One helluva ride

Finally, election season is coming to a close.

If you’re like us, then by now you’re a ball of frazzled nerves.

Unfortunately, those nerves are going to have to stay frazzled until the end of the day (or perhaps a few more days?), when election results start coming in and you know which direction the political winds are blowing.

While we wait, let’s stroll down memory lane for a minute and look at some of the most memorable moments of this election season.

Our colleagues at the Arizona Agenda rounded up all the wacky moments from statewide elections, like comedian Rob Schneider hosting a “debate” with an empty lectern at an event for GOP gubernatorial nominee Andy Biggs. It was an almost-funny dig at Gov. Katie Hobbs for not participating in the real debate.

We also had an odd moment with an (almost) empty lectern at a debate in Southern Arizona.

This summer, there was nothing more heated than the fight for the Democratic nomination for the state Senate seat in Legislative District 20 between Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez and former Tucson City Council member Rocque Perez.¹

During a candidate forum hosted by local Democrats, Hernandez sent a proxy to read her answers. (She said she had a scheduling conflict.)

Her advocate, Doug Levy, mostly stuck to the script, but we can’t remember the last time someone sent a proxy rather than simply not show up.

We also can’t remember the last time so much money flowed into political races.

Obviously, the highly competitive race in Congressional District 6 is Southern Arizona’s most expensive race.

Between the two candidates — Democratic challenger JoAnna Mendoza and Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani — they spent a gobsmacking $17 million.

On top of all that, outside groups poured money into the race to the tune of at least $10 million (it’s hard to stay current), as they try to swing the narrowly divided Congress their way.

That CD6 race didn’t stay confined to the two candidates. It also roped in Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, an ally of Mendoza and a frequent target of the Ciscomani campaign.

Romero had had enough back in September when she clapped back at Ciscomani for calling her a “failed mayor.” She posted a short video asking Ciscomani “why are you so obsessed with me?” as she waved goodbye and walked away.

Big money played a big role in local races, too. Tucson Electric Power dropped $4 million to try to convince voters to approve a 25-year franchise agreement.

In the background, some Tucsonans are pushing for the city to take over the power grid altogether, which must scare the pants off the TEP executives.

Tucson also played a weird role in one of the statewide races.

After Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes sued BoaVida for not fixing the air conditioning at one of the mobile home parks BoaVida owns in Tucson, the company pumped more than $600,000 into a PAC that supports her rival, Republican Senate President Warren Petersen.

BoaVida was just one of the companies Mayes sued that turned around and poured money into a pro-Petersen PAC. It was a whole big thing.

But one of Southern Arizona’s most talked-about campaigns wasn’t from a candidate — it was the “Evil Torta.”

The group spent a lot of time putting these tiny signs — along with a related “Steals Money” campaign — exclusively next to Democratic campaign signs.

The Tucson-based Citizens 4 Liberty AI slop group put them up, and most seem to cluster around women running for office.

We also want to highlight a little story a reader brought up in our Slack conversation yesterday.

Ciscomani faced a lot of criticism that he spent more time appearing alongside cabinet-level officials in the district than he did holding public events this election cycle.

So during his debate, Ciscomani spent a lot of time talking about how accessible he is as a lawmaker. Constituents run into him at local grocery stores all the time, he noted.

But a Tucson mom who lost her SNAP benefits put his claims about being available to constituents to the test — by tracking him down in D.C.

When Angelica Garcia asked Ciscomani about the cuts, Ciscomani headed to the “members-only” elevator in the House of Representatives.

Good luck finding a members-only elevator at Fry’s.

We loved partnering with Arizona Clean Elections to host legislative debates this year.

The Agenda team moderated more legislative debates than we can remember.

But one moment that stands out came during the Legislative District 17 GOP primary debate for the the state Senate, when Republican candidate Chris King abruptly left in the middle of the debate to reset his router.

King returned with a better connection a few minutes later, but Joe really dug deep to vamp to keep the crowd entertained.

So far, the consensus among Tucson Agenda readers is the race in Congressional District 6 is going to be so tight that the Associated Press won’t be able to call it on election night.

On the other hand, they’re really confident about Democratic Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva winning reelection in a landslide, and they think the Democratic candidates in Legislative District 17 are going to pick up two seats in the Legislature.

Those are just a few predictions from the dozens of readers who entered our Election Prediction Contest yesterday (and are now in the running for some cool prizes).

We’d love to hear from more of you.

While you’re waiting for election results to come in this evening, why not burn a few minutes making your own predictions?

We’ve covered a lot of campaigns over the years, and we know running for office comes with a mix of exhilaration and exhaustion by election night.

So we applaud Daniel Butierez, the Republican candidate for Congressional District 7, for heading to the casino tonight. He plans to spend election night having dinner with his wife and maybe doing a little gambling at Casino Del Sol — which he noted is NOT endorsing him.

His Facebook post invites the public and the press to hang out with him on at the casino.

We just might drop by.

While Butierez is definitely a long shot tonight, we have to give him credit for running three times for the same seat in Congress for the last three years. (Don’t forget last year’s special election.)

You’ve got to follow your heart. Sometimes it takes you to Congress. Sometimes it takes you to dinner with your wife at the casino.

Either way, there’s something to be said for showing up.