LD19: the chamber swap district, where the incumbents trade seats

State Senate: Griffin vs. Karp, a rematch of the 2024 margin in new seats

Gail Griffin (Republican)

Record, stated as record rather than invented roll calls: The Arizona Republic summarizes her House tenure this way: for years she has used her committee chair position to stop bills she did not like from advancing, and she has opposed attempts to more strictly regulate rural groundwater. Her own sponsored bills in the 2026 session include HB 2757 and HB 2758, which would allow groundwater from the Butler Valley and McMullen Valley basins in western Arizona to be withdrawn and sold or transported to large cities. She defended the bills by pointing to looming Colorado River cuts and arguing that the transfer framework already exists in state law. Rural county supervisors in La Paz and Yavapai counties criticized the bills as moving rural water to urban areas for outside financial interests. In 2025, Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed her HB 2271, which would have required the Department of Water Resources to include total groundwater volume data in its annual supply and demand reports. Griffin responded that rural Arizonans want to know how much groundwater they have beneath their feet, and that the veto blocked the only bill that would have answered that question. In an October 2025 op ed she argued that Arizona already has every groundwater tool it needs under the 1980 Groundwater Management Act and its companion laws, and that more than 90 percent of Arizonans already live under some form of groundwater management.

Key votes: no individual floor votes for Griffin were verified at name level from azleg.gov roll calls in time for this page, so none are printed as votes. Her sponsorships and her committee record above are the verified record, and they point in one consistent direction: local control of groundwater, skepticism of new statewide rural regulation, and support for moving water from rural basins to cities under existing transfer law.

Stated priorities: groundwater management under existing law rather than a new statewide framework, disclosure of groundwater supply data, and the water transfer bills described above. She was endorsed by the Greater Phoenix Chamber. The Arizona Technology Council made no endorsement in this Senate race.

Money: campaign finance reports as of March 2026, via See the Money as compiled by Wikipedia: raised $84,400, spent $14,382.89, cash on hand $69,736.11. That date is part of the fact. No later total was retrieved, and her totals will have changed since March.

Controversies: the water fight is the controversy, and both sides are stated above: supporters call her the defender of rural water rights and local control, critics in rural counties and in Democratic commentary call her a protector of private pumping interests who blocks stricter rural groundwater rules. The Bisbee Wire, a Democratic leaning local commentary site, calls her the queen of water protection for private interests. That is an opponent characterization, printed here as one, not as a finding.

Bob Karp (Democrat)

• Stated priorities, in the Arizona Republic summary: a reform agenda that includes overhauling the Empowerment Scholarship Account voucher program, advocating for universal health care, and expanding state child care tax credits.
• From his BallotReady answers: raise per pupil school spending from $12,522 to at least the national median of about $15,600, make post secondary education including trade training less expensive, invest more in K to 12 public schools with targeted criteria, restructure the ESA program back toward its original intention, expand child care options and credits, and pursue rural economic development so workers do not have to relocate or commute long distances.
• Money: no campaign finance figures for Karp were located as of October 27, 2026. The March 2026 See the Money table for this race lists only a Democrat who did not proceed to the general election, at $0. Controversies: none found.

State House: two seats, four candidates, and a former speaker asking to come back downstairs

David Gowan (Republican)

Record: as senator he carried a bill covered by the Arizona Republic that would prioritize clinical need at the Arizona State Hospital, part of the state's mental health capacity debate. His current campaign, per the Republic, is focused on strong border security, religious liberty, and increased parents' rights.

Controversies, with the outcome: as Speaker in 2016, the Arizona Capitol Times reported that Gowan repaid the state more than $12,000 for travel and mileage reimbursements, including mileage claimed for trips taken in state vehicles and per diem for days he had not worked. Gowan asked the Attorney General to investigate. The Arizona Republic's 2026 guide summarizes the result: the Attorney General ultimately said there was no evidence that Gowan had intentionally rigged the system. A House spokeswoman at the time attributed the errors to a mistake by his assistant. Separately, as Speaker he imposed a rule requiring reporters to consent to background checks for House floor access, a policy critics in the press corps tied to the Capitol Times reporting on his travel, and which he later dropped. Both episodes are a decade old; they are printed because they are the documented controversy in his record, and the exoneration on intent is printed with them.

Money: no campaign finance totals for Gowan's 2026 House campaign were located as of October 27, 2026. Key votes: no individual Senate floor votes were verified at name level for this page, so none are listed as votes.

Lupe Diaz (Republican, incumbent)

Record and stated priorities: his 2026 campaign emphasizes election integrity, border security, and school choice, per the Arizona Republic. The Republic also reports that he backed several bills in the past session that would have limited the powers of the Attorney General's office after Attorney General Kris Mayes sued over several controversial business developments. Diaz did not order a formal investigation into a fellow lawmaker who called Muslims savages, a decision the Republic noted in its district coverage; this page reports the headline fact only, because the underlying article text was not retrieved. His BallotReady positions: finish the border wall, add Border Patrol staffing, reinstate Title 42, support school choice with accountability for results, defend Second Amendment rights, and protect private property and water rights.

Controversy, with responses: on April 1, 2024, Diaz used the House opening prayer for a sermon of nearly five minutes that called the United States an unrighteous nation, tied that judgment to International Transgender Day of Visibility falling on Easter that year, and said eternal life is available only to those who acknowledge Jesus Christ. House Democrats issued a formal response condemning the use of the opening prayer to target LGBTQ people and non Christians. LOOKOUT reported that Diaz did not respond to its request for comment and that no Republican commented. The sermon is a matter of House floor record; the disagreement is over whether an opening prayer is the place for it.

Money: no campaign finance totals for Diaz were located as of October 27, 2026. Key votes: no individual floor votes were verified at name level for this page.

Jackie O'Donnell Anderson (Democrat)

• Stated priorities: concern about the impact of looming cuts to Medicaid, and accountability in the state school voucher program, per the Arizona Republic. The Democratic voter guide summarizes her campaign as fighting for LD19 families on Medicaid, schools, and voucher accountability.
• Money: no campaign finance totals located. Controversies: none found. Her biography beyond nursing is thin in the sources retrieved, and this page does not fill it in.

Aiden Nichollette Swallow (Democrat)

• Stated priorities: expand the state Medicaid program, fully fund rural clinics, and block corporations from depleting aquifers for outside profit, per the Arizona Republic summary of her platform. Her campaign site frames the race around rural poverty: food, medical care, and strong education for rural Arizonans, and the line that no Arizonan should have to choose between health care and food.
• Money: no campaign finance totals located. Controversies: none found beyond the discharge account above, which is presented as she states it.