Over the weekend, we attended two political fundraisers: one for the Pima County Democratic Party and another for the Pima County Republican Party.
As you might imagine, the two functions could not have been more different.
Sure, both had the same goal of riling up the faithful and filling the coffers during what promises to be a grueling election year.
But local party fundraisers aren’t just about money.
They’re early indicators of organizational strength, political confidence and strategic focus heading into an election cycle. They’re where you see the real shape of local politics: who shows up, who doesn’t, how much energy each side has and what kind of machine each party is building as an election year begins to accelerate.
And they’re a chance for attendees — and nosey political reporters — to get to peek behind the veil of local party politics.
Dems highlight local political “talent”
Saturday night’s fundraiser for the Pima County Democratic Party was a fairly intimate affair.
Hosted at local Dems’ favorite haunt, Club Congress, the event featured stand-up comic and political podcaster Corinne Fisher, who is also a former New York City mayoral candidate.
Comic Corinne Fisher, Mayor Regina Romero, Councilmembers Paul Cunningham and Miranda Schubert sat on the stage at Club Congress for Saturday night’s fundraiser. (Photo by Joe)
About 50 people showed up to hear her throw out partisan, politically-charged zingers.
The event was advertised as a comedy night, but it included a more serious segment, with Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and Councilmembers Paul Cunningham and Miranda Schubert participating in a Q&A about local politics for 30 minutes.
Then each of the local elected officials got silly in what was generously billed as a “talent show.”
Cunningham rapped about his love for Tucson, Schubert strapped on her skates and demonstrated her best roller derby tricks and Romero roasted Republicans for a few minutes.
This wasn’t local Democrats’ big, formal annual fundraiser. Rather, it was one of a series of more light-hearted events they put on throughout the year to pay for all those buttons, billboards, banners and other expenses that go along with running a party and winning elections.
Recently, Democrats held a fundraiser at a tattoo parlor. At another event, Democrats sold slices of pie until they collected enough to throw a whole pie at elected Democrats who volunteered to take one on the chin.
These kinds of events are more about community-building than fundraising. And on that front, it was a success.
Republicans hobnob with the big dogs
The Pima County Republican Party, meanwhile, hosted one of their biggest annual fundraisers, the Lincoln Day Luncheon.
The event filled up three conference rooms designed to hold 265 people at the Desert Diamond Casino on Sunday.
It was more of a buttoned-up networking event than lighthearted talent show.
A massive banner honoring 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln hung near one of the entrances to the Republican Party fundraiser. (Photo by Joe)
The event gave local Republicans a chance to mingle and talk politics with statewide candidates rarely seen below the Gila River except during campaign events.
The event itself wasn’t open to the press, so we were relegated to attending a social hour before the event formally started where we spent about 90 minutes talking to various Republicans.
Still, we spotted U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs and David Schweikert — who are both running for governor — as well as Arizona secretary of state candidate Alex Kolodin, perennial Congressional District 7 candidate Daniel Butierrez, and Rep. Rachel Keshel and candidate John Winchester from northern Pima County’s Legislative District 17.
The top county Republican, Supervisor Steve Christy, didn’t attend. But he bought a huge ad in the flyer handed out to those attending. Likewise, we were told that Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani couldn’t attend because he was on a flight back to D.C.
The Republican shindig didn’t include roller skates or comedians.
Instead, the annual event’s entertainment included a silent auction of UA basketball tickets and Dubai chocolate. Not to mention political booths from Turning Point USA and local candidates.
It was an attempt to show that local Republicans, despite being outnumbered, are a serious group that can bring in big names and big donors and help move Pima County at least a smidge to the right.
Worth the price of admission?
So which one was more fun?
Well, that depends on your definition of “fun.”
Democrats in this deep blue town were socially energized and comfortable enough to lean into community, personality and spectacle — they have the numbers, so they were able to let their guards down and throw a party.
Republicans, on the other hand, were focused on candidates, campaigns and organization — offering their loyal donors a chance to connect with and get to know the faces that will be appearing on the ballots this year.
But fun isn’t really the point.
And it’s not even really about the money — though of course that’s important, as several legislative seats and a congressional seat are in play this year in Pima County.1What these two events revealed, more than anything, is the kind of political culture and identity that each party is building as the election year begins to take shape.
And the events showed the two parties’ different sources of strength — community and engagement versus discipline and organization.
The question now is which one proves more durable when the campaign moves out of banquet rooms and into the ballot booth.
No help from the Capitol: Despite pleas from Southern Arizona officials, Gov. Katie Hobbs won’t stop the sale of 160 acres of state land to Hudbay for the Copper World project, the Arizona Daily Star’s Tony Davis reports. Hobbs’ press secretary Liliana Soto said the sale wouldn’t stop the mine and the money will allow the state to raise money for public schools. Opponents of the mine say they’re going to file a formal legal protest against the state.
"This is the first discretionary decision Gov. Hobbs herself has made regarding the mine," John Dougherty of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas said. "Now, she clearly is throwing her cards down on behalf of the copper company and against the political leadership of Southern Arizona that clearly is against development of this project.”
Hovering over the ovals: Even after years of covering the Regional Transportation Authority, Star columnist Tim Steller says “it's weird after all these years to finally have the ballot open in my hands and not know which way to vote on RTA Next.” The only thing Steller knows for sure is that he’s either going to vote “yes” on both propositions, or he’s going to vote “no” on both.
On the chopping block: The TUSD governing board is going to get a preview today of what administrators plan to do about a $26.7 million budget deficit, Tucson Sentinel columnist Blake Morlock writes in his rundown of local school board news. Over at Flowing Wells, district officials are planning to charge $25 more for preschool and the governing board is going to vote on new guidelines for early education students. And at Vail Unified, they need to get a budget override re-authorized in November or cut $14 million from the budget.
Dollars from heaven: Somebody gave the University of Arizona $20 million, KVOA’s Edgar Lopez reports. The anonymous donor helped the UA set a record for its annual “Giving Day” and helped establish a Presidential Strategic Leadership Fund to “empower the University of Arizona president to advance institutional priorities when strategic opportunities arise.”
Give a boost to our Editorial Empowerment Strategic Advancement in Institutional Prioritized Leadership Fund by clicking this button.
Way over the top: The circus-like atmosphere of news coverage of the Nancy Guthrie disappearance, particularly from YouTuber Jonathan Lee Riches, got the write-up it deserves from the Guardian’s Alaina Demopoulos (including a story Curt wrote about Riches in 2018).
“He posts stream with titles like, “BREAKING – MANHUNT!!! NANCY GUTHRIE KIDNAPPING – LIVE” but once you click through you mostly see Riches simply sitting in his car,” Demopoulos wrote.
There are a lot of metaphors about being a tough politician.
And yet, very few involve strapping on roller skates, a helmet and running an obstacle course set up inside a downtown bar.
Democrats at a local fundraiser gave Tucson City Councilwoman Miranda Schubert — aka Pariah Carey — top marks after she repeatedly took down inflatable obstacles as part of a talent show portion of the fundraiser this weekend.
We’re going to be extra nice to Schubert at the very least when she is wearing rollerskates. By comparison, Cunningham writing a diss track (see yesterday’s Tucson Agenda) seems like something we can recover from without needing stitches.
1 How much each group raised from these events won’t be reported for several weeks, and while new reports for each party come out today, neither party has a massive war chest. The Democrats have about $112,000 cash on hand at the end of the year, and the Republicans have about half that in their campaign checkbook.