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No endorsement

The district

Legislative District 7 covers Flagstaff and the White Mountains. Its partisan baseline is Republican +29.9 in the 2024 presidential vote. Three seats are at stake: one state Senate seat and two state House seats on a vote-for-two ballot.

The Senate incumbent is Wendy Rogers, a Republican in her third term, who won re-election in 2024 by 65.0% to 35.0% over Haley Creighton. In the House, Walt Blackman is an incumbent seeking re-election; Sylvia Allen, listed as retiring, does not appear among the primary winners.

The Senate race

Wendy Rogers (R), incumbent. Rogers is a three-term senator. She was unopposed in the Republican primary with 30,032 votes and had raised $438,804 as of March 2026 — by far the largest fundraising figure in this district's races. Her 2024 margin, 65.0%–35.0%, shows a district that has repeatedly returned her by wide margins.

One record fact must be printed plainly, because it is proven in-service conduct, not an accusation: on March 1, 2022, the Arizona Senate censured Rogers by a vote of 24–3 — 13 Democrats and 11 Republicans — after she addressed the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) and, in the censure motion's words, engaged in "conduct unbecoming of a senator," including messages "encouraging violence against and punishment of American citizens" and statements declaring "political destruction" of those who disagree with her. Reporting at the time recorded that in her AFPAC address she spoke of using a "newly built set of gallows" against political opponents she called traitors. We price this for exactly what it is: a bipartisan censure by her own chamber for her own documented conduct in office. It is a proven flaw, and it is why the call below is a lean and not an endorsement.

Pros: A three-term incumbent with repeated wide general-election margins and the strongest fundraising in the district. Cons: The March 1, 2022 Senate censure (24–3) for conduct unbecoming of a senator, following her AFPAC address — proven, bipartisan, and on the record. The flaw, plainly: The censure is proven in-service conduct and is priced openly. It is the reason there is no endorsement in this race from us.

Mike Montiel (D). Montiel is a veteran and a community organizer. He was unopposed in the Democratic primary with 14,211 votes. His best honest case: military service and community organizing are real public-service credentials, and he offers voters who cannot accept the incumbent's censured conduct a clean alternative with a service record of his own.

Pros: A veteran and community organizer; an unblemished alternative on the question of conduct. Cons: A party-line Democrat with no Manchin-test break located, in an R+29.9 district, running for the chamber where a Democrat's organizing vote is priced heaviest. The flaw, plainly: Enabler class, not extremist.

The House race

Walt Blackman (R), incumbent, led the Republican primary with 19,404 votes (35.03%). The second Republican nominee is David Cook Sr., with 14,972 votes (27.03%). Cook is not a newcomer: he previously served in the Arizona House of Representatives from January 9, 2017 to January 13, 2025 — eight years of House service, verified for this piece — before leaving the chamber. He is a rancher who founded the DC Cattle Company with his wife in 2000 and previously worked for the Arizona Department of Corrections for 12 years.

The Democratic nominee is Samuel Martin, with 14,308 primary votes — only one Democratic nominee for the two seats. A Green candidate, Richard Grayson, appears as a write-in with 1 vote — flagged: his ballot status is unverified, and we assert nothing beyond the flag.

Pros: Blackman — the renominated incumbent. Cook — eight years of prior House service; a returning legislator, not an unproven one. Martin — gives the district a Democratic option for one seat. Cons: Martin — a party-line Democrat, no Manchin-test break located; House caucus math is lighter than Senate math but does not carry the call here. The flaw, plainly: None proven was located for Blackman or Cook in the compiled record; for Martin, enabler class, not extremist.

OUR CALL

Senate — No endorsement, LEAN Rogers. This is the hardest call in this district and we make it with the flaw on the table: Rogers was censured 24–3 by her own Senate for documented conduct in office, and that proven flaw costs her our endorsement. The lean is direction only. The alternative is a party-line Democrat in an R+29.9 district, in the chamber where the organizing vote compounds through confirmations and the courts — and no Manchin-test break was located to earn the exception. Proven conduct we deplore, priced openly, against a caucus vote we cannot support: the lean goes to Rogers, the endorsement goes to no one.

House — We endorse Walt Blackman and David Cook. Blackman is the renominated incumbent. Cook is endorsed on a verified record — eight years of prior House service (2017–2025), not as an unproven newcomer. The lone Democratic nominee does not pass the Manchin test, and the flagged Green write-in's status is unverified.

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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