2026 Debate Schedule

TJ L'Heureux

Biography

TJ L'Heureux was born and raised in the Valley. After working on a political campaign, he recovered spiritually and emotionally from the experience by earning his master's in journalism at Arizona State University's Cronkite School. For more than two years, he worked as a staff writer for Phoenix New Times, covering politics, police, courts and the arts before joining the Agenda's team in January 2026.

Districts Covered:

Curt Prendergast

Biography

Curt Prendergast brings more than 15 years of experience covering local government, border and immigration issues, and federal courts to the Agenda. His reporting focuses on the intersection of policy, law enforcement and public accountability. Before co-founding the Tucson Agenda, he was the opinion page editor at the Arizona Daily Star.

Districts Covered:

Joe Ferguson

Biography

Joe Ferguson brings two decades of reporting experience and institutional knowledge to the Tucson Agenda. A longtime watchdog of Southern Arizona politics, he has spent years holding local government accountable, most notably at the Arizona Daily Star, where he covered city and county government with a mix of rigor, data digging and shoe-leather reporting.

Districts Covered:

Nicole Ludden

Biography

Nicole Ludden has been a journalist basically her whole life — she took charge of her high school newspaper and never looked back. She focuses on explaining how government institutions work and why the people in power make the decisions they do. She loves a deep dive into the intricacies of policy.

Districts Covered:

Nohelani Graf

Biography

Nohelani is a familiar face in Arizona local news with a 20-year-long career as an award-winning journalist. That career brought her to Arizona 10 years ago as a television news reporter and anchor in Phoenix. She’s covered some of Arizona’s biggest stories over the years from wildfires to drug trafficking to politics. She also has a passion for health stories and has served as Medical Journalism Fellow through Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic.

Districts Covered:

Danielle Lerner

Biography

Danielle is an Arizona native who has spent more than 15 years as a journalist in both Phoenix and Tucson. As a TV news reporter and anchor, Danielle is especially proud to have spent most of her career covering the issues that most directly affect Arizonans. Danielle also recently launched her own media consulting and content business, Take 45 Media, Inc.

Districts Covered:

Rafael Carranza

Biography

Rafael is a journalist who covers immigration issues in Arizona. It’s an expertise he’s held in Arizona for the last 15 years at newspapers in Arizona and as part of national news networks. Before coming to Arizona, he worked as a foreign correspondent covering the Pope and the Vatican in Rome.

Districts Covered:

Hank Stephenson

Biography

Hank Stephenson has spent more than 15 years reporting on Arizona government, politics and policy, covering the people and institutions that shape how the state works. He has written for national news organizations like The New York Times and Politico, as well as a long list of small community newspapers. Before launching the Agenda in 2021, he ran a high-priced political tip sheet written for Arizona lobbyists, politicians and consultants.

Districts Covered:

Jim Nintzel

Biography

Jim Nintzel is a member of the Report for America corps working as government and political impact reporter for the TucsonSentinel.com, an online news agency based in Southern Arizona. Prior to joining the Sentinel, Nintzel spent more than three decades as a reporter and editor with Tucson Weekly, covering politics, science and rock ’n’ roll. He has been named a journalist of the year by the Arizona Press Club and the Arizona Newspaper Association and has won more than 50 state and national awards for his work. He has previously worked for the local PBS affiliate, hosting a weekly political roundtable, and has appeared on CBS, ABC, CNN and other national news networks as well as various NPR affiliates. He taught government reporting at the University of Arizona Journalism School for more than 15 years.

Districts Covered:

Legislative District 23

Kiera Riley

Biography

Kiera covers the courts and education for the Arizona Capitol Times and writes daily news items for the paper's political tip sheet, the Yellow Sheet Report. Before joining the Capitol Times, she covered state politics for the Arizona Republic and worked as a freelance news reporter for the Phoenix New Times. Kiera is a 2022 Hearst Journalism Awards finalist and recipient of the organization's Article of the Year award. She earned her bachelor's from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in 2022.

Districts Covered:

Legislative Districts 8 & 28

Kyle Backer

Biography

Kyle Backer covers Arizona's commercial real estate industry and economic development as Associate Editor of AZRE magazine — a publication of AZ Big Media. A second-generation Arizona native, Kyle lives in North Phoenix with his wife and two dogs. In his free time, he enjoys listening to podcasts on history and current events, riding his motorcycle and trying out new restaurants in the Valley.

Districts Covered:

Legislative District 10

Camryn Sanchez

Biography

Camryn Sanchez is an award-winning reporter with KJZZ’s Politics Desk covering everything to do with state politics. Prior to joining KJZZ, Sanchez worked for two years at the Arizona Capitol Times covering the state Legislature, with a focus on the Arizona Senate. She also interned at the East Bay Express, Yonkers Times and Arizona Republic. This is Sanchez's second election season moderating legislative debates for the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.

Districts Covered:

Legislative Districts 14, 15, 25 & 29

Steve Goldstein

Biography

Steve Goldstein has served as an award-winning radio host and reporter in Phoenix for 25 years. His work has featured discussions about a broad variety of topics, and his passion for politics and elections has led to regular conversations with elected officials from both major parties. Goldstein has been a regular on-camera contributor to local TV political affairs programs.

Districts Covered:

Legislative Districts 2 & 5

Wayne Schutsky

Biography

Wayne Schutsky is a reporter on the Politics Desk at KJZZ. He has over a decade of experience as a journalist reporting on local communities in Arizona and the state Capitol. Schutsky previously contributed to the Arizona Capitol Times and edited the Yellow Sheet Report, an insider tip sheet focused on Arizona politics. His byline has also appeared in NPR, the Scottsdale Progress and the East Valley Tribune. Schutsky's coverage has received recognition from the Arizona Press Club and the Arizona Newspapers Association.

Districts Covered:

Legislative District 22

Hank Stephenson

Biography

Hank Stephenson launched the Arizona Agenda in 2021 to give average voters insider insights into Arizona politics and government. He has covered Arizona for more than 15 years, including for national outlets like The New York Times, Politico Magazine and Columbia Journalism Review. But he’s a community reporter at heart, having started his career bouncing around small-town papers from Nogales to North Dakota.

Districts Covered:

Legislative District 4

Dan Shearer

Biography

Dan Shearer is editor of the Green Valley News/Sahuarita Sun south of Tucson. He also is the editorial director for Wick Communications, which owns media outlets in 13 western states. In that role he comes alongside editors to build stronger newsrooms. Dan has worked at newspapers in Abilene, Texas, Palm Springs, California, and was a senior editor at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix.

Districts Covered:

Legislative District 21

Richard Ruelas

Biography

Richard Ruelas is an Arizona native and a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He’s worked for the Associated Press, Phoenix Gazette and now Arizona Republic for more than 30 years. Over the years, Richard has covered all manner of stories – politics, crime, features, sports. He has previously served as a moderator for debates put on by the Republic and by the Clean Elections Commission.

Districts Covered:

Broadcast Debates

Mary Rabàgo

Biography

Mary Rabago is a well-known bilingual public figure in Arizona. She has spent 20 years as a Spanish journalist, including time as an anchor and reporter at Univision Arizona. She now leads her own media production company with a focus on storytelling about health, education, politics, immigration and finance.

Districts Covered:

Broadcast Debates

Nicole Ludden

Biography

Nicole joined the Arizona Agenda from the Arizona Daily Star, where she covered local government for Arizona’s second-largest paper. Before that, she worked at the Tucson Weekly and spent time in the Republic’s newsroom. She’s a graduate of ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and a former teaching assistant at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism.

Districts Covered:

Legislative District 7 & 27