Stay ConnectedHelping you keep up with what matters in Arizona’s political news. Each week we interview politicians, public figures or journalists to break down one local issue and how it affects your life in Arizona.
Coming to you every Wednesday morning, The Gaggle is hosted by The Arizona Republic’s national political reporters Ron Hansen and Stephanie Murray, and is produced by Amanda Luberto.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have been trying to revamp Chase Field for years now. So far, that journey has left them without the proper funds to renovate the 27-year-old stadium. A new amendment to House Bill 2704 proposes a 50-50 split between Phoenix and Maricopa County to provide as much as $500 million a year from the sales taxes collected at the stadium – a change that prompted the county to oppose the bill.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Bret McCormick. He's a beat writer for the Sports Business Journal covering fan experiences, ticketing and sports facilities.
(1:53) Bret talks with Ron and Mary Jo about the reality of the Diamondbacks ballpark situation and how Arizona compares to other states in similar positions. (19:20) Then, Ron and Mary Jo break down the bipartisan support — and bipartisan opposition — the bill is finding in the Legislature.
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Guest: Bret McCormick, beat writer for the Sports Business Journal covering fan experiences, ticketing and sports facilities.
Hosts: Ron Hansen, Mary Jo Pitzl
Producer: Amanda Luberto
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Raúl Grijalva, the dean of Arizona’s congressional delegation who spent more than 40 years in public service, succumbed to lung cancer last week. He was 77.
His loss is felt by his family, friends, colleagues and constituents. But the search for his replacement has already began. Gov. Katie Hobbs has set a date for the special election to fill his empty spot in Congress and notable names like Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Adelita Grijalva, his daughter, and politician in her own right, have expressed interest in representing District 7.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by national politics reporter Laura Gersony.
Together they retrace Grijalva’s career and discuss what comes next in Congressional District 7. Later in the episode, Ron and Mary Jo break down the reality of what could transpire when his seat is filled and more about Ron's experiences interviewing Grijalva over the years.
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Scottsdale residents voted in a new mayor and new City Council in the 2024 election. Almost immediately, the new faces at City Hall started kicking up dust in a city that calls itself “The West’s Most Western town.”
Eliminating DEI measures against residents' wishes, a controversy over a parking garage, an ethics complaint about the new mayor and more have Scottsdale City Council feeling more like reality television than C-SPAN.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by city watchdog reporter Taylor Seely. She covers Phoenix in addition to Scottsdale and has been reporting on the antics of Scottsdale's City Council.
Taylor joins The Gaggle to give an update on what is going on in Scottsdale and how the drama is resonating with those in charge.
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Congress is looking to make room for trillions in tax cuts that are titled to corporations and the wealthy. Now, America's health-care program for the disabled, pregnant women and low-income earners is up for possible large federal funding cuts.
More than 70 million Americans rely on Medicaid, with 2 million of them living in Arizona.
The magnitude of the potential cuts, and the consequences for the people who rely on Medicaid, are on the minds of state lawmakers. They say the state needs to build its upcoming budget around the likelihood of cuts and tighten its belt.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are examining what cuts in Medicaid funding would mean for Arizona. First, a health care reporter at The Republic, Stephanie Innes, discusses how many people will be impacted by this decision. Later, Kohler shines a light on the politics of the situation.
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Trump and his self-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, after the internet meme, is attempting to rein in the amount of national spending and the size of the federal government.
About 32,000 of the 3 million federal employees are Arizonans, and the number of layoffs and buyouts offered by the Trump administration remains unclear. Most agencies that The Arizona Republic has reached out to for information about layoffs or buyouts have not responded. Slashing federal jobs will impact not only people who have been fired or offered a buyout, but also tourists to the Grand Canyon, Arizonans reliant on Social Security and Hotshots preparing for wildfire season.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by The Republic's national politics reporter Stephanie Murray. Murray covers the White House and has been closely following how Arizonans will be impacted by Trump's federal job cuts.
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The new year also brought a slightly larger Republican majority in both the House and Senate, furthering the political divide at the Capitol. Gov. Katie Hobbs has already delivered her first veto of the year, denying a Republican-backed proposal to fast-track election results.
The political partition complicates Hobbs’ goal of scoring wins on her agenda ahead of her 2026 reelection bid. It also coincided with the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, and some of the bills have echoes of his pledges.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Mary Jo Pitzl sits down with Stan Barnes, who's out at the Capitol often. He’s a former state lawmaker and the founder of Copper State Consulting Group, a political lobbying firm in Arizona.
Together, they discuss if the Republican dominated Legislature can get their bills passed into law while Hobbs sits in the head office; key topics lawmakers are hoping to cover; and how the 2026 election looms over the session.
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Steve Montenegro is not new to the Capitol — he served eight years in the Legislature before an unsuccessful run for Congress in 2018. In 2022, he returned to state politics when he was elected to represent Legislative District 29 along with fellow Republican Austin Smith.
At the end of last year, Republicans elected Montenegro as the new speaker of the House of Representatives for the next session.
A native of El Salvador, Montenegro is the first Latino to lead the 60-member House. He won the seat after serving just two years, which sets him up for a chance to serve as speaker for three consecutive terms — a rarity in the fast-moving world of legislative term limits and politics.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl sit down with Montenegro at the beginning of his term as speaker.
Together they discuss how his immigration background influences him, unifying the Republican party in Arizona, and his approach for working with Hobbs.
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Being a swing state, Arizona's politics are watched with a magnifying glass across the country. It's not just who wins – though that is definitely what matters most – but it is smaller things.
Among the details that seem to move to the forefront is who leads the major parties. This serves a temperature check for how the parties are running and where they're trending.
2024 was a pretty good year for Republicans in Arizona, as elsewhere. President Donald Trump won the state and Republicans won in all other races that were thought to be a toss-up.
Unsurprisingly, that left Democrats looking for changes in their state party leadership, despite holding office in all of the major roles in the state. The GOP stuck with a leader they didn’t initially select two years ago, though she faced a challenge to keep her post.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Kirk Adams and Sam Richard of Consilium Consulting, a Phoenix-based firm that handles lobbying and consulting.
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Maricopa County is the economic driver of Arizona and at least politically, largely shapes the state's identity.
During the 2024 election, the county went through a political overhaul. There are a lot of new faces dealing with a lot of familiar issues. Illegal immigration, sports venues and a jail tax are all on the county's list to tackle in the months to come. But how will new blood approach old business?
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by county politics reporter Sasha Hupka. Together, they break down the big changes at the state's biggest county.
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President Donald Trump's "Day 1" has come and gone and so far, he has kept most of his promises.
The president signed an abundance of executive orders in the hours following his inauguration, some directly impacting Arizonans, with more to come in the first few days of his new administration. But is this the beginning of a MAGA marathon or an early sprint before the chance of a changing tide in the 2026 midterm elections?
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by national politics reporters Stephanie Murray and Laura Gersony. Together they go through what Trump’s second time in office may mean for Arizonans and the future.
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