LD3: a deep red district where the real fights were in the Republican primary

State Senate: Kavanagh vs. Fortney, the leader and the teacher

John Kavanagh (Republican, incumbent)

Key votes (verified individually via the Freedom Index 2025 scorecard):

• HB 2017 (2025), restricting voting centers and capping precinct size at 1,000 registered voters: YES.
• SB 1498 (2025), requiring federal law enforcement officers who are not Arizona certified peace officers to get written permission from the county sheriff before arrests, searches, or seizures in the state: YES. SB 1495 (2025), the Defend the Guard bill barring deployment of the Arizona National Guard into active duty combat without a congressional declaration of war: YES.
• SB 1096 (2025), creating a state bullion depository for precious metals: YES. HCR 2041 (2025), applying for an Article V convention to propose congressional term limits: YES. SB 1432 (2025), prohibiting geoengineering in Arizona: DID NOT VOTE, printed as a non vote, not a position.

His pattern as a sponsor, per the Arizona Republic: near annual bills to ban transgender people from bathrooms and athletic locker rooms that do not match their sex at birth, and frequent alignment with the most strident conservative voices on immigration and crime enforcement. Scorecards, attributed: Freedom Index 2025 score of 80 percent; Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter rating of 0 percent (via Vote Smart).

Money: as of his March 2026 campaign finance reports, raised $91,536, spent $6,254, and $175,293 on hand, the largest war chest on this page, most of it carried into the cycle. That date is part of the fact: no later figure was retrieved.

Controversies, with his responses: his general election opponent's central charge, in a Fortney campaign essay published by Blog for Arizona, is that Kavanagh has voted against the mail in voting his own constituents plead with him to keep, and once argued for limiting voting to "quality voters." Kavanagh's explanation, as quoted in that same essay, is that a quality voter is "a legal voter who says, 'I want a ballot,'" and that voters who do not ask for a ballot or follow politics are a different kind of voter. His primary was rougher: his campaign built an attack site, weirdwallace.com, against challenger Robert Wallace, which he told the Yellow Sheet Report cost about $1,000 and was "dedicated to telling the voters of LD 3 that this person is so weird that he should never represent us." Wallace answered with his own site, stopkavanagh.com, and at their Clean Elections debate accused Kavanagh of skewering his character. Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio first endorsed Wallace, then switched to Kavanagh, saying he had mistaken which office Wallace sought; Wallace alleged Senate President Warren Petersen had threatened Arpaio into switching, which Petersen called ridiculous and denied, and Kavanagh called Wallace's account "nonsensical." Kavanagh also dismissed his general election odds plainly to the Arizona Capitol Times: "I'm a proven, experienced commodity that they've elected 10 times already."

Jeffrey "Jeff" Fortney (Democrat)

• Board record and stated goals, from his Cave Creek school board candidate questionnaire: treat teachers like the respected professionals they are; increase educator pay as the district's funding allows; get students more involved in the school board process; increase community involvement; and ensure students have access to a rigorous curriculum plus counselors and behavioral supports. He has also argued the district's voters too often reject bonds and overrides over tax increases, noting Cave Creek already has the lowest tax rate in the state.
• Campaign frame: his essay attacks Kavanagh as complacent and out of touch, centers the mail in voting fight described in Kavanagh's entry, and promises to listen to constituents who use and love mail in voting.
• Money: as of March 2026 campaign finance reports, raised $7,195, spent $3,491, $3,704 on hand. No later total was located.
• Controversies: none found. He declined to answer the Arizona Voter Guide survey, per that guide.

State House: two seats, five candidates, three parties

Cody Reim (Republican, incumbent by appointment)

How he got here: when Scottsdale shut off hauled water service to Rio Verde Foothills at the start of 2023, Reim became one of the community's most outspoken advocates for a long term water source, work that took several years across local, county, and state government. Supervisor Thomas Galvin, who nominated him, told the board Reim "brought his neighbors together when they were fighting each other." One nuance, reported by State Affairs: among the district's Republican precinct committeemen, Reim had finished third in the preference vote behind George Khalaf and Michelle Ugenti-Rita, and the board picked him anyway, by a 5 to 0 vote.

Record so far: his first recorded floor vote as a lawmaker, per State Affairs, was an AYE on HB 2375 (2026), the bill allowing cities to exempt historic districts from the state middle housing law, which passed 31 to 24; he said the vote was difficult and followed what he heard from Scottsdale constituents. On his signature second issue, he has positioned himself as a protector of the Salt River wild horses, attending a rally for the herd, saying the Salt River Horse Act "was never intended to justify removing these horses," and announcing plans to introduce legislation requiring science based protections for the herd.

Stated priorities, from his official Legislature biography: protecting Arizona's water resources, strengthening the economy, supporting quality education, and promoting limited, effective government, with a constituent first approach.

Money: no 2026 cycle total located in the sources retrieved. Controversies: none beyond the appointment preference vote noted above.

George Khalaf (Republican)

• Stated priorities: announcing his run in November 2025, he said, "I have been on the front lines fighting for school choice, pro-life, parental rights and more efficient government and will bring that energy to the state house." In his Arizona Republic questionnaire he said he wants Arizona's flat tax rate lowered, and that the private school voucher (Empowerment Scholarship Account) program needs no further regulation despite recent reports of misspending by some beneficiaries.
• Endorsements, attributed: Scottsdale school board member Amy Carney, former state Sen. Nancy Barto, and Cathi Herrod, former president of the Center for Arizona Policy, among other northeast valley officials and activists (State Affairs).
• The open question about his candidacy is a structural one, not a scandal: he runs one of the state's best known polling firms while running for office himself, and his firm polls the same Arizona electorate he is asking to elect him. His supporters, including the Gazette profile, call that a pollster's edge and a reputation for transparency; no reporting retrieved accuses his firm of shading its numbers for his race.
• Money: no campaign finance totals located.

Julie Gable (Democrat)

• Stated priorities, from her campaign site and Scottsdale Progress debate coverage: health care first, drawn from running a behavioral health organization: protect Arizona's Medicaid program from cuts, protect and expand behavioral health infrastructure, protect rural hospitals, and expand preventive and primary care. On technology, "put Arizonans before algorithms," with responsible regulation of artificial intelligence. On school vouchers, more transparency and accountability tied to measurable outcomes; she argues vouchers have had little transparency and no proven outcomes while draining millions from public schools, and that "strengthening public schools and supporting school choice are not opposing goals." On water, secure a sustainable supply by bringing business leaders, environmental experts, rural communities, and local governments together.
• Endorsements, attributed: the Arizona Technology Council endorsed her for 2026, alongside, unusually, Republican Jay Schlum, who lost the Republican primary.
• Money: consistent with Clean Elections participation, no traditional donor totals were located; see verification notes. Controversies: none found. She declined to answer the Arizona Voter Guide survey, per that guide.

Richard "Rick" Spargo (Democrat)

This entry is short because the public record is thin, and inventing a platform would be worse than admitting it. Beyond the biography above, from the Arizona Republic's legislature guide, our research found no campaign issues page, no questionnaire answers (he declined the Arizona Voter Guide survey, per that guide), and no news coverage of his candidacy beyond candidate listings as of October 27, 2026. Money: no campaign finance totals located. Controversies: none found.

John Skirbst (No Labels)

• Stated positions, from his Secretary of State candidate statement as reported by Scottsdale Progress: he describes himself as "a moderate and independent voice," a fiscal conservative who leans liberal on social issues. He says common sense gun laws can coexist with the Second Amendment, that people on both sides of the abortion debate should respect each other's choices, that border security money should go to technology, staffing, and "barriers where they make sense," and that the state should improve water management and enact conservation strategies.
• Debate note: Ballot Access News reported that Skirbst did not debate in the Clean Elections series.
• Money: no campaign finance totals located. Controversies: none found. He declined to answer the Arizona Voter Guide survey, per that guide.