Ballot Math / Arizona Legislature / LD8
Candidate races: Arizona Legislature, District 8

LD8: the real election was the Democratic primary

November 3, 2026 general election. District 8 covers much of Tempe, south Scottsdale, the Arcadia neighborhood of Phoenix, a small part of Mesa, and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, all within Maricopa County. Registration: 34 percent Democratic, 26 percent Republican, 40 percent other. The Independent Redistricting Commission rated the district outside of competitive range, with a key election vote spread of about Democratic plus 27.5 points, and recent results match: the Democratic Senate candidate won with about 61 percent in 2024. No forecaster publishes a rating for these specific races.

State Senate: Kuby vs. Loughrige, the write-in who made the ballot

The structural fact: incumbent Sen. Lauren Kuby already survived the contest that mattered, beating former Rep. Deborah Nardozzi in the July 21 Democratic primary with 12,981 votes (76.77 percent) to 3,928. No Republican filed on paper for this seat. Bill Loughrige ran as an official write-in in the Republican primary, won it with 572 votes, and qualified for the general election, where the 2026 General Election Guide and election results listings show him as the Republican candidate. State Affairs, summarizing the fall field, put it plainly: Kuby is expected to win the general election.

Lauren Kuby (Democrat, incumbent)

State senator since January 2025. Tempe City Council member from 2014 to 2022, including service as vice mayor; her concerns about climate change and homelessness motivated her first council run, per azcentral. At Arizona State University she is a Global Futures Scientist affiliated with the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, and led ASU's Stardust Center for Affordable Housing and the Family, per her campaign. Education: bachelor's from the University of Chicago, master's in public history from ASU. She reached the Senate in 2024 after the Democratic Party nominated her when former Rep. Melody Hernandez dropped out, and she was unopposed that fall in practical effect, winning the general 60.6 to 39.4 percent over the Republican nominee. Committees, per an endorsement profile: ranking member of Senate Government, plus Judiciary and Elections, and Appropriations; she also represents Senate Democrats on the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority.

Record and stated priorities: azcentral describes her as a frequent critic of Republican leadership who speaks often about workers' rights and environmental issues. Her campaign's own list: threatened communities, climate solutions, housing justice and affordable housing, democracy and voting rights, public education, LGBTQ+ protections, and worker protections. In the primary debate she said she has never taken money from lobbyists, utilities, or corporations, and she says she is running to serve constituents "over the interests of corporations, utilities, and developers." On housing, she argues the Republican controlled Legislature contributed to the affordability problem by barring cities from regulating short term rentals and from requiring affordable housing in projects, and by allowing corporations to buy up housing stock.

Money: as of her March 2026 campaign finance reports, raised $74,732, spent $9,911, $62,208 on hand. Tempe News, summarizing filings for the period ending June 30, 2026, reported Kuby at $91,103 raised, $20,853 spent, and $90,667 remaining, ahead of Nardozzi on cash in the primary. Both dates are part of the facts; no later figure was retrieved.

Controversies, with responses: the sharpest fight of her cycle was her own primary. Kuby accused Nardozzi of taking corporate, utility, and lobbyist money, saying such donors supplied about 30 percent of Nardozzi's money and citing a $3,000 Salt River Project contribution. Nardozzi answered in the Clean Elections debate: "I'm offended that you're insinuating that my vote is for sale. It wasn't when I was in office, and it is not now." She also noted support from a PAC backed by business and utility interests, and former Republican Sen. Steve Kaiser campaigned for Nardozzi on shared housing views. Voters settled it 77 to 23. Separately, azcentral's LD8 coverage links reporting that Kuby and Rep. Brian Garcia said they were pepper sprayed at a Zipps location during immigration enforcement related events; the full article text was not retrieved for this page, so it is noted as attributed coverage only.

Bill Loughrige (Republican)

Retired U.S. Customs Service agent who has run a private investigation firm, with a decades long career in law enforcement. A Tempe native. He filed no paper primary candidacy; he won the Republican nomination as an official write-in with 572 votes, the only votes cast in that primary, and qualified for the general election.
  • Stated priorities, as reported: azcentral summarizes his pitch as protecting police from "liberal politicians who want chaos in our communities," cracking down on homelessness, and preventing the indoctrination of children in schools. His Secretary of State candidate profile, quoted by Tempe News, says he is running "because our Arizona Democrats have adopted an agenda to change our culture by voting as a block for crazy things that defy common sense," with a further statement about women and girls in dressing rooms and public pool changing areas where children are present.
  • Debate note: Tempe News listed Loughrige among the LD8 hopefuls slated to debate in the fall Clean Elections series, alongside the House candidates.
  • Money: no campaign finance figures located as of October 27, 2026.
  • Controversies: none found beyond the partisan framing of his own candidate profile, quoted above in his words.

State House: two seats, three candidates, one Republican

How this race works: vote for up to two. Both Democratic incumbents survived a three way primary: Brian Garcia took 12,315 votes (42.53 percent) and Janeen Connolly 9,015 (31.13 percent), ahead of challenger Claudia Kline at 7,629. Republican Donald Hawker ran unopposed in his primary with 6,883 votes and needs only a top two finish in November to take a seat from an incumbent, the same single shot structure Republicans face in several Democratic districts this cycle.

Janeen Connolly (Democrat, incumbent)

State representative completing her first term. Her focus in office, per azcentral, is housing: she touts an award from the League of Arizona Cities and Towns for an affordable housing bill she introduced, which, like most Democratic bills in a Republican chamber, did not receive a hearing.

Record: her nearest success was a consumer bill to force online companies to make canceling a subscription easier. It passed the House unanimously and stalled in the Senate. In the fall debate coverage, she described working with the League of Arizona Cities and Towns to stop what she called a bad starter home bill that would have cut amenities such as back patios and carports, and she says housing progress will take "a million little things," including missing middle housing such as duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes in Tempe. She calls herself, in that coverage, "a warrior for housing."

Money: in filings for the period ending June 30, 2026, reported by Tempe News: raised $35,485, spent $9,928, $37,945 on hand, the strongest cash position in this House race at that date.

Controversies: none found.

Brian Garcia (Democrat, incumbent)

State representative completing his first term. He was the first in his family to graduate from high school, college, and law school, per azcentral. Before the Legislature he served as president and vice president of the Tempe Union High School District governing board. He ran as a Clean Elections participating candidate in the primary reporting retrieved.

Record: Tempe News reports he has focused the bulk of his legislative output on election administration, sponsoring bills on poll workers, election communications, polling place selection, and ballot curing, and that none of his bills has reached Gov. Hobbs's desk. He also sought more oversight of the Empowerment Scholarship Account program, the state voucher program whose cost reporting now puts near $1 billion a year. His stated focus, per azcentral: housing policies, public education, and affordable health care.

Money: in filings for the period ending June 30, 2026, reported by Tempe News: $23,729 in donations, $11,080 in expenses, $15,151 remaining, consistent with a Clean Elections campaign.

Controversies: see the pepper spray coverage note in Sen. Kuby's entry; Garcia is the other lawmaker named in that azcentral coverage. No other controversy found.

Donald Hawker (Republican)

Republican nominee who ran unopposed in the July primary. Tempe News reports he has run for the Legislature at least three times in Tempe area districts and never won.
  • Stated priorities: azcentral reports he says he will promote school choice and economic development. Tempe News adds that his platform does not center conservative policy proposals so much as criticism of Democrats, who hold a registered voter edge of nearly 9 points over Republicans in the district registration for the House race context he cites.
  • His words, attributed: Tempe News quotes his blog and his Clean Elections Voter Guide candidate profile as calling Democrats Marxists, in language this page will not paraphrase into something milder or stronger than what he wrote; readers can find the quote in the Tempe News debate preview linked in the sources.
  • Money: in the June 30, 2026 filings reported by Tempe News, Hawker reported collecting nothing and spending nothing, with nothing on hand entering the fall campaign.
  • Controversies: none found beyond reaction to his own published rhetoric, above.

Verification notes

  • Loughrige's ballot status took the most checking on this page. The Secretary of State's primary list shows him as a Republican official write-in for Senate District 8; primary results show him winning that primary with 572 write-in votes; Tempe News says he received enough votes to qualify for the General Election; and the 2026 General Election Guide lists him as the District 8 Republican Senate candidate. One State Affairs summary still calls him a "Republican write-in candidate" for the general, which appears to describe how he got there. This page treats him as a qualified general election candidate and flags the wording conflict rather than hiding it.
  • Key vote depth is this page's known shortfall. No individual roll call votes are printed for Kuby, Connolly, or Garcia, because no name level source for a specific vote was retrieved that this page could stand behind. Connolly's subscription bill passing the House unanimously is chamber reporting from azcentral, not a reconstructed individual vote sheet, and other party line votes were deliberately not assumed.
  • Money is dated where it exists: March 2026 compiled finance tables for Kuby, and June 30, 2026 filings as reported by Tempe News for Kuby, Connolly, Garcia, and Hawker. No finance figures were located for Loughrige.
  • District descriptions differ slightly by source: azcentral's primary guide says the district covers most of Tempe south of the Superstition Freeway, while the Senate election summary describes northern Tempe with small parts of Mesa, Scottsdale, and Phoenix. The meta paragraph combines both and names the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which both traditions include.
  • The pepper spray episode is included only as an azcentral coverage headline naming Kuby and Garcia, because the full text was not retrieved. No detail beyond that attribution is claimed.

How to vote without getting your ballot rejected

  • Mail it by Tuesday, October 27, 2026. After that day, do not mail it: use a drop box or a vote center instead.
  • It must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3. Postmarks do not count.
  • Sign and date the affidavit envelope, and write a current phone number on it.
  • For write-ins: only votes for officially filed write-in candidates are counted. In the Senate race, Bill Loughrige qualified for the general election after winning his primary as a write-in; check your ballot for his printed line before writing any name in.
  • Leaving any item blank is allowed. It does not affect the rest of your ballot.

Sources

Ballot Math: analysis only, no endorsements. Same template as every race on this site: offices and record, key votes, money with dates, stated priorities, controversies with responses, and gaps admitted in the open.