats in Tucson’s Legislative District 9 clashed over education, abortion and guns Monday in the first debate that put both Democrats and the Republican in the same room.

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.

The Pima County Recorder’s Office on Friday determined that Republican Rep. Ethan Orr has sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot, leading former Pima County Democratic Chair Jeff Rogers to drop his lawsuit challenging Orr’s nominating petitions and assuring Orr’s place on the Republican primary election ballot.

Pima County Democrats have filed a challenge against Republican Rep. Ethan Orr’s nomination petitions to run for re-election in Tucson’s Legislative District 9, claiming that more than 300 of the lawmaker’s 634 signatures are invalid.

Almost two dozen incumbent lawmakers can boast of earning the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s endorsement despite opposing the business community’s biggest policy positions in the last two years.