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Opinion: 7 races to decide who controls the Legislature

3 1
15.10.2024

One of the most important elections in Arizona this year has nothing to do with Donald Trump.

It’s not who we send to the U.S. Senate or whether we declare abortion a constitutional right.

It’s who we send to the state Capitol.

More specifically, who will control the Arizona Legislature.

Republicans have run the joint since dirt was invented, or so it seems.

The last time Democrats controlled both legislative chambers, the war was escalating — the Vietnam war, that is — and an actor named Ronald Reagan was running for governor of California.

In 1966, Republicans broke the Democrats’ hold on power in Arizona, and other than a term here and there, the GOP has dominated the state ever since, though MAGA has put a jumbo-sized dent in their power of late.

Republicans now control the House and Senate by just one vote in each chamber.

Both parties are pulling out all the stops this year, and it’s anybody’s guess which one will come out on top.

Here are the races to watch:

North Phoenix is home to one of the state’s few competitive districts, and its Senate race is one of the year’s marquee events.

Republican Sen. Shawnna Bolick, appointed to fill a vacancy last year, is facing two-term Democratic Rep. Judy Schwiebert.

Before it’s over, easily more than a million dollars will have been spent to see who occupies this $24,000-a-year seat.

Don’t think this one’s going to be close?

Bolick, a staunch conservative, voted with Democrats earlier this year to repeal the state’s 1864 abortion ban — the one briefly brought back to life by her husband, Clint Bolick and three other Arizona Supreme Court justices. (Wouldn’t you have loved to have been a fly on the wall at Chez Bolick?)

In the House, Republican Rep. Justin Wilmeth seems a lock for another term while Republican Ari Daniel Bradshaw, Democrat Stephanie Simacek and independent Tom Simes duke it out for the second open seat.

Democrats are hoping their single-shot strategy — running just........

© Arizona Republic


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