Author

Jim Small is a native Arizonan and has covered state government, policy and politics since 2004, with a focus on investigative and in-depth policy reporting, first as a reporter for the Arizona Capitol Times, then as editor of the paper and its prestigious sister publications. He has also served as the editor and executive director of the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
Biden touts blue-collar roots in latest AZ ad
By: Jim Small - October 3, 2023
The Biden campaign today is launching a new TV ad in Arizona and other battleground states that spotlights how the president’s agenda is lowering costs for America’s middle class. The ad, titled “Never Left,” is part of a 16-week, $25 million campaign that launched last month. The ad focuses on Joe Biden’s roots in Scranton, […]
Why is the AZGOP paying a company tied to a QAnon singer?
By: Jim Small - September 25, 2023
The Arizona Republican Party has paid at least $13,000 to a company connected to a legislative district chairwoman who is a full-throated QAnon evangelist, even as the party is struggling so badly to raise money that it can’t pay its bills. It’s unclear why the AZGOP is writing $1,000 checks twice a month to Conservative […]
The Arizona Mirror is five years old. And what a wild five years it’s been.
By: Jim Small - September 25, 2023
Five years ago today, the Arizona Mirror went live. We launched with a handful of stories, a hundred or so people who signed up early to receive our daily newsletter and a lot of ideas for how we could do a better job covering Arizona government and politics. It’s been a whirlwind, to say the […]
‘Inevitable they’ll go broke’: The AZGOP’s financial situation gets worse
By: Jim Small - September 15, 2023
When Jeff DeWit took the reins of the Arizona Republican Party in January, the party had more than $152,000 in its federal campaign account. Seven months later, the AZGOP has burned through more than 90% of those cash reserves and doesn’t have enough money to pay its bills. The party’s most recent federal campaign finance […]
Biden launches AZ ad highlighting high-tech jobs as part of national blitz
By: Jim Small - September 4, 2023
Joe Biden launched his first Arizona-specific ad for his 2024 re-election campaign on Monday focusing on how his economic agenda has brought high-paying and manufacturing jobs to the Grand Canyon State. Arizona was key to Joe Biden’s victory in 2020, and his 10,000-vote victory over Donald Trump was the second-closest battleground state Biden won that […]
Kari Lake granted new trial, must prove Maricopa County ignored signature-verification rules
By: Jim Small - May 15, 2023
Kari Lake will have one last chance to argue in court that her 17,000-vote loss 2022 election should be overturned — but to actually do so, she will have to prove conclusively that Maricopa County brazenly failed to verify tens of thousands of early voter signatures and that, in doing so, the county affected the […]
AZGOP must pay Secretary of State’s legal fees for ‘bad-faith’ 2020 election lawsuit: appeals court
By: Jim Small - April 20, 2023
An Arizona appellate court ruled Thursday that the Arizona Republican Party and its lawyers must pay the attorneys’ fees for the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office in a lawsuit that challenged how Maricopa County audited ballots in the 2020 election and sought to stop the county from certifying Donald Trump’s loss. The lawsuit challenged procedures […]
Arizona Supreme Court tosses GOP Senate candidate’s defamation lawsuit against radio talker
By: Jim Small - April 14, 2023
The Arizona Supreme Court on Friday unanimously affirmed First Amendment protections for political commentators, ruling that lower courts should have swiftly rejected a defamation lawsuit that a failed Republican U.S. Senate candidate brought against a talk-radio host. In February 2021, Daniel McCarthy, who lost in the GOP special primary election for the U.S. Senate in […]
Hobbs vetoes bills punishing businesses for denying vaccine exemptions, public camping
By: Jim Small - March 30, 2023
Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday vetoed Republican-backed bills that would have fined businesses that didn’t grant their employees religious exemptions from vaccines and made it illegal for the unhoused to camp in public spaces. The vaccine exemption would have required all companies in Arizona to allow employees — including those who work in health care […]
Katie Hobbs will shatter Janet Napolitano’s veto records
By: Jim Small - March 29, 2023
It’s fitting that Gov. Katie Hobbs was given Janet Napolitano’s veto stamp as a gift when she took office. Over the course of 158 days, Napolitano vetoed 17 bills in 2003 when the GOP-controlled legislature met for the first time in the Democrat’s tenure as governor. In exactly half that time — 79 days — […]
Peterson Zah, former Navajo chairman and the tribe’s first president, dies at 85
By: Jim Small - March 9, 2023
Former Navajo President, Peterson Zah, died Tuesday at his home in Window Rock, Arizona, after a lengthy illness. He was 85. Zah served as chairman of the Navajo Nation Council from 1981 through 1987, before he was elected the first president for the Navajo Nation in 1990 when the government was restructured into three branches. He […]
Minority rule is anti-American, but it’s how Republicans are governing in Arizona
By: Jim Small - March 1, 2023
When Ben Toma won the contest to be speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, there was a sigh of relief at the Capitol. The Peoria Republican is unquestionably conservative, but had built a reputation as someone willing to engage in good faith with those who hold opposing views — a person who could guide […]