Author

Jim Small

Jim Small

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.

The Cochise County supervisors didn’t question election equipment when they won in 2020

By: - 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: - 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: - 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: - 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: - 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: - 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: , and - 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 […]

In closing days, Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh embrace Wendy Rogers

By: - November 7, 2022

Top Arizona Republican candidates Kari Lake and Abraham Hamadeh, who are running for governor and attorney general, respectively, spent the final days of the campaign praising a GOP state legislator who has embraced white Christian nationalism, racist conspiracy theories and baseless election fraud claims. “I love you so much,” Lake said as she embraced state […]

The Arizona Republican Party is imposing strict rules on the media for its election night party

By: and - October 27, 2022

To ensure the “comfort” and “safety” of candidates, donors and party activists, the Arizona Republican Party is barring journalists from mingling with the crowd at its election night watch party and interviewing attendees, instead corralling reporters in the back of the room and imposing restrictions on who they can speak with.  “We don’t want the […]

Mark Finchem has found more campaign support from outside Arizona than any other candidate

By: and - October 24, 2022

Mark Finchem, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, has been a minor player in Arizona politics since becoming a state legislator in 2015. But in the past two years, he’s built a national profile as one of the most ardent backers of baseless claims that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud — […]

The ‘most important person’ on Kari Lake’s campaign mocked Native Americans in racist tweet

By: - October 20, 2022

Kari Lake’s campaign manager likened all Native Americans to bloodthirsty savages who engage in human sacrifice in a racist tweet mocking the concept of Indigenous People’s Day. “Happy Indigenous People’s Day!” Colton Duncan wrote on Twitter along with an artist’s rendering of a human sacrifice by an ancient Mesoamerican civilization that lived thousands of miles […]

AZGOP chair Kelli Ward

AZGOP chair Kelli Ward pleaded the Fifth when the Jan. 6 committee questioned her

By: - October 4, 2022

Kelli Ward, the chair of the Arizona Republican Party, refused to answer questions from the congressional committee investigating the violent Jan. 6 insurrection aimed at overturning the 2020 election and instead asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The disclosure was made Tuesday in federal court by an attorney for the House Select Committee to […]