Early voting poll results show Frank Pratt handily defending his seat in the Arizona Senate against a Democratic challenger.

After all the talk of a split state Senate, with Republicans and Democrats evenly matched in voting power, the status quo reigned supreme.

Republican Rep. Frank Pratt defeated Sen. Barb McGuire in a race that spoils Democrats’ hopes of picking up enough votes to split the Senate.

Conservatives drew a target on the backs of Reps. Frank Pratt of Casa Grande and T.J. Shope of Coolidge for supporting Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan last year.

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When Republican Reps. T.J. Shope and Frank Pratt didn’t show up to a recent debate hosted by the Pinal County Tea Party, their Republican opponents in the Legislative District 8 House primary, Darla Dawald and Wayne Bachmann, set up a broom and a mop to represent the two incumbents.

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.

The international furor over SB1062 has led to a reassessment of the Evangelical Christian lobby behind the bill and whose power at the Capitol was considered to be unparalleled. Some said the Center for Arizona Policy and its president, Cathi Herrod, overreached and gave the state a black eye. Others say that even if its influence is undiminished.

Republican Rep. John Kavanagh of Fountain Hills was one of two legislators (along with Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson) to receive the honor of Humane Lawmaker of the Year from the Humane Society this week at its annual rally to encourage lawmakers to enact more animal-friendly legislation.

Republican legislators who are facing a backlash from the conservative right for approving the expansion of Medicaid tapped into a vast network of supporters to easily outraise colleagues and opponents last year.