Elections in Southern Arizona are getting expensive.
Several candidates for local and state legislative offices have broken into the (low) six figures in fundraising and more importantly, spending.
For a primary.
Sure, some of those primaries will decide races outright, especially the legislative races where Democrats dominate, but others still have to defeat their political rivals in November, too.
We’re going to start with the nastiest fight — the one for the Legislative District 20 state Senate seat, where Rep. Alma Hernandez raised nearly $250,000 since she launched her campaign late last year.
Her donors are a mix of small-dollar contributions (responsible for about 80% of her total haul) and contributions from political action committees and unions.
An independent expenditure (IE) group backing Hernandez raised another $55,000 to advocate for her Senate campaign, which is more than the entire haul of her Democratic rival, former Tucson City Council member Rocque Perez.
At last count, Perez brought in $37,000, almost exclusively in contributions from individuals.
A reader sent in their collage of flyers that Alma Hernandez sent to their home, all within the last few weeks.
Hernandez’s sister, Consuelo Hernandez, also raised a six-figure sum in her reelection campaign, bringing in $184,000 as of June 30.
Consuelo is running as a “Democratic team” with state Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales and political newcomer Maritza Higuera. Higuera has brought in about $72,000, while Gonzales has raised $27,000.
One legislative race that’s actually competitive between Republicans and Democrats is in Legislative District 17, where Republican Chris King has brought in just over $100,000 in contributions for the contested GOP state Senate primary.
Most of the money in King’s campaign coffers comes from individuals, although he took in about $12,000 from various political action committees.
We’d love to report how much his Republican rival, political newcomer and Turning Point-backed Anthony Dunham, has raised. But Dunham hadn’t filed his report as of Thursday night.
If past behavior is any indication, his report won’t be filed for a few weeks. (His last report was 42 days late.)
Whoever wins the LD17 Republican primary next week will still have to face Democrat Edgar Soto, with Dems looking at LD17 as a potential district to turn seats in the Legislature from red to blue.
What’s going on in Marana?
The challengers in the Marana Town Council race (who are running as a four-person slate) are digging into their own pockets to flip control of the body.
The group has two main issues: fighting data centers (both planned and unannounced) in the former farming community and opposing an ICE detention center that would open up in an old state prison.
Mayoral candidate Greg Johnsen put $119,00 of his own money into his campaign, making up the majority of his entire campaign war chest.
His fellow running mates also dug deep into their savings accounts to boost their ability to reach voters in Marana.
Jackie McGuire put $30,000 into her campaign, in addition to simultaneously funding a lawsuit against the town over the data center referendums.
Julie Prince cut herself a $26,225 check for her campaign coffers.
Sue Ritz also put in $27,000 to bump up her campaign checkbook.
As for the incumbents, Marana Mayor Jon Post is apparently self-funding his campaign by putting in $60,000 of his own money for his reelection bid.
Council member Herb Kai put in $12,000 of his own funds and fellow Council member John Officer kicked in $10,000 to his campaign.
Council member Teri Murphy’s campaign was relatively conventional, as her funding came mainly from contributions — but she did kick in $1,000 of her own money.
And write-in candidate Jackie Craig, who is running with the incumbents as a five-person slate, raised $74,000 for her bid to get back on the town council.
Still more races
There are also competitive races in Oro Valley, South Tucson and Sahuarita next week.
But with the deadline to turn in paperwork to officials Wednesday night, not every candidate — like Dunham — had filed their campaign finance reports as of Thursday night.
Sahuarita, like Marana, might see another informal referendum on data centers, as well as at least some candidates campaigning on anti-data center messaging, although the town has not received any formal applications to build one.
Wash your produce: Pima County health officials are looking into five cases of cyclospora reported this year, with one case in March and four more in June, Mia Kortright reports for the Tucson Sentinel. They don’t yet know what caused local cases, but the parasite often shows up in Southern Arizona during the summer. The CDC has connected this year’s outbreak to some imported fruits and vegetables. Officials are reminding people to wash fresh produce well, wash their hands often, and see a doctor if they have symptoms like watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, tiredness, or loss of appetite.
New ballot check option: Arizona voters will have a new way to verify mail-in ballots on Election Day, Katya Mendoza reports for Arizona Public Media. The ID Verified Early Ballot Drop Off system allows voters who show a valid ID when dropping off their own ballot to have their identity confirmed right away, which could help Pima County process Election Day ballots faster. Voters can still use the usual drop-off process. All ballots must be returned by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Some progress on overdoses: Pima County officials said new data shows jail treatment programs may be reducing overdose deaths, Becky Pallack reports for the Arizona Luminaria. At the county jail, 41% of the population is receiving medication-assisted treatment and about half reported facing homelessness or housing instability after their release. During the discussion at the board meeting, Paula Perrera, the director of the county’s Detainee and Crisis Systems department, raised some eyebrows when she referred to jailed people as “bad hombres,” a loaded term ever since President Donald Trump used it a decade ago to describe immigrants.
Signing ceremonies: Democratic state Rep. Alma Hernandez announced that Gov. Katie Hobbs signed Hernandez’s 11th bill into law, saying the measure will strengthen Arizona’s workers’ compensation system by targeting fraud, improving insurance requirements, and increasing accountability for employers. Fellow Democratic state Rep. Kevin Volk celebrated Hobbs signing HB 2800, which strengthens Arizona’s ignition interlock laws and adds penalties for people who help someone avoid using a required breathalyzer device. Volk introduced the bill in memory of his friend and former running mate, John McLean, who was killed by a drunk driver shortly after the 2024 election.
Crossing party lines: Democratic former Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson endorsed Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District. Ciscomani sent out a news release saying he got endorsements from 11 supervisors in the five counties in his district, including two other Democrats: Graham County Supervisor Paul David and Greenlee County Supervisor David Gomez. Pima County Supervisor Steve Christy, the lone Republican on the board, also gave his stamp of approval.
The stakes are really high in the 6th Congressional District, where Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani is trying to fend off a challenge from Democrat JoAnna Mendoza.
But just because the race is important doesn’t mean the campaigns are going to be serious.
So far, the politicking has been really petty, and we’re guessing it’ll reach hilarious levels of pettiness before too long.
For example, a video clip that Republican operative Ben Petersen shared is making the rounds this week.
It shows Mendoza talking about Ciscomani’s shtick as a smooth talker.
“I’m running against a… he’s really a snake in the grass. He’s very charismatic. He’s got about 10 pounds of gel in his hair. Good-looking guy, you know, smiles, everybody loves him,” Mendoza says.
Ciscomani responded with a pretty decent comeback.
Ciscomani’s wife Laura also chimed in, saying Juan’s “smokin’ hot,” and political commentator Barrett Marson added that “everybody does love Juan Ciscomani.”
And on and on it went.
So, get ready for a whole lot of this for the next three months!
Keep your fingers crossed that their policy differences will be laid bare at some point.