Out in the Southeast Valley, the Loop 202 freeway is often seen as a political compass. To the north of it is dense with Democratic voters; to the south, suburbs that start with a kiss of GOP pink but soon deepen to a solid red.

A handful of Democratic legislative candidates bolstered by out-of-state funders broke Arizona campaign finance records with just two weeks to go before the election. Democrats in swing districts pulled in six figures while their incumbent Republican opponents struggled to keep ...

With just over two weeks to go before the election, incumbent Republican Sen. J.D. Mesnard, Democratic challenger Ajlan Kurdoglu and outside groups have already spent a combined $1.7 million, most of that from deep-pocketed national Democratic organizations intent on flipping the Arizona Legislature.

Republicans maintain a roughly 5,000-voter advantage. Surmountable, sure, but the outcome is hardly set in stone. They say they believe they are better prepared than they were in 2018, when the Democrats surged to a 29-31 split in the House, propelled by voters activated by education and the Red for Ed movement.

House and Senate seats have only flipped when fewer than 10 percentage points separate voter registration numbers for the two major parties. This year, that holds true in nine districts.

Bringing a whole new meaning to back-door politics, Gregor Knauer agreed to run for office while standing in the alley behind his Tempe home.

Former lawmaker Steve May announced Sept. 13 he is terminating his campaign for the House in Legislative District 17. May got on the November ballot after winning a spot in the primary as a write-in candidate. His presence as a Republican in the swing district that spans Tempe and Scottsdale posed a threat to two Democratic challengers.

The openly gay former lawmaker gained recent headlines for his brazen acknowledgement that he helped four "street people" get on the ballot as Green Party candidates.

RELATED: May's recruit drops out after arrest - then doubles back

This is the time when the skeletons come out, and we’re not talking about Halloween. With election season in full swing, reporters and political operatives are looking into the backgrounds of candidates for public office and finding criminal convictions, bankruptcies, ...