It has been a long six months covering the debates, the political messaging, tracking down campaign finance reports and separating — as much as possible — fact from fiction in the Southern Arizona primaries.
We signed up for it, but we’re also glad that some of these races will be settled tonight, or at the latest, later this week.
After that, we can devote our time and attention to the Congressional District 6 fight and a handful of competitive races across Southern Arizona in the November election.
But before we flip that switch, here are some of the highlights from the 2026 primary election season in Southern Arizona. Take the term “best” with a grain of salt.
Best sign
Democrat Miranda Lopez’s road signs for her race to represent a state House seat in Legislative District 21 — which spans from the U.S.-Mexico border to the southeast edges of Tucson — was a breath of fresh air, as far as campaign signs go.
With ugly political fights soon behind us (and siiiigh also ahead of us) we thought the positive messaging was far better than the focus group-tested, consultant class-approved keywords we see on way too many political signs on every corner.
We saw a few of these signs on Tucson’s east side.
For example, we’re still trying to wrap our heads around Rodney Glassman‘s ”protect kids and cops” slogan tacked onto his campaign signs.
We’re not lawyers, but shouldn’t the Arizona attorney general candidate vow to protect every victim equally?
Best misleading ad
We had a hard time choosing the single best (worst?) mailer that hit mailboxes this year, but it was definitely in Marana.
Political action committees have been on the attack against a slate of candidates running against the incumbents, primarily over votes to allow a data center to be built in the town and taking no action on a planned ICE detention center.
This AI-generated ads being pushed by critics of the slate focused on Marana Town Council candidate Jackie McGuire.
This one, sent on both social media as well as text messages sent to Marana voters, tries to pretend that it is an endorsement of McGuire from the Democrat Socialists of America, the newest boogeyman in far-right politics.
This AI-generated fake endorsement has been shared widely on the internet, including by Marana Vice Mayor Roxanne Ziegler.
Best dumb nickname
The “Wacky Jackie” ad campaign attacking McGuire for being “too extreme” was one of the most vicious ads of this year’s primary campaign season, although there were a few to choose from.
The ad from a Chandler-based group somehow made a town council race feel like prime-time television. In a race where most ads blend together, this one actually gave people something to talk about.
Love it or hate it, if the goal was to stick in voters’ heads, it worked. We didn’t expect Marana Town Council race to produce the most talked about ads of the year (so far), but here we are.
Wacky Jacky just has a good ring to it.
Best debate no-show
File this under “we didn’t know you could do this,” but our big debate shocker this year came from the debate among Democrats in LD20, which covers Flowing Wells, midtown and South Tucson, a few weeks ago.
The all-volunteer-board set up the debate at Pueblo High School, and Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez sent a surrogate to answer her questions (which had been sent out before the debate) for the audience.
Her proxy, Doug Levy, did a pretty good job, but the audience-generated questions forced to him to ad lib a little at the end of the debate.
He still did better than one of the LD20 candidates, who gave an answer that she’d essentially listen to the community on how she’d vote in the Legislature.
It can also be argued that Levy did better than state Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales, who also didn’t show up for the debate.
Best twitter spat
While Republican Rep. Rachel Keshel — who represents the northern fringes of Tucson, plus Oro Valley and Marana — is technically running uncontested in the primary, she still spent the last few months fending off a relentless challenger.
Her Twitter feud with the internet sleuth/troll known as William Coffin has been one of the best reasons to log into that hellscape this primary election season.
It all started when Coffin (which is a pseudonym, not his real name) started digging into records about whether Keshel actually lives at the address that she claims in LD17, or in the Sierra Vista-based LD19, and posting his findings and suspicions on Twitter.
Keshel was nonplussed and struck back, filing a restraining order against a man named George Coffin, who she was sure was the anonymous culprit.
“My husband (election conspiracist Seth Keshel) is a military intelligence officer. That’s what they are trained to do, find the enemy,” Keshel said at a hearing about the restraining order.
But George was not the Coffin they were looking for — he was just a random guy who was thoroughly confused why he was being dragged into this political spat.
“I decided that I better get a lawyer because I don't know what the hell’s going on and I don’t really know how to defend myself,” Geoff Coffin told the Republic’s Ray Stern.
Naturally, that case of mistaken identity only ratcheted up the fight between the two Twitter trolls.
Best windfall for a podcast
If you are trying to appeal to independent and conservative voters, the “Wake Up with Christopher DeSimone” show is easily one of the top places to advertise. It is a podcast, but you can find the show on several different social media formats, although we watch it on YouTube.
Since leaving KVOI, DeSimone (who is running for a seat on the Oro Valley Town Council) joined the Live the Dream network, which lists him as the Vice President for Business Development in addition to hosting duties.
Marana Mayor Jon Post spent nearly all of his campaign war chest — $58,700 out of $59,200 —on ads appearing on the Live the Dream network.
At least he didn’t send out a million fliers.
Points to Post for filing his Q2 financial spending reports — we’re still waiting on reports from Council members Herb Kai and John Officer. Both men have failed to file the reports, which were due last week.
And an honorable mention for Protect Marana PAC, which hasn’t filed its last two campaign finance filings reports.
Best text from a candidate
One thing we did not have on our election bingo card was receiving unsolicited hardcore pornography from one of the candidates.
Yet, after the the news broke that Rocque Perez — a candidate for state Senate in LD20 — almost certainly had a pornographic OnlyFans account back in 2021, his opponent, Alma Hernandez, made sure we saw the posts.
We still can’t definitively say it’s Perez in the pic — mostly because he’s been very squirrelly in his answers about whether he had an OnlyFans. But it sure looks like him.
And now those graphic images are forever burned in our brains. Thanks, Alma!
Sue me? Screw you!: After Democratic Arizona 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 turned around and pumped more than $600,000 into a PAC that supports one of her Republican rivals, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer reports. Recent campaign finance reports show BoaVida is trying to boost Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen as he vies for the GOP nomination for attorney general. BoaVida says it wants Mayes out of office and supports Petersen because of his work on affordable housing, which in BoaVida’s eyes includes mobile homes. BoaVida is just one of the many companies Mayes pissed off in her first three years as AG that are now trying to scuttle her reelection bid, the Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy reported last month.
“We're not a fan of the AG’s practices,” BoaVida founder Eli Werner said. “It seems like she’s looking for targets of publicity.”
Also not a fan of the AG’s practices: Cochise County Supervisor Frank Antenori is softening his language, but he’s still adamant that Mayes deserves some blame for Aluminum Dynamics deciding not to build its aluminum recycling plant in Benson, the Herald/Review’s Matt Hickman reports. The county supervisors recently told the county attorney to investigate whether Mayes exceeded her authority when she threatened to file a public nuisance lawsuit against Aluminum Dynamics, which Antenori says could deter other businesses from setting up shop in the county. Now, Antenori says he wouldn’t use the word “investigate,” calling it instead a decision to “lay the groundwork for potential civil action.” On a separate note, Antenori said the big tech companies decided they’ll never set up large-scale data centers in Cochise County because the area doesn’t have the right infrastructure. But smaller data centers could eventually come to the county, he said.
Blurred lines: Today’s elections could be the end of an era in South Tucson as the mayor and two council members with roots in the Casa Maria soup kitchen try to keep their seats, Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller writes. Over the past few years, Casa Maria-aligned council members have grown into a majority on the council, while Casa Maria has bought up rundown motels to fight gentrification. Now, council members Brian Flagg and Cesar Aguirre and Mayor Roxanna Valenzuela are facing challengers like Debbie Federico who say Casa Maria and the council are too intertwined, which creates conflicts of interest when the council tries to push out landlords like Brian Bowers at the same time as Casa Maria wants to buy his properties.
Funding cut fallout: Democrats are blaming last year’s Big Beautiful Bill, which may result in $110 million of lost revenue for hospitals in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, for the closure of Select Specialty Hospital-Tucson East and the layoff of 99 employees, the Tucson Sentinel’s Mia Kortright reports. CD 6 Democratic candidate JoAnna Mendoza highlighted Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s vote for the bill last year, which she says will “gut Southern Arizonan’s health care.” Ciscomani’s office said there was no direct connection between the hospital’s closure and the bill.
There is most definitely a direct connection between readers pushing this button and the Agenda staying open.
The presidential treatment: Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly was featured in an Atlantic profile that focuses on his potential as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2028 through the lens of his personal life and past — especially the dynamics of his relationship with his wife, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head in 2011. Given Giffords’ brain injury and “non-fluent aphasia” disability, the story questions whether the Tucson-based couple could stand the heat and exposure of a high-profile presidential campaign. Kelly, the former astronaut and U.S. Navy veteran, has also gained more national recognition and clout in liberal circles after becoming a target of President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s ire. But the profile also critiques Kelly’s deficiencies as a public orator, lack of emotional charisma and lack of interest in the limelight — which is pretty well summed up in our favorite paragraph.
“Before a taped interview at a Phoenix TV studio, he pulled out a makeup brush and applied foundation to dull the shine of his bald head. ‘I used to be the commander of the space shuttle,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Now I carry my own makeup.’”
After previously endorsing eight (uncontested) Democratic candidates for the state Legislature, Congress and the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board, the Democrats of Greater Tucson yesterday took another bold step and announced a slate of endorsements in a handful of Democratic races that are actually contested.
Better late than never!
The group is asking members to ratify endorsements of Rep. Betty Villegas and challenger Ben Koehler in the LD20 House race, skipping over Rep. Sally Ann Gonzales. (But they chose not to back either of the Senate candidates, Rep. Alma Hernandez or Rocque Perez.)
In the crowded four-way primary for two House seats in LD23, which stretches from Yuma to the southern outskirts of Tucson, the group picked Rep. Mariana Sandoval and former congressional and White House staffer Naomi Miguel. DGT also backed Democratic Sen. Brian Fernandez, who is running unopposed in the primary.