VIDEO/TRANSCRIPT: News Talker: Key races in Southern Arizona

Access the video on YouTube at: https://shorturl.at/adySW, or read the transcript below.

Here’s an edited transcript of the April 4 News Talker.

MATT HICKMAN: Welcome to News Talker, Southern Arizona's discussion show about everything you need to know. I'm Matt Hickman, managing editor of the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista. Joining me today is Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun editor Dan Shearer; publisher of the Nogales International, Manuel Coppola; and editor of the Eastern Arizona Courier, Tom Bodus.

Monday was the deadline for all candidates to get their signatures in to run. Obviously, a ton of interesting races out there. I want to go around the horn and talk about the local races in your specific areas. Who's on there? What looks really interesting to you now that we're kind of on opening day?

Let's start with you, Dan, out in Green Valley. What are you seeing?

DAN SHEARER: Well, one of our key races is really one of the most misunderstood offices in our area, and that is county supervisor. If you live in the town of Sahuarita, which we cover, it's incorporated, it has its own local government, and the county is really the second layer of government. But if you're in Green Valley, the county supervisor is your first layer of government.

Every election season we look forward to explaining to people just exactly what a county supervisor is, why it's important to you, and that you should know who's on the ballot. So this year, I think the key ballot race for us is going to be District 2. That's Matt Heinz; he's a Democrat up against a couple of Republicans.

And we've seen this race close in the past, but we'll see if these Republicans, one of them who's fairly well-known in this area, can have a challenge to offer, a challenge to Matt Heinz. And the real key is, in the end, what will the five-member board look like?

MATT HICKMAN: Yeah, that's really interesting. And we definitely know all about the Board of Supervisors out here in Cochise County. Some of the hottest races we're looking at, we have two of our three supervisors currently under state indictment for not canvassing the 2022 election. So there's a huge field running for both Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd’s seat. Peggy Judd announced she is not running. Also, Ann English in the other seat, the lone Democrat, is not running. So it's a huge competitive field we're looking at out there.

Manuel, out in Nogales and Santa Cruz County, what are you seeing from the election?

MANUEL COPPOLA: So it's packed, but as of yet we're not seeing a lot of controversy. For the supervisors’ race, there's a lot of candidates that are going to split the vote. And my prediction is the incumbents are going to be back in there after the election. The most interesting place, I think, right now would be the sheriff's race. That's also a packed field. And I got some calls a couple of weeks ago from opponents and their supporters because the incumbent, Sheriff David Hathaway, has erected billboards more than 100 days ahead of the election, and that seemed to be a big no around local politics. They've always stuck to a 45-day prior rule established in code by the county and the city.

But it turns out that code specifically applies to signs of 36 square feet or smaller, meaning actual, you know, political signs that you see on the lawns and whatnot. It did not apply to billboards. And billboards is a whole different process. It's through the Building Department, you get a building permit, and Sheriff Hathaway made sure all his T’s were crossed and I's were dotted. But I think our stories served to dispel a popular misconception that's been going on for years.

MATT HICKMAN: Yeah, signage is definitely a big kind of overlooked thing. And campaign races, we'll just keep visiting that. Obviously, we're in every corner of the region here. And moving on to Graham, Greenlee counties. What are you seeing, Tom? What do the ballots look like to you?

TOM BODUS: Well, really, it's pretty low-key. So far, with the initial bunch of candidates for the primary, we have only one election that's being contested in Graham County, and that's for sheriff. And, honestly, I don't foresee that one being very strongly contested because PJ Allred here is extremely popular, and I don't anticipate him losing.

On the other side of the coin, in Greenlee County, that sheriff's race is going to be very hotly contested, and there's four candidates on the ballot, including incumbent Tim Sumner. But Sumner recently had a lost decision on a case he brought against the county over control of funding and what have you. So that's really hurt him and his chances for getting re-elected.

I think the other contest that's going to be contested out there, I'm not sure why, but the is the race for the District Three supervisor in Greenlee. Richard Lunt, who served for four terms, told me recently he's not going to seek re-election. So there are two or three candidates on the ballot there for that seat. But that's the extent of it. Those are the only three contested elections in both counties.

MATT HICKMAN: Yeah, and out here in Cochise, like I mentioned, the supervisor race is very hot. All three spots are open. Should be interesting. We also have an interesting race in Bisbee. The mayor's race has suddenly heated up. You have Ken Budge, who's a pretty popular incumbent, but there's a few jumping in there, including Gretchen Bonaduce, the ex-wife of bad-boy reality star Danny Bonaduce. And so she's got that movement there. There's a couple others that should be really interesting to watch out in Bisbee. But there are also some races that I think kind of cross over into all our audiences. Obviously, these are our national representatives in the U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate. Some of us share Ciscomani CD6 and in CD7, Raul Grijalva.

Let's talk a little bit about, first of all, the big news this week about Raul Grijalva announcing that he has cancer but is still continuing to run. Manuel, have you, he's your representative out there, correct?

MANUEL COPPOLA: That's correct. I've reached out to the office and haven't heard back from them as far as any updates. And so it was pretty shocking to his constituents down here, very strong Democrat county. And he's been in there so long, he is our senior lawmaker after all. And so it is quite concerning.

MATT HICKMAN: And then the rest of us, I believe, are in Juan Ciscomani’s CD District 6, if I'm not mistaken. He's looking at having a very interesting race, not only in the general election with a likely rematch with Kirsten Engel, but getting a primary challenge from Kathleen Winn, who ran against him last time and got 19% in the primary. Dan, what are you seeing in this race? What's going to be different this time around here?

DAN SHEARER: Well, let me briefly go back to Grijalva, because since the districts were redrawn in 2020, he actually does now represent most of Sahuarita. I think he said all the things you would expect when he announced that he had cancer, that the work continues uninterrupted in his office, that he's asking for privacy for him and for his family. What he hasn't said so far is what type of cancer he has, what stage he might be in. I'm not sure that he owes us that, but a public figure does need to get out some information if people are wondering. But obviously he's in the race this year and will continue to be and there is a very strong likelihood that he will win. So we'll see what happens after that. But we most certainly wish him the best. This is just something that transcends politics.

As far as Ciscomani goes, he now has the same opponent, Kirsten Engel, as last time but he also has a record to run on. And some of that record is going to play real well in the more conservative areas and some of it is not going to play real well in some of the more left-leaning Democratic areas. And, specifically, the vote for House speaker, which was a complete fiasco when he voted three times for Jim Jordan, and that failed. And it was really just an embarrassing time for the House. But what people don't see in Juan Ciscomani is that he works an awful lot behind the scenes. He works across the aisle a lot. He's taking a lot of heat for voting for this recent budget bill. But how can you be on the Appropriations Committee, craft a bill and then not vote for it? So, of course, he was going to, but he was the only House Republican in Arizona to vote for it. So you can fully expect that Kristen Engel will be just as strong as before and will be throwing a lot of his record at him.

MATT HICKMAN: Yeah. Cisomani won by just over 5,000 votes last time, barely over a percent. And also this primary challenge, especially in the climate now, does he run the risk of getting pulled too far to the right to survive the primary challenge and then can't get back to the middle to run against Engel?

DAN SHEARER: Yeah, that's a great question. Kathleen Winn just has no reason to be in this race. Quite honestly, she's not going to do well. She really appeals to a very small slice of the Republican party and she's just going to be draining him in a time when he should be really focusing on the general election. So, we'll see how she ends up doing. But, again, I know a lot of people are just kind of rolling their eyes at the fact that she's in there and she considers herself very MAGA, but she's not really talking about issues. And I think that's frustrating to some people.

MATT HICKMAN: And, Tom, what do they think about Juan Ciscomani out in Graham and Greenlee counties?

TOM BODUS: Well, I mean, obviously he carried the county pretty handily, at least Graham County pretty handily in the last election. I haven't heard a lot of grumbling one way or another. I mean, when he's been in town, people seem to approve of him and I have not heard any outright criticism of him. But, you know, I read the reports the same as everybody else, about the grumblings, about the appropriations bills and whatnot. I don't know how that plays with the general populace. I guess we're going to find out. It's interesting. I keep hearing these reports about the people in the middle being the silent majority, wanting to end this nonsense with the extreme right and left.

And yet, when it comes right down to it, the more centrist candidates can't get elected. So, I don't know what's going to happen. Hard to say.

MATT HICKMAN: For sure. And obviously, the other race that affects us all is U.S. Senate. For a long time, we thought this was going to be a three-way race. With incumbent Kyrsten Sinema as an independent, she drops out, leading only Democrat Gallego and possibly Kari Lake or Sheriff Lamb from Pinal County. They're running in what remains to be a pretty competitive primary, perhaps. Although last I saw, Lake is still quite a bit ahead in polling there. I guess we're going to wrap this up pretty quick, but I kind of want to go around the horn and just kind of get everybody's take. Like right now, if you had to pick this horse race, who do you have, Gallego or Lake? Start with you, Dan.

DAN SHEARER: I would say that Ruben Gallego is in a very good position. When Kyrsten Sinema announced that she was not going to be in the race, he raised a million dollars in the first 24 hours after that happened. So now he is up against Mark Lamb, who announced a year ago that he was running for this race, but still hasn't really gotten a lot of traction or money. Then you have Kari Lake, whose head is stuck in 2022, when she lost the governor's race but has never really come to grips with that. People are really tired of her schtick and they really want to talk about the issues, and Kari Lake simply isn't talking about the issues. So I think they are handing it to Ruben Gallego, because the Republicans have put up two very weak candidates.

MATT HICKMAN: Manuel, what's your thought on this?

MANUEL COPPOLA: Yeah, I would agree with Dan, and I think Ruben presents well and just seems to have it together versus all the craziness we're hearing from the other side. And even Lamb's record is kind of questionable. So, yeah, I'd give it to Ruben.

MATT HICKMAN: All right. And we'll wrap it up here with Tom. Who do you got in this race? First of all, how would you see it going in? Would Gallego have a shot in Graham County?

TOM BODUS: Perhaps in Greenlee because you get up around Clifton whatnot, it tends to be a little more blue than it is down in the southern part of the county. But I keep looking at this race, and I look at Kari Lake, for instance, and I'm wondering how people are still putting up with her at all. I mean, at this point, how much money has she cost the estate just suing it over and over again. Of course, she's getting these, you know, she's getting penalized for this a little bit. But, I mean, how much time can you waste before it's clear you're not putting the best interest of the state in front of yourself? And as far as Mark Lamb goes, I've heard him speak and what have you, and near as I can tell, he's a one-issue candidate.

It's all about the border issues, and he doesn't really have anything else to say. I mean, he has plenty to say about the border but once you get past that, there's not much there. So I'm, I'd like to see a stronger Republican candidate. But right now, it looks like we're going to default to the Democratic candidates. I predict Ruben Gallego is probably going to be the guy.

MATT HICKMAN: Yeah, I'd pretty much have to agree with the assessments of all you. And I would, at this point, I would pick Ruben Gallego as well to be our next U.S. senator.

Well, it's been a fantastic discussion. Thank you guys so much for your time, and thank you for tuning in to News Talker, Wick Communications, Southeast Arizona. Make sure to check out all of our newspapers in your respective markets, and have a great day.