GOP hopefuls seek open House seats in competitive LD13

By Gary Grado - April 28, 2026

Republican voters have three candidates to choose from in the July 21 primary election for the state House in Legislative District 13, as incumbent lawmakers will be leaving office and trying to switch chambers.

The slate of Republican contenders for the district's two House seats — Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke, restaurateur Janet Weninger, and precinct committeewoman Debra Schinke — contains familiar names in the district, which encompasses parts of south Chandler, Sun Lakes and Gilbert.

All three are invited to a debate sponsored by the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission and moderated by the Arizona Agenda’s Hank Stephenson on Friday, May 1, at 6 p.m.

The district is among the most competitive in the state, and the outcome of the contested GOP primary will affect both sides' chances of winning the district in November.

Hartke, who is running for the Legislature after serving eight years as Chandler mayor and eight years as a councilman, set his sights on the Capitol after a lawsuit made him rethink his political goals.

Hartke had filed a statement of interest to run again for the Chandler City Council last year, but his 2022 mayoral opponent filed suit last year to challenge his eligibility to serve as mayor and raised questions about term limit provisions in the city’s charter. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge dismissed the suit, finding it was an untimely election challenge.

Hartke told Axios Phoenix in August that he decided against the Chandler City Council run because of the term limits issue, and he pivoted to running for the Legislature.

Hartke has had a mostly low-profile tenure as Chandler’s mayor, but he’s become known for taking a pragmatic, pro-growth approach.

In December, the City Council voted unanimously against approving a data center that former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema lobbied for.

“Big, almost-jobless buildings that are important and desired in other locations don't fit what we've been designing and crafting and looking for,” Hartke said.

Hartke says on his website he’s a “strong believer in fiscal conservatism, limited government, and smart economic growth with an eye toward the future.”

If the name Weninger sounds familiar to LD13 voters, it’s because Weninger is looking to step into the seat that her husband, Republican Rep. Jeff Weninger, has occupied for five terms. He’s leaving to run for Chandler mayor.

Janet Weninger co-owns Dilly’s Deli and Floridino’s Pizza and Pasta in Chandler with her husband, and she has been involved with several nonprofits that serve children in need and sex trafficking victims. She founded Crusaders of Love in 2019, a charity that visits homeless camps around Arizona, California, Texas and border towns of Mexico to provide essential food and clothing.

Weninger says on her campaign website that family and faith are the cornerstones of her life, and she touts her child advocacy.

While Schinke is a newcomer to running for public office, she’s been involved in politics at the grassroots. She is a regional director for the Arizona Federation of Republican Women and a former president of Chandler Republican Women, besides being a Republican precinct committeewoman. She’s also a member of the Chandler Citizens Police Review Board.

Schinke says on her campaign website that she’s rooted in “family, faith and patriotism,” and she plans to use her experience in assisting fraud prosecutions to find waste in the state budget. She’ll also focus on cutting red tape for small businesses.

Whichever two candidates the voters choose in the primary, they’ll likely face tight competition in the November election.

Republicans have a roughly 9-percentage-point voter edge over Democrats, but more than a third of the district's voters aren’t registered with either party.

The district elected one Democrat and one Republican to the House in 2022. Democrat Jennifer Pawlik won more votes than Republican Liz Harris, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump who denied the results of the 2020 election. The House expelled Harris in 2023 after she chaired a committee hearing in which “election experts” accused the speaker of the House and other elected officials of committing crimes.

The Democratic candidates for the House, Racquel “Rockee” Armstrong and Jacob Weinberg, won’t face a primary challenger.

Armstrong is a Democratic precinct committeewoman and an assistant professor at the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching & Learning Innovation. This is her first run for public office.

Weinberg is a precinct committeeman in Legislative District 4 in Scottsdale. He reports on his nomination paperwork that he lives at an address in Chandler that is registered as a rental property on the Maricopa County Assessor website.

Republican Rep. Julie Willoughby is running for the Senate this year and won’t face a primary challenge.

Willoughby’s general election opponent will be Kristie O’Brien, the vice chair of the Arizona Democratic Party and a lawyer who specializes in divorce mediation. O’Brien ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2014.

O’Brien is one of five candidates who are part of the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee’s target races to flip the Legislature.

The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission will sponsor the debate, which will be broadcast live on the commission’s YouTube channel at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 1.

Visit azcleanelections.gov for the full debate schedule and to submit a question for the candidates.