Legislature: Rogers weathers challenge as Bennett and Wadsack trail in GOP primary
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The dome of the state Capitol. Photo: Jeremy Duda/Axios
GOP state Sen. Ken Bennett appears to be on his way out, Sen. Justine Wadsack is trailing narrowly and Sen. Wendy Rogers bested her Republican primary challenger in Tuesday's primary election.
Why it matters: Most of Arizona's legislative districts are dominated by one party, so the primary is the election that determines who most of the state's 90 lawmakers are.
LD7 Senate (R): Wendy Rogers vs. David Cook
- Rogers (R-Flagstaff), a controversial right-wing Republican, fended off Rep. David Cook (R-Globe), who was termed out of his seat in their rural Arizona district.
- Rogers led with nearly 55% of the votes at the end of election night.
LD1 Senate (R): Ken Bennett vs. Mark Finchem vs. Steve Zipperman
- Finchem, a former state lawmaker from southern Arizona who was the losing GOP nominee for secretary of state in 2022, capitalized on Republican animosity toward Bennett (R-Prescott), who went against the rest of his party on several noteworthy votes over the past two years.
- Finchem leads with 47.1% of the vote to 34.3% for Bennett. Zipperman, a real estate broker and former attorney, has 18.6%.
LD17 Senate (R): Justine Wadsack vs. Vince Leach
- Wadsack (R-Tucson) ousted Leach in the Republican primary two years ago, and Leach is hoping to return the favor in their rematch, which he leads by 911 votes, or less than 3 percentage points, as of 1:15am Wednesday morning.
- Democrats have high hopes of winning the Republican-leaning district, but a primary loss by the far-right Freedom Caucus member Wadsack could complicate that.
LD22 Senate (D): Eva Diaz vs. Leezah Sun
- Sun resigned her House seat earlier this year just before a vote to expel her, but she continued her campaign against Diaz in their west Phoenix district.
- Diaz easily dispatched Sun, taking 76.2% of the vote.
LD7 House (R): Incumbent Rep. David Marshall (R-Snowflake) and former Rep. Walt Blackman are headed back to the House as well.
- Steve Slaton, whose military records contradict his claim that he flew a helicopter in Vietnam, is in distant fourth place in the six-way primary.
LD5 House (D): Incumbent Rep. Charles Lucking, who was appointed to fill a vacancy, is headed for defeat, while Aaron Márquez will join Rep. Sarah Liguori, a former lawmaker who was also appointed this year, as a Democratic nominee in the deep blue central Phoenix district.
LD8 House (D): Janeen Connolly and Brian Garcia lead the three-way primary, edging out Sen. Juan Mendez (D-Tempe), who is termed out of the Senate and ran for the House.