A Special Edition of the AZ Political Podcast

Wednesday, October 28, 2026 | 16:11

We’re calling this week’s show “A Special Edition of the AZ Political Podcast,” because I got especially lazy: repurposing some interviews that I did during an Arizona Votes Election Special. But it’s also a special edition because the folks I talked to are special people who are especially knowledgeable about Arizona elections, like Matt Salmon.   I chatted with the former Arizona congressman about whether we could see one, two or even three Congressional seats in Arizona flip to the Democrats in this midterm election.    Matt is the perfect guy to talk about this because he was swept into Congress in 1994’s Republican Revolution — "mid-term" in Bill Clinton's first term.   I also asked Mike Noble, the CEO of Noble Predictive Insights, about what his polls are showing for Arizona’s statewide races (like the governor's race) — as well as whether polling shows there’s a likelihood that the Arizona Legislature would flip to Democratic control.    That’s something that hasn’t happened in a looong time.   But you have to hear what Mike told me about the amount of money being spent in this election season. Jaw-droppingly huge.   And I talked with attorney Christine Jones, a Republican who ran for governor and for Congress in Arizona and has continued to be a big supporter of Republican candidates and causes in our state.   We chatted about the possibility that the U.S. House and Senate could both end up with Democratic majorities. And we talked about the reason that could happen: President Trump has his worst approval numbers of any time during either of his two terms.    Truly terrible timing for Republicans in Arizona that the bottom fell out of the President’s numbers mid-term during his last term: a time when many people in the GOP were hoping to get another — or even their first — term in office.