The Citizens Clean Elections Commission sponsors statewide and legislative debates. Only contested races will have a debate. Additionally, debates will only occur if there is a participating Clean Elections candidate or upon the request of a traditional candidate. All debates and times are subject to change.
You can email your question by clicking the button below. Just be sure to indicate what district debate your question is for and if the question is for a particular candidate or everyone. If the button doesn't open an email for you automatically please send questions with the district number and the words "Debate Question" in the subject line to: [email protected].
Any person with a disability may request accommodation, such as a sign language interpreter, by contacting the Commission at (602) 364-3477 or [email protected]. Requests should be made as early as possible to allow time to arrange accommodations.
Meet the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Candidates:
Clean Elections and the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership are hosting a Meet the Candidates event so Maricopa County voters can hear directly from the candidates running for the Central Arizona Water Conservation District.
Gary Grado, Executive Editor from the Arizona Capitol Times, will moderate the meet and greet and the event will open with State Land Commissioner and current CAWCD member Lisa Atkins discussing the roles and responsibilities of the board that manages the Central Arizona Project (CAP).
Moderating Debates for: US Senate, Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Corporation Commissioner
Rachel Leingang is the co-founder of the Arizona Agenda, a Substack newsletter about Arizona government and politics. She has covered government, politics and higher education in Arizona since 2015, first at the Arizona Capitol Times, then The Arizona Republic, where she most recently wrote government accountability stories with an eye for those impacted and a focus on problem-solving. She has a master’s degree from Arizona State University, which is how she ended up here in 2012.
Hank Stephenson
Biography
Hank Stephenson is the co-founder of the Arizona Agenda, a Substack newsletter about Arizona government and politics. He has written about Arizona for national outlets like The New York Times, Politico Magazine and Columbia Journalism Review. But he’s a community reporter at heart. He was most recently editor and meme-maker at Yellow Sheet Report, a political tipsheet and gossip rag. He has covered Arizona politics and government since 2008.
Biography
Wayne is a Phoenix native who cut his teeth covering cities and local communities at newspapers throughout the Valley, including the Scottsdale Progress, East Valley Tribune, Gilbert Sun News and Arcadia News. As managing editor, he oversaw the successful 2018 relaunch of the Scottsdale Progress, a celebrated local newspaper that first went into publication in the 1940s. During his two years at the Progress, Wayne won the Arizona Press Club’s 2020 community breaking news award for his on-the-ground coverage of the Scottsdale Fashion Square riot. He was also recognized by the Arizona Press Club for his year-round coverage of Scottsdale schools during the Covid-19 pandemic and for his 2019 investigative report on Opportunity Zones in Scottsdale.
Biography
Camryn is the state senate reporter for the Arizona
Capitol Times. She was raised in the San Francisco Bay
area and recently earned her bachelor’s degree from
Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. In college,
Camryn studied journalism and was the news editor for her school paper, The
Phoenix. She interned at Telegraph Media in Oakland, Calif. and ELLE Magazine in
New York in 2019. Camryn also reported for the Yonkers Times in Yonkers, N.Y.
She spent the summer with the Arizona Republic as a Pulliam fellow. She can be
found in the newsroom drinking coffee and welcomes tips at any time.
Biography
Nick covers the governor’s office and state executive
branch for the Capitol Times. Before moving to
Phoenix, he reported for the Nogales International,
covering the city government, the U.S.-Mexico border
and everything in between. Prior to that, he lived and worked in Argentina. He
speaks fluent Spanish. Nick received more than a dozen awards from the Arizona
Press Club and Arizona Newspaper Association for his work in Nogales and was
twice named runner-up Community Journalist of the Year by the AZPC.
Biography
Dan Shearer is editor of the Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun in Southern Arizona, and is the editorial director for Wick Communications, which has media interests in 11 states. He has been a senior editor at The Arizona Republic and has worked in newsrooms in California and Texas.
Ted Simons
Biography
Ted Simons is the award-winning host and managing editor of “Arizona Horizon,” the nightly public affairs show on Arizona PBS. Simons moderates discussions with government officials, business leaders and policy makers about the issues, laws and policies that affect Arizonans in their everyday lives. The long-time Valley journalist joined “Arizona Horizon” in 2007.
Prior to joining Arizona PBS, Simons hosted the afternoon drive news/talk show on KTAR radio, worked as news director/morning show host for KZON-FM and news/sports anchor/reporter at KPHO-TV. Simons was also sports director/anchor at KOFY-TV in San Francisco.
Simons has received numerous print and broadcast journalism awards, including the Rocky Mountain Emmys, the Arizona AP Broadcasters Association Award for Radio Talk Show and Radio Newscast, and numerous New Times Best of Phoenix honors.
Stacey Barchenger
Biography
Stacey Barchenger is a state politics reporter at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. An award-winning journalist who started her career in her hometown in Oregon, she has covered everything from crime scenes to the U.S. Supreme Court. She moved to Arizona in 2021 to cover the final year of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s term and the election of the state’s next governor.
Richard Ruelas
Biography
Richard Ruelas, an Arizona native, has been a reporter with The Arizona Republic and its sister paper, The Phoenix Gazette, since 1994. He has covered a wide variety of topics: politics, law enforcement and the budding wine industry in the state. Besides the written word, he has hosted live political debates, lent his voice and assistance to mini-documentaries and, in 2019, narrated a podcast based on recently discovered audio tapes belonging to Republic reporter Don Bolles, who was killed by a car bomb in 1976.
Meet the Candidates Videos
Clean Elections sponsored the Meet the Candidates series, hosted by the Arizona Capitol Times, to connect candidates and voters. This series offers voters an introduction to the candidates running in their district, so they can learn firsthand about the issues important to them. For more information, you can watch the candidates in action in our general elections debates (see above) or read about them in our Voter Education Guide.
Legislative Districts 1-6
Legislative Districts 7-12
Legislative Districts 13-18
Legislative Districts 19-24
