BallotPedia Highlights: Arizona Primary Election Tue August 30,2016

State legislature: All 90 seats (30 in the Senate, 60 in the House) in the state legislature are up for election. Republicans currently hold the majority in both chambers.

• Eight incumbent senators—five Republicans and three Democrats—have declined to run for re-election.
• Only three incumbents will face primary competition: Frank Schmuck (R) is challenging the vulnerable Jeff Dial (R) in District 18; incumbent Catherine Miranda (D) will face challenger Maritza Saenz (D) in District 27; and Lydia Hernandez (D) will challenge incumbent Martin Quezada (D) in District 29 to a rematch (the two faced off in 2012).
• There are five other primary challenges set to occur, all in open districts.
• Seventeen incumbent representatives—seven Democrats and 10 Republicans—have declined to run for re-election.
• Sixteen incumbents will face primary challenges, though, because Arizona has two seats per district, some of these challenges effectively become competitions for seats left open by retiring incumbents. There will also be Republican primaries in two open districts: District 14 and District 28. District 14 was previously represented by Republicans David Gowen and David Stevens, while District 28 was represented by Democrat Eric Meyer and Republican Kate McGee.

For more information on competitiveness in state legislatures, click here.
 

State executives: Three seats are up for election on the Arizona Corporation Commission, the state's regulatory body for non-municipal utilities.

Elections for the commission are held at large, and the top three candidates in each party's primary advance to the general election, where the top three vote-getters win the seats.

All five seats on the commission are held by Republicans—and only two Democrats filed to run for the office, ensuring Republican majority control of the commission after the November election.

Five candidates will compete for the three Republican slots in the general election. Arizona is one of 23 Republican trifectas.

 

1. The regulation of the state's solar industry is a major issue in the election and has prompted acrimony between several of the commissioners.
Commissioners Andy Tobin (R), who was appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey (R) in January 2016, and Robert Burns (R) are running for re-election in 2016; the third seat is open. Tobin has merged campaigns with Republican challengers state Rep. Rick Gray and former Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Boyd Dunn in an attempt to block Burns’ re-election efforts. The three candidates are running as a team and airing joint advertisements.

At stake are major rate decisions on the commission's 2017 docket that could have an impact on solar regulatory cases across the nation.

Burns has repeatedly claimed that the state’s largest utility provider funded candidates unfriendly to solar interests in the 2014 elections, a claim the FBI is investigating.
Burns himself is supported by national solar giant SolarCity, which has begun airing advertisements and running phone campaigns on his behalf.