Arizona elections need better candidates. Here's how to vote in the primaries

When early voting begins in Arizona on July 3, voters will not simply cast their ballots.

They send a message about important issues, policies and people.

That is real power, even if the results of the last primaries might give that impression.

Many elections this year have remained a matter of holding your nose and voting, especially for moderate Republicans and independent voters.

Few candidates in competitive races share anything like the same common-sense views and priorities.

Bad candidates have infected politics in Arizona

And no wonder.

The Republican Party – which, ironically, still holds a lead of about 243,000 registered voters over the Democrats – has been overrun by MAGA supporters.

The state Republicans and their affiliates have turned into gathering places for cranks and outsiders. Drunk on populism, the party refused to accept the results of the 2020 and 2022 election cycles.

They turned against their own people, reprimanding people like Governor Doug Ducey, U.S. Senators John McCain, Cindy McCain, U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Rusty Bowers, District Attorney Rachel Mitchell, and all seven justices of the Arizona Supreme Court.

Business leaders refused to support them. The money dried up.

And then bad candidates – people with eccentric views and twisted conspiracy theories who preferred Donald Trump's ruthless brand of politics – began dominating and winning the Republican primaries, only to lose to the Democrats in the fall.

Democrats ignore rural areas in Arizona:This could cost them the election

Consider the message that dissatisfied voters sent in this election.

It was primarily the Republicans who turned Arizona into the Democrats, with moderate Republicans and independent voters giving most of the state's offices predominantly to Democrats.

Choose competence instead of conspiracy

But they largely did that in the general election. It's time to send a similar message in the primaries.

This time it is a blanket rejection of dubious candidates – candidates who prefer to put party loyalty or their own interests first rather than the good of the state.

Arizona needs candidates who are willing to address issues that directly affect us, including housing, education and water.

And not just to use these issues as a party-political cudgel against those with whom they disagree.

Our state needs serious candidates with serious political skills – or, if not the skills, then at least the interest in honing those skills by listening to and learning from others, even those with whom they disagree.

This is the government that Arizona voters want and deserve. Fortunately, there are numerous opportunities in the primary election to make that transition.

CD 8 is a key race to send this message

One of the most important election campaigns in the state is the question of who will replace Republican U.S. Representative Debbie Lesko in the 8th Congressional District in the western Phoenix metropolitan area.

The race includes several candidates whose behavior in recent years should be troubling, if not disqualifying. For example, Abe Hamadeh has spent the last year and a half denying and contesting the outcome of the 2022 election.

Anthony Kern was impeached for acting as a “fake elector” for Donald Trump. He also embarrassed himself by publicly turning his back on Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs.

Blake Masters has crossed red lines with his attacks on Hamadeh's Muslim faith, while a conservative PAC that supports Masters has essentially labeled Hamadeh a “terrorist sympathizer.”

Former U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, who resigned in 2017 after pressuring female staffers to have his child, is running again for the seat in this western Phoenix district.

Lesko, who ran as a conservative Republican but toned down the MAGA rhetoric, has endorsed the most responsible Republican in the race.

That would be the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ben Toma, who is one of the party's most level-headed figures, has accepted the results of the last two elections and has even single-handedly refuted some of the conspiracy theories.

This is the Republican LD 17 Senate race

Another Republican primary where competency is at stake this year is the election for the Senate seat in the 17th legislative district in southern Arizona.

Former Senator Vince Leach, a more traditional Republican and fiscal conservative, is back to reclaim the seat he lost to MAGA figure Justine Wadsack in 2022.

With a series of ads titled “There’s Something Wrong with Justine Wadsack,” Leach capitalizes on Wadsack’s eccentric views and her appearance—her china doll-like hair and bright red lipstick.

Wadsack supported social media posts calling the 9/11 attacks and the Uvalde shootings a “black flag” and insider operation. She has engaged in election denial and turned her back on the governor.

Like this race for County Supervisor

A third race is the Republican primary in the second district for Maricopa County Executive, pitting diehard Trump conservative Michelle Ugenti-Rita, who was involved in a Capitol sex scandal in 2016, against incumbent Tom Galvin, a traditional Republican.

In 2016, a lobbyist accused Ugenti-Rita of trying to recruit her for a threesome. Ugenti-Rita now accuses Galvin – and without irony – of doing nothing because the county library stocks sexually explicit books for children.

While Galvin, a lawyer, focuses on more serious issues such as improving the business climate and fiscal responsibility, Ugenti-Rita tells AZ Family TV: “He is a failure and must go.”

These are not the only races where the line between competence and extremism is clear.

If Republicans in Arizona want to take back their party, they must vote for responsible and mature candidates on all issues.

In fact, there is no question that voters have more influence – and can send the strongest message – in the primaries than in the general election, because many parliamentary and district seats are decided there.

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Anna Harden

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