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.
In the second of a five-episode series, The Gaggle hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ron Hansen break down Rudy Giuliani’s audacious pitch in Dec. 2020 to reverse Arizona election results – a plan that would involve the help of Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Senate President Karen Fann. Trump and his allies, including Giuliani, had for weeks pointed to purported irregularities in Arizona, claiming they contributed to a stolen election. A day earlier, Giuliani headlined a meeting at a Phoenix hotel where he and other Arizona Republicans presented claims of widespread voter fraud.
The next 35 days would see divisions within the party, talk of subpoenas, more White House calls and then, Jan. 6.
In a four-month investigation, The Arizona Republic interviewed dozens of people who were in and around the effort to alter the election outcome and the ballot review that for months sustained outrage over Trump’s loss. Some talked on the record about their experiences, while others spoke on the condition they not be identified in order to speak candidly about private conversations.
The Republic also reviewed thousands of pages of documents obtained through public records requests and in an ongoing lawsuit against the Senate and the company it hired to conduct the ballot review.
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Over the course of four months, The Republic examined a trove of text messages, emails and court records, many made public after suing the state for access. Reporters spoke to decision-makers, consultants, staff, contractors, campaign aides and others tied to the review of the presidential and U.S. Senate races. Some talked on the record about their experiences, while others spoke on the condition they not be identified in order to speak candidly about private conversations.
The Republic uncovered efforts to circumvent the popular vote to engineer an illegitimate Trump victory. Once the results were certified, Trump and his allies shifted to a campaign to pressure local Republicans to overturn election results from voters using an early ballot system largely shaped over decades by their own party.
In this first of a five-episode series, Democracy in Doubt, The Gaggle hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ron Hansen walk you through the origins of the Arizona election review and how that state plunged into a fog of election conspiracies riven with partisanship and targeted by opportunists from across the country.
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Last week the U.S. House of Representatives ended months of infighting among Democrats to pass a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema helped broker.
The historic legislation, along with a still-unfinished social spending bill, serves as a reminder of the Arizona Democrat's central role in what seems politically possible in Washington.
A deal with the liberal wing of House Democrats allowed the physical infrastructure plan to proceed. It will boost spending on the nation's various deteriorating structures such as roads and bridges, water systems and expand broadband internet coverage.
Progressive Democrats expect a vote on the $1.75 trillion human "Build Back Better" bill later this month.
How will Sinema's moderate policies affect the Biden agenda, Democratic fortunes in the 2022 midterm elections, and her own future in the Senate?
In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen speak with Kyle Kondik. Kondik is a political analyst and the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
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On Oct. 28, 2021, the five-member Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission adopted new lines for political districts in the state. The new legislative and congressional maps had little contention by the bipartisan commission.
The general public now has 30 days to look over the proposed maps and share their thoughts before the finalization date of Dec. 22. The final decision will impact Arizona politics for the next decade. The draft maps are online for the public to view on the Independent Redistricting Commission website.
In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, host Ron Hansen talk with the head of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission Dr. Erika Neuberg about what has been proposed so far. Then, Arizona Republic reporter Ray Stern joins the show to break down what this will mean in upcoming elections.
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Arizona's congressional and legislative boundaries are being redrawn as part of a process that may seem tedious, but carries outsize importance to understanding the state's politics for the next decade.
Arizona is one of the few states that uses an independent commission, rather than having state lawmakers draw their own maps. The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, as it is known, has two Democrats, two Republicans and one independent member who sits as the chair of the panel.
The IRC presented a draft of a new map on Oct. 5, to receive feedback from the public.
In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen speak with Yurij Rudensky, a redistricting expert for the Brennan Center's Democracy Program.
Rudensky breaks down how Arizona's redistricting process compares to other states, and how public input can make a difference.
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The economics of the proposed spending of two major infrastructure bills along with a debate over raising the debt celling is playing out in Congress.
There are three separate but important things happening. The first is the $1.2 trillion physical infrastructure bill that passed the Senate and waits action in the House.
The second is the broader $3.5 trillion human infrastructure bill that comprises much of President Joe Biden's political agenda. That measure is being scaled back because of concerns raised by both Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
Third, Congress still needs to raise the debt celling to approve borrowing for previous spending. The deadline for that is in early December, and if Congress fails to raise the debt figure, it could create chaos in global financial markets. For now, Senate Republicans want Senate Democrats to pass that provision without their support.
How does all the proposed Congress spending impact the nation's and Arizona's economy?
In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen speak with Arizona State University economics professor Dennis Hoffman. He breaks down how the long term investments could impact Arizonans.
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Gov. Doug Ducey's time in Arizona's highest office is coming to a close in little over a year, which means that the race to replace him is starting to accelerate. The primary election is on August 2, and eight candidates are looking to take his seat.
Former Fox10 television news anchor Kari Lake is running for the Republican Party and was awarded the highly sought-after endorsement by former President Donald Trump at the end of September. Of her four competitors for the GOP spot, other candidates like Matt Salmon are looking for another shot at office.
On the Democratic side, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is the party frontrunner. But Marco Lopez has experience in former President Barack Obama’s administration that could make him attractive to some voters. And Aaron Lieberman just announced he was retiring from the state House to focus on his gubernatorial bid.
In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ron Hansen talk with Arizona Republic reporter Stacey Barchenger about the upcoming governor's race, including who is running and where they stand on key issues.
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The liberal wing of the Democratic Party seems to be nearing its breaking point with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
Over the weekend, members of the non-profit Living United for Change in Arizona, or LUCHA, followed Sinema, D-Ariz., into a bathroom at Arizona State University.
Activists recorded and shouted their grievances at her for not supporting more accommodating immigration reforms.
Progressives' frustration with Sinema go beyond Arizona voters. A Saturday Night Live skit portrayed her as the senator derailing legislation central to the Biden administration, including the $3.5 trillion human infrastructure package.
Sinema has said that is too expensive for her vote, but hasn’t said what she would support.
In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen, speak with Emily Kirkland, executive director of Progress Arizona, a progressive community nonprofit. She's breaking down why the left is angry with Sinema and what they're doing about it.
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Over the last nearly 10 months, ballots from the 2020 election have been counted and recounted to ensure that there was no election fraud and that Arizona really did vote President Joe Biden into office. While the election review is still happening in other ways, the official reports from Cyber Ninjas confirmed that there was no fraud and that Joe Biden did win Arizona's 11 electoral votes.
Leading the way through the ballot recount has been Senate President Karen Fann. She signed onto subpoenas to obtain materials from the county, and helped press the county to hand over its ballots and tabulation machines. And she has presided over various public proceedings involving the review.
A year ago, most people didn’t know who Fann even was, but now she has international recognition.
This week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ron Hansen are joined by Arizona Republic reporter Mary Jo Pitzl. Mary Jo has covered the state legislature on and off for a long time and has watched Fann navigate the Capitol for more than a decade.
She recently sat down with Fann to find out how she became synonymous with Maricopa County's ballot review.
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Ten months ago, President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Arizona’s 11 electoral votes. But a review of Maricopa County's 2.1 million ballots ordered by the Republican-controlled state Senate only ended last week.
Cyber Ninjas, the Florida company that oversaw the review for the Senate, found President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump by a slightly margin than the certified results showed, and raised questions about thousands of ballots cast in the election.
Arizona Republic reporters spent the weekend absorbing the ballot review results and tracking reaction from across the political spectrum. In this bonus episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen, speak with Jen Fifield, Mary Jo Pitzl and Ryan Randazzo to break down the results.
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