The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast

President-elect Joe Biden officially received Arizona's 11 electoral votes on Monday after the state certified the election results. Almost a month after the election, many are wondering how a traditionally conservative state flipped for Biden this election.  In this week's episode of The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen sit down with Andrew Pi...

"The media" is blanket term that covers everything from social media to 24-hour TV networks to traditional newspapers like our own. Despite the catch-all nature of the plural phrase, consumers can treat news outlets as though they're singular, particularly if they disagree with the news as it's reported. In today's episode of The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast, media critic Bill Goodykoontz j...

When it comes to politics, Arizona is truly a purple state. For the first time in 24 years, Arizona's electoral votes went to a Democratic Presidential candidate. Arizona also elected Democrat Mark Kelly to the U.S. Senate. The state will now have a pair of Democratic senators in the upper chamber for the first time since 1953.  At the same time, Arizona voters kept the state legislature in Republ...

As a swing state, all eyes were going to be on Arizona this election.  That was certainly the case when a conspiracy theory over Sharpies took hold on social media. The theory claimed that ballots marked with Sharpies would not be counted. Not only is this false, but the Maricopa County Elections Department said it prefers Sharpies because they are quick to dry and don't smudge.  Attention has als...

Votes are still being counted in Arizona; 470,000 to be exact. While there are some races in the state that have yet to be called, our knowledge about the results continues to grow. The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast is dropping a bonus episode to chat about the evolving results and biggest headlines since Tuesday's election. Hosts of the Gaggle podcast Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Ha...

The 2020 election cycle torpedoed through a nation upended by the COVID-19 pandemic and grappling with partisan animosity, but in Arizona the season culminated in an election day marked by high voter turnout and sparing reports of disruption at the polls. Voter turnout in Arizona surpassed 2016 numbers, but was not fully known by the end of Tuesday. Nearly 2.64 million early ballots were cast by M...

In one week, people will be awaiting results from the 2020 election races. In this week's episode of The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen are breaking down the information you need to know before Tuesday's election.  They take a look at early voting turnout and what the latest polls are saying (plus, if the polls can be trusted). Also, hear an analys...

The race for Maricopa County Attorney has grown heated and competitive this year. Facing off are candidates Allister Adel, a Republican, and Julie Gunnigle, a Democrat.  Allister Adel, the sitting county attorney, was appointed to the office in October 2019 by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. This came after her predecessor, Republican Bill Montgomery, was named to the Arizona Supreme Cou...

Arizona's 1st Congressional District was designed to be competitive.  The district is immense. It stretches from the Navajo Nation in the northwest corner of the state, to the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff. From there, it heads south, covering Show Low and Globe. Then it switches west to include Casa Grande and the city of Maricopa, just south of Phoenix.  It's covers such an incredible land mass tha...

Can a lengthy ethics investigation and a charismatic opponent mean the end for Rep. David Schweikert, a Republican from Arizona's 6th Congressional District? Schweikert's district is home to some of Arizona's wealthiest residents. It's also home to a host of working-class entrepreneurs, he said. Topping their list of important issues this election are the economy, COVID-19 response, health care, a...

The race between retired astronaut and Democrat Mark Kelly and Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) could determine the control of the Senate and makeup of the Supreme Court.  On Tuesday night, voters heard from the candidates directly. In a debate hosted by The Arizona Republic, Arizona PBS, KJZZ-FM (91.5) and Arizona Public media, the candidates responded to questions about health care, guns, China and...

The Patriot Movement AZ was once seen as a fringe group within the Republican Party. Now they are impacting local policy while garnering national attention for their public actions. Investigative reporters Rob O'Dell and Richard Ruelas spent six months diving into the history of the group and reviewing thousands of online posts to learn how the group thinks. O'Dell and Ruelas chat with Yvonne Wing...

Once a reliably red state, Arizona has become increasingly purple over the last decade.  When it comes to the 2020 election, it's districts like Arizona's 9th Congressional District that could swing outcomes on the federal level.  The 9th Congressional District falls in the heart of the Valley. It includes east Phoenix, Tempe, south Scottsdale and parts of Mesa and Chandler. It's home to some of A...

As the 2020 election draws near, Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden are racing to shore up support from suburban voters in the battleground state of Arizona.  Analysts say suburbanites will be the decisive voting faction in this year's election, making them the most important group for each of the presidential candidates to win over.  But the suburbs a...

The course of the 2020 political season leading up to election day has been inexorably altered as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to render large, in-person gatherings a social taboo. Campaign events have largely been cancelled. The Democratic and Republican National Conventions were held virtually. As questions over the safety of in-person voting loom large, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs...

Socialism. Guns. Water. Those are some of the top issues for voters from Arizona's 4th Congressional District. Also top of mind are keeping taxes low and ensuring the election this November is safe and accessible for all the district's voters, including Indigenous constituents. It's for those reasons that Congressional District 4 is not considered a competitive area for Republicans in the 2020 ele...

This November, Arizonans will cast their votes not just for the leaders they hope to see guiding their futures, but for the multiple voter-driven propositions that will shape their communities. What are the props on the ballot this election cycle and what do voters need to know about them? This week Arizona's politics podcast, The Gaggle, dives into four measures, two of which made it on the ballo...

Every four years supporters of the Democratic and Republican parties pack convention centers and arenas to nominate their candidate for president. This year, that tradition is a bit different. Instead of large crowds and in-person festivities, Zoom meetings and video live streams took its place. The COVID-19 pandemic ousted the traditional convention, but the parties messaging is the same: both sa...

Mark Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut, is vying to become Arizona's second Democratic senator. Kelly ran uncontested in the Democratic Senate primary and will face off with Republican Sen. Martha McSally in November.  In this week's episode of The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast, Kelly joins hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen to discuss how he would use his position in the senate...

Arizona's Congressional District 2 has a history of voting for both Republicans and Democrats, but as COVID-19 upends life for residents across the state, the question of which direction the district will lean in the 2020 election is in flux.  The district is located in the southeast corner of Arizona, abutting Mexico and New Mexico. It includes parts of Tucson, Willcox, Benson, Sierra Vista and B...

Arizona's primary election may have lacked the gravitas of November's much-anticipated general election, but there were key races to watch.  This includes races in the state Legislature, which could determine whether Democrats retake the state House of Representatives for the first time since the 1966 elections.  Democrats also had to choose their opponent to run in the congressional race against...

When it comes to negotiating the next coronavirus stimulus package, House Democrats and Senate Republicans are at odds. Again. In May, Democrats, who control the House, proposed a $3 trillion plan that extended the $600 emergency unemployment benefit until January. Their plan also included an additional $1,200 stimulus check and additional funding for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing.  Republi...

In March, in-person schools shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden transition was difficult for teachers, students and parents alike. In recent weeks, the debate on when and how to reopen schools for in-person curriculum has made headlines across the country. The pressure to reopen this fall was amplified by President Donald Trump earlier this month.  Arizona schools Superinten...

What's it like to be a migrant or correctional officer in an immigrant detention facility located in a global hotspot during a pandemic?   At the Eloy Detention Center in southern Arizona, correctional officers and immigrants' rights advocates and lawyers are decrying dangerous conditions they say have exacerbated the outbreak of COVID-19 at the facility. The Arizona Republic reported July 9 that ...

Episode 1: You're not welcome here In the early 2000s, Arizona’s rapid population growth and investor speculation fueled a homebuilding binge in the state.  Contractors took advantage of a lax employment-verification system and hired undocumented workers at a cut rate, often from Mexico, in droves. At its peak, Arizona proportionately had the second-largest undocumented population of any state in...