Branscomb’s Tucson reprieve

Saved by the secretary … Veterans actually need health care ... defacing campaign signs is a crime and sometimes funny.

A glitchy phone-based voting system, fiery audience outbursts, and drawn-out debates set the tone for a chaotic Arizona State Democratic Party Committee meeting in Tucson on Saturday.

But the real drama? It never made it to the floor.

Despite growing speculation about Arizona Democratic state party Chairman Robert Branscomb’s future, Democratic leaders dodged the issue entirely. His ouster wasn’t technically on the agenda for Saturday's meeting of Democratic state committeemen, but many expected a surprise showdown during the new business section.

Instead, party officials sped through the final items, racing against a hard 6 p.m. deadline to clear out of the University of Arizona auditorium.

Steven Jackson, chairman of the Legislative District 8 Democrats, filed a petition to hold a state party committee meeting later this month to discuss removing Branscomb as chair. He asked Branscomb if he planned to oppose the petition.

Branscomb pivoted, saying the secretary — who was appointed earlier in the day after the previous secretary resigned — would still need to verify Jackson’s petition signatures before the meeting could be scheduled. Most Democratic insiders expect a formal vote on Branscomb’s future by the end of the month.

But the delay was met with anger from some of the roughly 540 Democrats in the room, who noted that the party continues to operate without an approved annual budget. They argued the lack of a secretary should not have been a bureaucratic hurdle delaying a vote on Branscomb’s future.

The secretary for the Arizona Democratic Party resigned on April 16, blaming Branscomb and party executives for a lack of strategic planning, a lack of a budget, and the failure to hire new staffers for key roles in the organization.

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Branscomb’s supporters made signs ahead of the State Party Committee Meeting on Saturday as Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” plays in the background.

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Her resignation roughly coincides with a very public letter penned by Branscomb accusing both of Arizona’s U.S. senators and various other party leaders of bullying, intimidating, and threatening him in an attempt to sabotage his leadership.

That letter sparked a public war between Branscomb and all of Arizona’s top elected Democrats — including Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, Gov. Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, and Attorney General Kris Mayes — all of whom responded in a joint letter accusing Branscomb of lying.

Demanding Branscomb's resignation is one of the few things that Arizona's notoriously bickering faction of Democratic leaders agree on.

Branscomb has made it clear he would not resign.

And he and some of his supporters have argued that the only reason he's facing so much blowback for the letter and scrutiny of his job so far is because he's the first Black leader the Arizona Democratic Party has ever had.

Kaycee Campbell, the vice president of the Maricopa County Young Democrats, reached out to Democrats after hearing whispers of pushing out Branscomb. In the end, she found consensus that the push was not about personalities, but racism.

“I've talked to dozens and dozens of people. I wish I could give you a number. But all of them said, yes, it is racism. There is racism in politics on both sides,” she said,

But the political fights are only one front in the growing conflict.

Democrats are clearly concerned about the party’s finances, which took a hit when the annual Hall of Fame dinner was abruptly canceled earlier this year.

Arizona Democratic state party Chairman Robert Branscomb speaks at the state committee meeting in Tucson.

Branscomb — who oversees the entire party, including its budget — was repeatedly criticized by the crowd for failing to adopt a budget. His first proposed budget was rejected by the state committee, though he has promised that a new version will be completed in the coming weeks.

He faltered at times from the podium, struggling to pronounce Greenlee County, the Tohono O'odham Nation, and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, blaming the verbal slip-ups on not using his glasses.

Democratic Party Treasurer Greg Freeman gave a brief overview of the budget, noting the state party was losing about $27,000 per week and had just over $1 million in cash on hand. New figures are expected to be posted in a few weeks.

In his address to the roughly 540 Democrats in the room, Branscomb acknowledged making mistakes in his first few months on the job.

“We are building something new. And when you take on that kind of work, that road is never smooth. I've made mistakes along the way. I own that,” he said.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero asked the audience to focus on the real enemy — the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress. She said the party needs to be cohesive.

“We're so good at those circular firing squads. ‘They're not pure enough.’ ‘They're not pure enough for my taste.’ Well, I'll tell you what. The Trumpers and his minions, they're devastating our democracy. They're devastating our working class. They're devastating our workers. They're dismantling our public education systems,” Romero said.

Many Democrats left the meeting dissatisfied that they were not given a forum to discuss Branscomb’s actions since taking over the Arizona Democratic Party.

While not on the agenda, state party members would have been able to discuss it under the “New Business” agenda item. But Democrats spent roughly 40 minutes helping members vote for a new secretary via an online portal, ultimately not leaving enough time for the showdown over Branscomb's future.

Another meeting — this time with a petition to vote to dismiss Branscomb specifically on the agenda — is expected in the next few weeks.

Ousting him will require a two-thirds vote from the state committeemen.

This could be a problem as the Tucson meeting was held only in-person (no Zoom calls allowed), and it is unclear whether the Arizona Democratic Party will allow people from across the state to phone it in at the next meeting.

Debate season never ends: Candidates for the special election in Southern Arizona’s Congressional District 7 met on Saturday for a forum hosted by the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Vote Program, where voters felt them out, KGUN’s Madison Thomas writes. For 18-year-old Eric Andres Alvarez, it was all about learning who he can trust. And remember: The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission Republican primary debate in this deep blue district is today at 6 p.m. Democrats will debate tomorrow at 6 p.m. You can stream either debate on the Clean Elections YouTube page or on Arizona Public Media.

“Are they trustworthy? Are they going to do what they promise? Are they going to be able to represent us and show that they can be there for us,” Alvarez said.

Hope you can DOGE bullets: Southern Arizona VA Health Care System is likely losing 92 employees, including 79 in Tucson, thanks to DOGE’s “early retirement” offers attempting to get federal workers to leave their posts, AZPM’s Katya Mendoza reports. Trump had planned mass layoffs this month, but those have been held up by the courts.

Oops — and no cameras, please: ICE detained a U.S. Marshal who “fit the general description” of someone ICE was searching for at the immigration court in Tucson, the Daily Star’s Emily Bregel reports. The marshal was released. And up at the Phoenix immigration court, ICE is now barring reporters and protesters from standing outside, claiming the courthouse is private property because it’s housed in a private office building, the Republic’s Taylor Seely writes.

Tightening belts: Tucson Mayor Regina Romero sat down with KGUN’s Alex Dowd to talk about the city’s $2.4 billion budget, noting that the city had to cut about $18 million while maintaining necessary services. That’s extra hard given the federal budget uncertainty, uneasy economy and voters’ rejection of Prop 414 earlier this year.

“It seems to us that the Trump Administration is going to keep cutting," Romero said. "We’re seeing the impacts but I don’t think we have seen the end of it.”

Blame Mark Kelly: A few small-time donations by Musk’s preferred NASA head, Jared Isaacman, to Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly and other Dems became one of the sparks that ignited the explosion between Trump and Elon Musk, the New York Times reports in its autopsy of the breakup. Meanwhile, Trump is trying to cut NASA’s budget, which would be a big hit to Arizona’s research industry, which receives about $120 million per year from the organization, per Axios Phoenix’s Jeremy Duda.

Animal crossing: In the past nine years, almost 30,000 animals have used a wildlife crossing along Highway 77, which links wildlife between the Catalina and Tortolita mountains, the Daily Star’s Henry Brean reports. Now, Pima County is working on a plan for what could become the world’s longest wildlife bridge, reaching across “six lanes of Interstate 10, two frontage roads and the Union Pacific Railroad tracks near the Avra Valley Road exit,” though plans and funding are still very much in flux.

We know all about funding being in flux. Help us keep delivering local news by upgrading to a paid subscription today.

Too much white space: After the University of Arizona shuttered its Native American Student Affairs Cultural & Resource Center (NASA) to comply with President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI policies, Native students tell the Arizona Mirror’s Shondiin Silversmith they feel less safe and welcome on campus.

“NASA saved me,” student Winona Little Owl-Ignacio said. “It gave me a home at this predominantly white institution.”

Save local news: Our fellow indie Substack news outlet, The Border Chronicle, needs your help. They received a grant to help support their reporting, but it got cut.

As it destroys itself: The longtime publisher of the Nogales International, Manuel Coppola, got the axe on the newspaper’s 100th anniversary. The paper is moving to a “regional business model,” meaning the publisher of the Green Valley News and the Sahuarita Sun will add the Nogales paper under their title, and Green Valley News’ Dan Shearer will take over as editorial director. Coppola worked for the company for 28 years, and said one of his great achievements was tutoring countless (incredibly talented) young reporters, including Curt and Hank Stephenson from our sister sletter, the Arizona Agenda. We’ll always remember watching him grab the only newsroom camera and sprint out the door every time there was a car crash on I-19. He may have held the title of publisher, but he was a reporter at heart.

“The mentorships we have provided have helped these youths become award-winning reporters who move on to larger news organizations and other exciting careers. They’ve gone on to such organizations as the LA Times, NPR, Arizona Capitol Times, Arizona Republic, Univision, two of them produce daily Substack news platforms, one became a successful trial attorney, and another is now an Associate Director of the School of Journalism at the University of Arizona,” he wrote in his adios note.

We do not condone the theft or vandalism of campaign signs. It’s a crime in this state — even if the signs are hideous, overpriced, or begging to be part of a prank.

Yes, even if it belongs to your political nemesis. Even if it looks like someone spent their entire donor haul at a yard sign outlet. Even if you’re just trying to add a little spice to your local politics — it’s still a crime. And if law enforcement gets the receipts, they will prosecute.

Daniel Butierez — one of three Republicans vying for the party’s nomination in the Congressional District 7 special election — was one of the first to fall victim to sign sabotage in 2025. (The first was the Prop 414 signs that magically disappeared before election night.)

As for the hat and the women’s panties zip-tied to his campaign sign? We don’t know. We truly don’t.

But if you have a theory, there’s a button for that.