In her first year as House Democratic leader, Rebecca Rios, D-Phoenix, a longtime lawmaker, was hopeful that her caucus could take a rare vote in favor of a GOP-backed budget. But when the budget didn’t go far enough toward investing in Arizona’s teachers, House Democrats held true to their beliefs and their prom-ises, and voted against the budget package.

Republicans who pushed for Senate Bill 1152 intending to spark a lawsuit over consolidated elections will likely get their wish.

Throughout the 2017 legislative session, the House floor was a hotbed of animosity, as Democratic lawmakers repeatedly tested the boundaries of what they could say about their colleagues, and Republican lawmakers repeatedly tested the limits of how far the chamber’s rules could stretch to limit speech.

In the end, Gov. Doug Ducey got nearly everything he wanted – slightly more money for teachers, a huge university bonding plan and several controversial education programs like universal vouchers and performance funding for schools.

Republicans say Democrats overplayed their hand. Gov. Doug Ducey and GOP leaders were willing to talk, but Democrats asked for too much and were too firmly entrenched in their request to make negotiating a reality.

The Arizona Democratic Party found a powerful recruitment tool this year in Republican President Donald Trump, who continues to generate controversies.

Hundreds of needy Arizona families can access another year of cash assistance benefits after last-minute negotiations led the legislature to approve a reversal of a prior cut to the program.

Legislative leaders are hoping to line up the votes for a $9.8 billion spending plan that will give public school teachers an immediate 1 percent pay hike, with an identical amount again next year.

And while he wouldn’t publicly admit it, the failure of U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Congress to pass the American Health Care Act has given Gov. Doug Ducey room to breathe.

When Republican Rep. Vince Leach proposed a bill to ban paying petition circulators for citizens’ initiatives on a per-signature basis, Democrats were collectively outraged and denounced the bill as an “attack on democracy.”