In 2014, Republican Richard Hopkins nearly pulled off the extraordinary feat of winning a seat in the state House in an overwhelmingly Democratic district. This year, he failed to even get the 252 signatures necessary in order to run for office.

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.

Republicans from the West Valley on Wednesday nominated a district party chairwoman and two others to replace the House seat formerly held by Sen. Judy Burges.