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.
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy visited the Arizona-Mexico border for his first time since his election to that position. With him were other GOP House members, including a new lawmaker from Arizona, Rep. Juan Ciscomani.
This stop was seen as an indicator of how Republicans plan to handle border security and immigration issues. They now hold a House majority in a split Congress.
This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Arizona Republic reporter Rafael Carranza. He was in Cochise County during the visit.
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It’s been 14 years since Arizona last had a Democratic governor. At that time, just like today, Arizona’s legislature was ruled by the state GOP.
As Gov. Katie Hobbs settles into the business of governing, she’s battling a Republican-controlled legislature she hopes will turn Democratic next year. Today we’re talking to reporters in two states where Democratic governors have been hard to find — and their legislatures took two different paths.
In this episode of The Gaggle, national politics reporter Ron Hansen and state reporter Mary Jo Pitzl sit down with two reporters from states whose recent history looks similar to Arizona's present: Michigan and Kansas.
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Everywhere you look, it’s clear that the Super Bowl is here. Murals and banners are up, cities are cleaning up, and the fans are flying in.
Many guests are staying and partying in Scottsdale. Football-themed events and entertainment are transforming downtown Phoenix, and the game itself is in Glendale.
Experts predict that a large percentage of the people attending these events will be tourists, and the state is projected to make hundreds of millions of dollars from Super Bowl 57.
The last time Arizona hosted the Super Bowl in 2015, the Pro Bowl also kicked off the next weekend. That year, the state made more than $700 million in 10 days, according to an estimate from Arizona State University.
But the Super Bowl's effects can be uneven, and it does come with costs, too.
This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Arizona Republic reporter Corina Vanek to discuss what goes into putting on a mega-event like the Super Bowl.
Ryan Brewer, associate professor of finance at Indiana University, joins the show to break down the costs and economic benefits of hosting the Super Bowl.
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When U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego announced he was running for U.S. Senate, the Arizona Democrat made clear that it’s in part because of what he views as the misguided priorities of U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema, now an independent, has long made clear she views raw partisan politics as a policy dead end.
But the bad vibes between them aren’t really new. It’s part of a split that began 17 years ago that has only widened in recent years.
In today's episode of The Gaggle, we take a closer look at how these two politicians operate, and which might appeal more to Arizona voters should they go head-to-head in November 2024.
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A joke that is so overused it's not even funny anymore: Congress can't get anything done.
But with a new split Congress, the joke might be reality, and Arizona’s congressional delegation is helping set the tone.
Republican Rep. Andy Biggs helped lead a rebellious faction within the GOP in a fight over the House speakership that forced days of drama over that normally routine matter. Republican Paul Gosar is among those who have clamored for aggressive investigation of the Biden administration.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s defection from the Democratic Party gives the Senate a new operating dynamic as well.
As Capitol Hill adjusts to a new normal, important issues like the debt ceiling and border security hang over the nation’s unresolved policy agenda.
This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Ron Hansen is joined by two political experts, Wendy Schiller of Brown University and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, to dissect what to expect from Congress this session.
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Residents of the Rio Verde Foothills community just north of Scottsdale are facing dry taps and no immediate solution. The unincorporated land has for years relied on the City of Scottsdale to process the water that gets hauled up to the community.
Scottsdale has been warning the community for many years that its water processing services is not a permanent solution, particularly in light of the city's drought plan. Rio Verde is not under Scottsdale's jurisdiction, and as such the city is not required to provide any services to the community.
Several solutions have been proposed to address the water crisis, but nothing was solidified before the deadline of January 1, 2023.
How did we get here? And why?
In this episode of The Gaggle, we explore those questions and try to make sense of a very complicated situation. This week, county watchdog reporter Sasha Hupka, who's been covering the situation, joins us. Audio Producer Kaely Monahan fills in for our regular host Ron Hansen, who is out this week.
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Arizonans heard the plans from a new Governor for the first time in 8 years as Democrat Katie Hobbs started her second week in office.
In her State of the State address, she set the tone for her legislative priorities for 2023 and emphasized a desire for bipartisanship. It didn’t take long for some of the Republicans in the Legislature to make clear they have little desire to find common ground on issues like abortion rights.
Hobbs spent much of her speech talking about public education, another area where she and her Republican lawmakers will have to avert a rapidly approaching funding deadline that could abruptly end the school year for some and unleash broad, new doubts about the state’s commitment to education.
This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Ron Hansen is joined by reporter Stacey Barchenger and partner at Ascent Media, Daniel Scarpinato. Daniel helped write these speeches as an aide to former Gov. Doug Ducey. He ended his tenure with the governor as Ducey’s chief of staff.
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It’s 2023 and Arizona has a new governor, a U.S. senator without a party affiliation, a more conservative Legislature and familiar issues to face in this new year.
So how will all that play out?
Today on The Gaggle, host Ron Hansen is joined by The Arizona Republic's Mary Jo Pitzl and Stacey Barchenger to hash out what the start of a new political era looks like for Arizona. Tops on the list are issues surrounding abortion access, how to tame inflation and how to get approved funding into school budgets.
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We’re taking a break this week to celebrate the holidays with our loved ones.
In the meantime, be sure to check out our 2022 retrospective episode from last week. Or catch up on our exit interview with Governor Doug Ducey.
We’ll be back with a fresh episode in the new year. As always, thank you for listening, subscribing, and sharing our show.
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The year 2022 was filled with political ups and downs and drama seemingly from every corner in Arizona.
The year began with Gov. Doug Ducey’s final State of the State address. Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, shared his firm views that the 2020 election was not stolen.
We covered Ukraine, Uvalde and Roe v. Wade, all before diving into the 2022 midterm elections. We heard from the youth, the independents, and from candidates themselves.
We sadly said goodbye to Yvonne Wingett Sanchez as she embarked on her next endeavor, but welcomed The Arizona Republic’s politics team as regulars whom you’ve grown to know.
In this episode, we have a special roundtable with some familiar voices to our podcast: Mary Jo Pitzl, Ray Stern, Stacey Barchenger, Robert Anglen, Sasha Hupka and Ryan Randazzo.
Together, each reporter will discuss 2022's politics and give their roses – the good things; thorns – the not so good things; and buds – things they are hopeful about.
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