Toward the end of a legislative session, lawmakers often work into the night.
By Ray Stern | Arizona Republic
Attempts to kick two incumbent Arizona lawmakers off the ballot have failed, but the total number of state House and Senate candidates shrunk by nine this week after Friday’s deadline for challenges to who will appear on the ballot.
Another incumbent withdrew her candidacy on Monday without a challenge against her.
County judges found eight of 16 challenges against legislative candidates were valid following hearings for each. The rulings removed five Republicans, two Democrats and one Libertarian from the August primary ballot, pending appeals. All are first-time or previous candidates who haven’t held office before.
A ninth candidate, Braden Biggs, withdrew his name from the ballot voluntarily following a challenge.
Incumbents survive challenges
Challenges against two Tucson-area Republicans, including incumbent Sen. Vince Leach, R-SaddleBrooke, failed following hearings Thursday. Leach will face two primary election opponents for the new Legislative District 17 Senate seat: accounting manager Robert Barr and realtor Justine Wadsack, who filed the unsuccessful challenges against Leach and Barr.
In complaints filed in Pima County Superior Court, Wadsack accused Leach and Barr of failing to ensure that paid circulators who gathered their qualifying signatures were themselves qualified to collect signatures. State law demands that paid circulators register with the Secretary of State’s Office, which provides an online portal for the public to search for names and check their status.
None of that mattered, though, because Wadsack missed the deadline to file the cases by several hours, leading Superior Court Judge Michael Butler to dismiss the challenges.
A complaint against current House Majority Leader Ben Toma, R-Peoria, also was unsuccessful. That means Toma will remain on the Legislative District 27 Republican primary ballot along with incumbent Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, and two political newcomers, Brian Morris and Jay Griffin, who filed the complaint against Toma.
Griffin’s primary argument in his complaint was that Toma didn’t live in the newly drawn district. But Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Stephen Hopkins found Toma was building a “costly” new home in the district for a year, and had moved “substantial furniture and personal effects” into it.
Griffin, for his part, survived a challenge to his own nomination.
