The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast

Congressman Andy Biggs says Congress is "broken" and now one of Trump’s biggest Arizona allies is ready to come home and give Arizona a new direction. This week on The Gaggle, we sit down with gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs to discuss his thoughts on taxes, immigration, water rights and more. Email us! thegaggle@arizonarepublic.com Leave us a voicemail: 602-444-0804 Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Maricopa County is one of the closest watched parts of the nation heading into the 2026 midterm election. It's one of the largest swing counties in America, in one of the most crucial states for both parties. Democrats are hoping to capitalized on Trump's current low approval rate, but they have their work cut out for them. Republicans are winning the voter registration game and Democrats are stil...

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is quickly becoming more well-known after facing national scrutiny for how his department has handled the unsolved disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. In light of that, The Arizona Republic uncovered that Nanos has had a habit of misrepresenting his work history, had lied under oath in 2025, been accused of using his office for political gain and lied about a recommenda...

President Donald Trump is set to be the main speaker at Turning Point's "Build the Red Wall" event on April 17. Trump's appearance will kick off the midterm election season in Arizona, a battleground state that has candidates associated with Turning Point on the July ticket. It's still early in the election cycle for the president's visit, but can Trump help Turning Point build a "red wall" in a m...

As we approach the 2026 midterms, the next big fight in the election process is already brewing. Trump rolled out an executive order intended to limit mail-in voting to people screened by the Postal Service and the Department of Homeland Security as U.S. citizens. Mail-in voting is something Arizona has done since 1991 and it's become one of the most popular ways to cast a ballot in the state, pea...

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and County Recorder Justin Heap have been in a bitter legal battle for months on who is in charge of what parts of the election process. They continue to fight over minute details that could have a major impact come November. The 2026 election in Maricopa County will help decide control of Congress, the state Legislature and the outcome of a very competitiv...

The polarization over data center expansion is one of the best examples of the new business climate in Arizona. Some want the state to be on the forefront of the "AI revolution" while others aren't sold on it's economic benefits. Arizona is one of the fastest growing hubs for data centers, with more on the way. This has people questioning what it means for not only the state's resources, but also...

These days you can bet on just about anything from the palm of your hand: pocket cash on the outcome of an Arizona Diamondbacks game or the Super Bowl. But now, you can also win money betting on politics. Gamblers can wager the outcome of the war with Iran, the winner of the Arizona governor's race and how long Karoline Leavitt's White House press conferences will last. The new gambling landscape...

The 2020 election is apparently still not over. President Donald Trump has two states that he hasn't gotten over losing, Arizona and Georgia, under his conspiratorial microscope again. Tusli Gabbard, the FBI and the US Justice Department are hunting for proof the 2020 election was stolen. And Arizona's Senate President, Warren Petersen, gave the FBI full access to voting records. This week on The...

Jeffery Epstein has dominated attention seven years after his death. His wealth, social circles and varied interests ensured the digital trail of his life would lead in many directions. But not many could have guessed that he would posthumously delay the seating of an Arizona congresswoman or that his email threads would catch the University of Arizona in an uncomfortable lie. Among shocking photo...

Lawyers are there with guaranteed expertise to help sort out your issues, even when time and money can be scarce. But the guaranteed expertise doesn't necessarily go all the way to the top. At least not in Arizona. Now there is a stream of complaints from customers being misled, mistreated and scammed, and the Arizona Supreme Court might be rethinking its oversight. This week on The Gaggle, we tal...

In late January, Homeland Security agents raided 15 locations of Valley sports bar Zipps after receiving a tip 11 months beforehand that they were employing undocumented immigrants. E-Verify was set up in 2008 to bar the demand for illegal workers, but in 2025, the Arizona Republic found that no state law enforcement agency is routinely looking for violations. Employers often ignored it. This week...

There's a bitter feud between two city leaders. The mayor's top staffer is under a mysterious investigation and is being confined to his house during work hours. And the biggest controversy at the center of it all is a parking garage. What sounds like a made-for-TV political drama is real life for Scottsdale and it's tearing the conservative-majority city government apart. This week on The Gaggle,...

Political candidates just filed their quarterly campaign finance reports, one of the few times that the public can peek inside political campaigns to see who is giving money to politicians and what those candidates are doing with the cash. The reports for hotly contested races like Governor, Congressional District 1 and more give us an insight into how they might do in the primaries. So as the say...

For the second time this month, a U.S. citizen has been shot and killed by federal agents during a surge in immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. The raids, protests and the new dimension of Second Amendment rights has gotten the attention of Arizonans as the presence of national agents has increased in the state. This week on The Gaggle, we talk with guests on both sides of the issue as it expa...

Being the largest county in the state, Maricopa County will play an immense role in settling Arizona's biggest races in the 2026 midterms this year. Over the last few years, the county has done relatively well ensuring the process is safe, efficient and without major hiccups. But that doesn't mean there haven't been problems, nor differing opinions on how to handle them. This week on The Gaggle, w...

For the fourth time, Gov. Katie Hobbs offered her vision for Arizona's legislative priorities for 2026. She touched on affordability and political violence, but noticeably left out some key topics. This week on The Gaggle, we are joined by Republic reporters who cover the Governor's Office and the Arizona Legislature to walk us through what Hobbs covered in her speech and what it all means. Email...

In January 2021, President Donald Trump leaned on Arizona officials to disregard the state's certified 2020 election results to present an alternative selection of electors. These Republican "fake electors" tried to deem Trump the winner in Arizona, although the state went to Joe Biden. Years later, Democrat Kris Mayes' office got indictments of the 11 Republican electors and 7 others, but has yet...

Goodbye 2025 and hello 2026! Another packed election year is among us and races for Governor, Attorney General and more are expected to be noteworthy. The legislature will be working across the aisle (maybe) with an even tighter budget, Turning Point USA figures out who they are without Charlie Kirk and the weight of a Trump endorsement will be debated. This week on The Gaggle, we are joined by me...

We are taking some time off for the holiday this week and we hope you are too! We'll be back next week, but for now, enjoy a break. Thanks for listening to us all year! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is normally a time when Canadians take a break from the cold and spend their time — and money — here in the desert for some sunshine. But this year, we have plenty of sunshine but a lack of Canadians. The friendly neighbors to the north are feeling insulted and economically punished by President Donald Trump. He implemented and raised tariffs on Canadian goods and has stated that he would lik...

In just a few short weeks, Arizona lawmakers will return to the Capitol to work through another year's budget, consider any legislative needs and take up oversight of Gov. Katie Hobbs' administration as they see appropriate. But lawmakers are working with a tighter purse than usual, and the looming midterm election will have a lot of influence over the decisions made and the laws that get passed....

Artificial intelligence is making its way into everything in American life: the stock market, journalism, medicine and more. Now major universities like Arizona State are buying into the future of AI by combining it with their offered education. This week on The Gaggle, we explore the role AI has at ASU, the future of AI in universities and how the concerns are being met. Email us! thegaggle@arizo...

We are off this week to enjoy the holiday and we hope you are too. Have a safe and lovely holiday, Gaggle listeners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since Charlie Kirk's death, Turning Point USA and its supporters have completed the tour he began, recently making the final stop at the University of California, Berkeley, which resulted in protests and arrests. In some ways, the chaotic setting underscored the early turbulence for Turning Point after Kirk's death. The organization, so strongly connected to his persona, faces not only grief but p...