AZ Political Podcast: Could Republican infighting reshape key 2026 primary races in Arizona?

Could something that was once unthinkable — Republican Rep. Andy Biggs’ 5th Congressional District flipping to Democratic control — become a reality? And could it come true due to Republican infighting?

With the 2026 primary election fast approaching (it’s Tuesday, July 21), Stacy and Stan, my favorite politically polar-opposite tactician twosome, join me for a special AZ Political Podcast primary preview.

I get Democratic political consultant Stacy Pearson of Lumen Strategies and Republican strategist Stan Barnes of Copper State Consulting to make a few predictions and give their insight into the races (realistically) still being run.

This is a fascinating question: What effect will Republican Daniel Keenan’s ad campaign have in the 5th Congressional District’s primary? Will it help him make inroads on the GOP’s primary front-runner, former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb?

Will Keenan’s ubiquitous ads (featuring sexual misconduct allegations against Lamb) result in a Keenan win — or simply leave Lamb limping so badly into the general election that the southeast Valley district flips Democratic?

That might have been the most “out there” prediction of the podcast, but there are plenty of other riveting races we look at, including:

• The Democratic and Republican primary races in the northeast Valley’s 1st Congressional District, where Democrats Amish Shah and Marlene Galán Woods, and Republicans Jay Feely and Joseph Chaplik, are battling it out in their respective primaries to replace David Schweikert in Congress.
• The attorney general’s race — where former Democrat Rodney Glassman is trying to secure the GOP nomination by throwing a lot of shade on state Senate President Warren Petersen and hoping to face Democrat Kris Mayes in the fall.
• The race for state superintendent of schools — where sitting Superintendent Tom Horne is being “primaried” by fellow Republican (and current state Treasurer) Kimberly Yee in a race that’s gotten a bit nasty.

Check out the AZ Political Podcast, so after the primary you can give Stacy and Stan a bad time about what they got wrong — as long as you ignore my mistakes.

The AZ Political Podcast is available at KTAR.com, the KTAR News app and everywhere you get your podcasts.

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