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Endorses Finchem

The district

Legislative District 1 covers Prescott and Yavapai County. Its partisan baseline is Republican +33.2 in the 2024 presidential vote — one of the most Republican districts in the state. Three seats are at stake: one state Senate seat and two state House seats, with voters choosing two House members on a vote-for-two ballot.

All three Republican incumbents are seeking re-election. The Senate incumbent is Mark Finchem. The House incumbents are Selina Bliss and Quang Nguyen. Democrats field one Senate nominee and only one House nominee for the two House seats, so at most one House seat can change party on this ballot.

The Senate race

Mark Finchem (R), incumbent. Finchem has served in the state Senate since 2025 and previously served as a state representative. In 2022 he was the Republican nominee for Secretary of State and lost the general election. His positions on the 2020 election are a matter of public record and are printed here as documented fact. Under this publication's standing rule, 2020-election-objection positions are reported as fact and are never priced as a flaw and never treated as disqualifying — the call below does not rest on them, in either direction.

Pros: An incumbent with prior service in both chambers of the Legislature, running in a district that votes heavily Republican and whose voters have returned him to office. Cons: No proven in-service flaw meeting this publication's standard was located in the record compiled for this piece at this sourcing depth. The flaw, plainly: None proven was located in the compiled record.

Christine Dargon (D). Dargon is the Democratic nominee. She re-announced her campaign "following controversy with Democrats in the Verde Valley," as reported by The Verde Independent on January 27, 2026. Her best honest case is straightforward: she offers LD1 voters who disagree with the incumbent a Democratic alternative and a check on one-party representation in the district.

Pros: A willing challenger giving the district's Democratic and independent voters a choice on the ballot. Cons: She runs as a party-line Democrat in an R+33.2 district, with no documented break with her party toward this publication's values — no Manchin-test break was located. Her organizing vote would add to a Democratic caucus whose program this publication opposes. The flaw, plainly: Enabler class, not extremist — a reliable party-line vote, which is the standing reason the exception for a Democrat is not earned here.

There is no 2024 Senate comparable printed for this seat in the compiled record — the seat was realigned in the 2024 cycle — and we do not invent one.

The House race

Selina Bliss (R), incumbent, and Quang Nguyen (R), incumbent, were both renominated. In the Republican primary, Bliss received 33,391 votes (42.43%) and Nguyen received 33,231 votes (42.23%); Shawn Dell Wildman, with 12,074 votes, was eliminated.

Pros (both): Sitting incumbents renominated by wide margins, representing a district aligned with their party's program. Cons (both): No proven in-service flaw meeting this publication's standard was located in the compiled record. The flaw, plainly: None proven was located in the compiled record for either incumbent.

Sandy Zalecki (D) is the sole Democratic nominee, unopposed in the Democratic primary with 17,459 votes. Her best honest case mirrors the Senate challenger's: representation for voters who want a Democratic voice from Yavapai County. Because Democrats fielded only one nominee for two seats, the second seat cannot flip on this ballot regardless of the outcome.

Pros: Gives the district a Democratic option for one of the two seats. Cons: A party-line Democrat with no Manchin-test break located; caucus math is lighter in the House than in the Senate, but it does not overcome an incumbent pairing with no proven flaw located. The flaw, plainly: Enabler class, not extremist.

OUR CALL

Senate — We endorse Mark Finchem. The reasoning rests on the district and the party programs, not on any pricing of 2020-election positions, which this publication reports as fact only. Finchem is the Republican incumbent in an R+33.2 district; his challenger is a party-line Democrat with no documented break toward our values. Under our criteria, that ends the inquiry.

House — We endorse Selina Bliss and Quang Nguyen for the two seats. Both are renominated incumbents with no proven flaw located in the compiled record, and the lone Democratic nominee does not pass the Manchin test.

For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.

Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Sources

Election result — November 4, 2026

Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

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