Topic
Arizona Talks co-founder Jered Scrivner argues that most candidates are more likely to lose than win, and should campaign that way: on the positions they actually hold, not the ones they think will get them elected. Even a losing campaign, he writes, can push public debate somewhere more honest.
Blake Sacha, president of Voter Choice Arizona, looks at a July primary where fewer than 27 percent of registered voters turned out and concludes the problem is structural. He makes the case for equal signature requirements, open primaries, and a top-five instant runoff.
Andrew Simek, district community manager for Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, argues that voters who blamed government failure in 2024 diagnosed the wrong problem. After hundreds of community events and dozens of town halls, he writes, the pattern is capacity: constituents who qualify for help but cannot reach it. The real choice is not a big government or a small one, but one that can deliver.
Rudy Cota III argues that ranked choice voting and jungle primaries are a seductive but false fix for Arizona's political frustration, and that the real work of better politics happens inside the parties, not by rewriting the rules of the ballot.
State Senator Analise Ortiz argues that the ICE detention facility planned for Surprise is being imposed on the city without the consent of its residents. Local leaders, she writes, have the legal tools and the responsibility to stop it.
After learning to disagree well through high school speech and debate, Nivea Krishnan and two fellow Arizona Talks leaders make the case for expanding an activity only 48 of the state's roughly 560 high schools can offer.
Former state senator Steve Kaiser argues that the most powerful influence on a politician is an informed constituent. He walks through how voters can build real civic relationships with the people who represent them.
Arizona Talks Voices is produced in partnership with the Arizona Local News Foundation.
