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.
Kari Lake seeks to overturn her election loss citing ‘intentional misconduct,’ but provides no evidence
By: Jim Small - December 10, 2022
Kari Lake is demanding that the courts overturn Katie Hobbs’ victory in last month’s midterm and instead declare the former television news anchor governor-elect or, barring that, entirely throw out the 2022 election and re-do it. In a sprawling lawsuit that claims the election in Maricopa County was irredeemably flawed by “intentional misconduct,” including the […]
As an independent, Kyrsten Sinema can play spoiler to Democrats. That’s assuming she runs at all.
By: Jim Small - December 9, 2022
Kyrsten Sinema made official today what has been obvious for a long time: She’s not a Democrat. The announcement is certainly not shocking — she ran in 2018 on her independent streak and has legislated that way — but it will have huge electoral ramifications if she chooses to run for reelection in 2024. Most […]
Former friends and foes unsurprised by Sinema’s defection from Democratic Party
By: Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, Jim Small and Gloria Rebecca Gomez - December 9, 2022
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced Friday morning that she was leaving the Democratic Party, a move that was not surprising to political observers and longtime former allies and foes of the senior senator who are now looking ahead to 2024. “Clearly, it gets her out of the worst place she could possibly be, which is […]
Kyrsten Sinema has left the Democratic Party, registered as an independent
By: Ariana Figueroa, Jennifer Shutt and Jim Small - December 9, 2022
Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona’s senior U.S. senator, has left the Democratic Party and re-registered as an independent. “Nothing will change about my values or my behavior,” she told Politico, which broke the news Friday morning. The first-term senator wrote in an opinion piece for the Arizona Republic that she does not intend to change the way she legislates […]
Hand-count audits find no problems with Arizona ballot tabulators
By: Jim Small - December 2, 2022
Hand-count audits of the November election results in 12 Arizona counties found no problems with electronic ballot tabulators, but three counties didn’t conduct the post-election audits required by law. State law calls for counties to perform a partial hand count of ballots after each election. Representatives of each recognized political party in the county randomly […]
The Cochise County supervisors didn’t question election equipment when they won in 2020
By: Jim Small - November 30, 2022
The two Republican Cochise County supervisors who have so far refused to certify the Nov. 8 election because of ostensible concerns about the trustworthiness of electronic ballot tabulators weren’t concerned when that same equipment confirmed their electoral victories in 2020. Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd were both elected to the Cochise County Board of […]
After refusing to certify its election, Cochise County faces lawsuits to force it to do so
By: Jim Small - November 28, 2022
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs on Monday filed a lawsuit to force Cochise County officials to approve the results of this month’s election after Republicans on the board of supervisors failed to meet a deadline to canvass the election. The board’s refusal to approve the election results stems from a stubborn insistence that the […]
The Arizona Senate race was the 3rd-most expensive of 2022
By: Jim Small - November 28, 2022
Mark Kelly’s re-election to the U.S. Senate was the third-most expensive campaign in 2022, with almost $236 million spent in the contest. The bulk of that money came from outside groups, who spent a combined $128 million, according to researchers at Open Secrets, a project of the Center for Responsive Politics that tracks money in […]
MAGA fails in Arizona for the third straight election
By: Jim Small - November 16, 2022
The historically good results for Arizona Democrats at the polls this month are the third cycle in a row that MAGA has faltered at the ballot box, and political observers say it should be a clarion call to Republicans that Trumpism is a loser in the Grand Canyon State. But operatives in both parties say […]
Katie Hobbs is poised to win the governor’s race after Kari Lake gains, but not enough
By: Jim Small - November 13, 2022
Kari Lake cut into Katie Hobbs’ lead for governor on Sunday, but not by as much as her campaign hoped — or enough to put her in a good position to overtake Hobbs as the final ballots are tallied in the upcoming days. The Hobbs campaign Sunday night issued a statement that, while it stopped […]
Mark Kelly, Adrian Fontes declared winners as Democrats bolster their leads
By: Jim Small - November 11, 2022
Despite predictions from Republicans that Friday’s vote tallies would favor their candidates not only didn’t come to fruition, but the opposite happened: Democrats made solid gains across the board and clinched two high-profile races. U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly and Democratic secretary of state candidate Adrian Fontes were both declared winners by the Associated Press following […]
Arizona Democrats surged to large leads. Now, they wait to see if their advantage holds.
By: Jim Small, Caitlin Sievers and Jerod MacDonald-Evoy - November 8, 2022
With Republicans expected to show up at the polls in person in droves on Election Day, Democrats knew they would need a large advantage among early voters to have a chance at winning hotly contested statewide races. And with all of those early ballots counted, they had bigger than expected leads in many of those […]