- Speaker #0
You're listening to Beyond the Ballot AZ. I'm Tom Collins, Executive Director of the Arizona Clean Elections Commission.
- Speaker #1
And I'm Gina Roberts, Voter Education Director.
- Speaker #0
Campaigns and endorsements for the 2026 election are already underway, and come August 1st, candidates looking to run as clean elections candidates for state or legislative office will begin soliciting $5 qualifying contributions from registered voters in their district.
- Speaker #1
Clean elections candidates, they have additional reporting requirements. So there's 100% transparency in their campaign activity. And as Tom said, they're raising money directly from the voters in their district.
- Speaker #0
So today we have a special episode, what we're calling a lightning roundtable talking to Arizona lawmakers about what voters can expect to see on the 2026 ballot and later, how to run for office.
- Speaker #1
We are here with the Honorable J.D. Mesnard, Republican State Senator currently representing District 13, and the Honorable Sean Bowie, former Democratic State Senator who served in the State Senate from 2017 to 2023 representing District 18. Both districts represent the Chandler area of Arizona. Thank you both for joining Beyond the Ballot AZ.
- Speaker #2
Thanks for having us.
- Speaker #3
In 2022,
- Speaker #1
Arizona voters approved Proposition 131, which established a new executive office for Lieutenant Governor. Together, the two of you wrote that legislation for voters to consider. Senator Bowie, let's start with you. Walk us through how you both got together on this issue.
- Speaker #3
Sure. I think it was something that, you know, both of us had thought about prior and maybe worked on bills on this. We both had run bills, just general government reform bills, looking at different things. And I think we actually were working on this separately. And then we just had a conversation. You know, our offices were right across the hall from one another. so I regularly, you know. go into J.D.'s office, bug him about different things, just talk about different bills we were working on. And we discovered that we were both thinking about this. I think we both knew Arizona was one of only five states that did not have a lieutenant governor. We've obviously had some cases in recent decades, which we'll talk about, where you've had a governor leave for one reason or another, and then a secretary of state comes in maybe from a different party. So we were thinking about how can we approach this different ways to add this. And as you said, it was a constitutional amendment. So it required not just legislative approval, but ultimately voter approval on the ballot. So it was really important to have both Democrats and Republicans at the table. So I think it's something that we're both proud of that we're able to get it across the finish line.
- Speaker #1
Let's turn to you, Senator Mesnard. Arizona has a long history of governors not finishing their terms. So this office was created to make sure the line of succession for the governor's office was politically aligned. What difference does having a lieutenant governor make for voters?
- Speaker #2
Yeah, we've seen that happen both ways in the last few decades. Until Governor Ducey, we had not had an eight-year governor in decades. They had left everything from having passed away, having been convicted, having been impeached, having gotten appointed to some other office, you know, you name it. And so for one reason or another, we had this very high propensity of the Secretary of State to become governor. and it had resulted in a change of party once in each direction, which can be disruptive. Voters have selected somebody, they bought into their vision when they're running for governor, and all of a sudden you can have a radical change. That change can even happen if they're the same party, but certainly if they're a different party. You saw that most recently when Paul Tano got appointed and Jan Brewer became governor. So we wanted to create continuity. We wanted to make sure that when voters make a selection for governor. They know what they're getting. And in addition, we acknowledge that the secretary of state is an important office, but not one that's necessarily a training ground for becoming governor. And yet, again, we'd seen several secretaries of state become governor overnight. It's not even the benefit of a campaign season, not the benefit of a transition between Election Day and their swearing in in January, just instantaneous, their governor. And so we felt the lieutenant governor was the right remedy for that. The running mate design, by the way, does make sure there's more likely to be that cohesive transition if the governor leaves office. So trying to address all those different challenges that resulted in the past, two other attempts for a lieutenant governor had been voted down by the voters. But this design the third time was the charm.
- Speaker #1
So in 2026, when voters get their ballot and they see at the top of that ticket, they're going to see the gubernatorial candidate names. but Right along with that, they will see who their running mate is, who that lieutenant governor is going to be. So, Senator Mesnard, can you give us an overview of what exactly the lieutenant governor does and what happens if both the governor and lieutenant governor offices become vacant?
- Speaker #2
Yeah, so great question about what does the lieutenant governor do? That was one of the challenges we dealt with, both in terms of a variety of ideas, but also one of the pushbacks we got on creating the office in the first place. There was sort of this running joke that all lieutenant governors are good for is checking the paper to see if the governor is still in office. And if not, they can just go back to bed. And so we obviously wanted to have them have a role that's also training them to be governor in those moments when the governor leaves. And so... What we looked at was primarily something either as head of the Department of Administration, which is an executive department that's really plugged into every aspect of the executive branch, from payroll to HR to regulatory policies, all of that, and or their chief of staff. And in fact, we've seen governors actually have that position, be the same person, just on their own within their administration. We did, in the interest of compromise, add a third option. So some other kind of like secretary, director, cabinet level position, if a governor felt they more properly belonged there. I'm hoping that they stick with the first two. But we gave them a job that exists. So to the extent there was also pushback, oh, you're expanding government. Well, actually, these positions exist. We're now just going to have them assumed by the lieutenant governor. So, again, we gave them a job. We didn't expand government at the end of the day. We have had an attorney general become governor. That happened when you had two vacancies in the governorship that happened back to back. For instance, when Governor Castro was appointed ambassador, then at the time Wesley Boland became governor, he passed away a few months into his term. The way the Constitution worked at the time is that you would only ascend to the governorship if you were sitting by election. Well, when Wesley Boland became governor, he appointed Rose Moffitt to be his successor, Secretary of State. Well, she was appointed. So when he passed away, she could not become governor and it went to the next in line, which is the Attorney General. If we had the governor and Lieutenant Governor both pass away at the same time, this would have to happen at the same time, then it would trigger the existing line of succession, which would then be the Secretary of State. Otherwise, if there's a vacancy in governor, Lieutenant Governor takes that over and they do appoint their replacement lieutenant governor. But, and this is key, they are subject to the legislature's approval, which is exactly how it works at the federal level. If there's a vacancy in vice president, the Congress must approve that vacancy. That's how Ford actually became vice president when a lot of people don't realize that he became vice president first and then ascended to the presidency later on. So it worked the exact same way at the state level.
- Speaker #1
And I imagine Governor Moffitt didn't anticipate that she would get another opportunity to actually ascend into the governorship. Senator Bowie, looking ahead here, what are some of the big issues that campaigns are going to be focused on for 2026?
- Speaker #3
Well, we've got about a year and a half to go. So I'm sure depending on what J.D. and his colleagues do at the Capitol, that might create some additional issues that will be in the spotlight. But obviously, anytime the governorship is up for election, that's obviously extremely important. And in this era of divided government that we have right now, you're obviously going to have a very different approaches on both sides of the aisle as far as the direction that they should be taking. in the state. But I think the lieutenant governor angle, I think it's gonna be really interesting, because I don't think we covered this. So the way lieutenant governor is named is after the primary next August, the winners of the primaries will pick a running mate, and they'll run on the ticket together. So Governor Hobbs, assuming she's the Democratic nominee, would name someone as her running mate, and then whoever wins the Republican primary would do the same. So I think it's going to shine a light on what kind of governor do they want to be or are they going to to pick someone who maybe is more moderate, someone who's maybe worked across the aisle, someone who has a track record of getting things done? Or do they want to pick someone who is maybe more on the extreme side of their party, someone who wants to rile up the base? So I think that will be an important factor in how voters assess their candidates, along with all of the other, you know, issues that always come up in every good and bad part of elections. So I think it'll be interesting to see who both nominees end up picking.
- Speaker #1
If you're considering a run for office or just want to understand how it works, there are a few things you need to know.
- Speaker #0
There are different eligibility requirements for each office, so make sure you meet those before campaigning. You'll also need to know if the election is nonpartisan or if you're running with a recognized party or as an independent.
- Speaker #1
Funding is a big part of the puzzle to running for office. Statewide and legislative candidates can choose to fund their campaigns traditionally using private campaign funds or with funding from the Citizens Clean Elections Fund.
- Speaker #0
And the last step in preparing to run for office is knowing which filing officer you need to work with and how to get the proper filing form. So that means in a city, a city clerk, at the county level, a county recorder, and at the state level, the Secretary of State.
- Speaker #1
Our work is making elections more transparent and more approachable, so people like you, our listener, can run for office and you can consider your options of going that traditional finance route, or you can use that public clean campaign funding. If you want to know more about the process, you can visit azcleanelections.gov, and that's also linked in our show notes.
- Speaker #0
Thanks for listening to Beyond the Ballot AZ. I'm Tom Collins.
- Speaker #1
And I'm Gina Roberts. Our next episode comes out June 26th. We'll see you then.
