The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast

The midterm election is less than a month away. And while many voters may have decided which candidates they are supporting, there is much more on the ballot this year. Ballot measures play a big role in deciding how Arizonans want their state run, but it can be confusing to sort through what each really stands for and if you want to vote yes or no.This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Ron Hansen is joined by Arizona Republic reporters Mary Jo Pitzl and Ryan Randazzo, who have written about the different measures now before voters.They discuss the key initiatives, how they got to be on the ballot, who supports them, and who opposes them.Follow The Gaggle and all azcentral.com podcasts on Twitter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The midterm elections are about a month away and both political parties are furiously trying to make their cases to the electorate. In a year marked by historic inflation and a seismic Supreme Court ruling on abortion, many political experts are expecting unusually heavy turnout. If that happens, America’s young adults could play a big role.But what do they want, or care about? Are they Democrats? Republicans? Or independents?In this episode of The Gaggle, we’re talking to some young adults to find out what’s on their minds.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Late on September 23rd, a Pima County Superior Court judge effectively allowed Arizona’s 19th Century ban on nearly all abortions to go back into effect. That is at odds with a 2022 law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.Just this week, Maricopa County’s top prosecutor reversed herself and said she wouldn’t prosecute women for getting an abortion. Facing a charged political environment, Arizona officials have struggled to clarify what is legal and what is now forbidden after the U.S. Supreme Court in June erased federal abortion rights.The Pima County ruling sparked another round of anger and anguish from Democrats. Most Republicans preferred to let the latest development pass quietly.In this episode of The Gaggle, Brookings senior fellow and founding director Center for Effective Public ManagementElaine Kamarck (@EKamarck) joins our host, Ron Hansen to discuss how abortion restrictions may impact midterm elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On election night in 2020, Fox News made the first formal projection suggesting that Joe Biden could win the presidency by saying Biden had won Arizona.Almost immediately, that projection set off a firestorm in the White House, capped by then-President Donald Trump suggesting that the election was stolen. The backlash in Arizona came swiftly.Protesters gathered at the state Capitol, claiming a stolen election even as the votes were still being counted. Maricopa County became the national epicenter of the so-called “big lie” that widespread fraud allowed Biden to claim victory.By the end of 2020, the Arizona Republican Party assembled “alternate electors” to justify setting aside election results in Washington, D.C. About the same time, Arizona state Senate President Karen Fann, a Republican, set her chamber on a fateful path as well. She launched an unprecedented review of Maricopa County’s ballots in search of the fraud so many had claimed in Arizona.This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Ron Hansen is joined by Arizona Republic reporters Mary Jo Pitzl and Robert Anglen, who helped cover the ballot review and the fallout since then.They discuss the year since the ballot review concluded, what it accomplished, and how it will affect the 2022 elections come November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few things are a safe bet when the Arizona Legislature reconvenes in January, including who will be sitting in the seats.What can be expected is that there will be a representative for the whole spectrum of opinions: from election deniers to abortion rights supporters.This is the expected outgrowth of a newly drawn political map where most races are not competitive in general elections. But what about the 11 state house races around Arizona where there is a little suspense over who will sit in the state Legislature for the next two years?This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Ron Hansen is joined by state politics and issues reporter Ray Stern to make sense of the many Legislative races that will be on your ballot come November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While it’s September and still in the triple digits here in Arizona, the change in the calendar means summer recess is over.The kids are back to school. Members of Congress are back in Washington.The midterm elections are looming, and control of both chambers of Congress is in question. Currently, Democrats lead with 220 members in the 435-person House of Representatives, which has lit a fire under Republicans to regain the House. But a Republican takeover might not be as easy as predicted. For answers, some are looking right here in Arizona.This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Ron Hansen is joined by Kyle Kondik. He is the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a non-partisan newsletter from the University of Virginia on campaigns and elections.Together they discuss the status of Arizona's federal races, the Senate and the House races, which could offer clues to how the country might be voting as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the beginning of August, the U.S. Interior Department has announced a water shortage that will trigger cuts in the water supply in Arizona and other parts of the Southwest. A United Nations environmental program said Lake Powell and Lake Mead have reached “dangerously low levels.”The federal Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees the nation’s water projects, gave the seven states and 30 tribes that use the Colorado River eight weeks to come up with a plan to conserve more water. The goal was to conserve an extra 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water, thereby stabilizing the rapidly dwindling reservoirs. However, no plan was reached and the clock keeps ticking.In this episode, we’re talking about an issue many of you have sent our way: Arizona’s water crisis. How bad is it? And what are government and policy leaders doing about it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As his two terms as governor wind down, Doug Ducey crossed off one of the goals he's had on his list for nearly eight years.He signed into law House Bill 2853, expanding school vouchers to allow all parents to use them for private school tuition or other educational costs. It's being lauded as the biggest school-choice victory in the nation.Supporters say it will increase opportunities for Arizona students and families to choose the education they want without being limited by financial situations, but critics argue it casts a blind eye to the already struggling public school system in the state.This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Ron Hansen is joined by K-12 education reporter Yana Kunichoff to break down what the law really means for the future of the state and what it means for Ducey's legacy as governor. Later in the show, Darleen Opfer, vice president and director of RAND Education and Labor, discusses potential obstacles Arizona parents could still face and where the expanded voucher program places the state in the national conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden on Aug. 9 signed into law the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act..The historic legislation provides up to $52 billion dollars from the U.S. government to help spur production of semiconductor factories, advanced technologies and research facilities across the country. The Biden administration hopes it will open doors to new commercial breakthroughs in emerging fields such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence. With the passage of the CHIPS Act, the U.S. is ready to once more become a world leader in semiconductor production and challenge China’s domination in that industry.One of the states that could stand to benefit from the law is Arizona, which has long been a desirable location for tech companies from Motorola to Intel. In today’s episode, The Gaggle investigates what the new federal initiative could mean in a state trying to expand its high-tech footprint. The president of Arizona State University Michael Crow and Mesa Mayor John Giles join our host Ron Hansen in the conversation.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After distinguishing themselves from the pack, Trump-endorsed candidates won big at Arizona's primaries. Kari Lake clinched the Republican nomination for governor and will go head-to-head with Democrat Katie Hobbs. Republican Blake Masters will face off with incumbent Democratic Mark Kelly for a seat in the U.S. Senate.In the Secretary of State race, Republican, and notorious conspiracy theorist, Mark Finchem will face off with Adrian Fontes, the Democratic former Maricopa County Recorder. So what does this say about Arizona’s electorate as we head into November? Are Trump-style Republicans primed to take hold in our state? Or will the majority of Arizonans turn to Democrats in the fall?In this episode of The Gaggle, we’re setting the table for the midterm elections. We’ll talk about how voter choices in the primaries will help determine what happens in November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices