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No endorsement
The district
Legislative District 8 covers Tempe, North Mesa, and South Scottsdale. Its partisan baseline is Democratic +19.7 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 Lauren Kuby, a Democrat in her first term, who won in 2024 by 60.6% to 39.4% over Roxana Holzapfel. The House incumbents, Janeen Connolly and Brian Garcia, are both Democrats seeking re-election.
The Senate race
Lauren Kuby (D), incumbent. Kuby won the Democratic primary by defeating former Rep. Deborah Nardozzi, 12,981 to 3,928, and had raised $74,732 as of March 2026. Her best honest case: she won this seat outright in 2024 with more than 60% of the vote, she has now beaten a former representative in her own party's primary, and she asks a district that leans Democratic by nearly 20 points to return her for a second term.
Pros: A first-term incumbent with a decisive 2024 general-election margin and a decisive primary win this cycle; the best-funded candidate in this race. Cons: No Manchin-test break was located — no documented in-service fight against her own party toward our values. In the Senate, where the organizing vote is priced heaviest, a party-line record does not earn the exception. The flaw, plainly: Enabler class, not extremist — a reliable party-line vote, which is the standing reason the exception is not earned.
Bill Loughrige (R). Loughrige is the Republican nominee — as a write-in nominee, with 572 write-in votes, flagged here: he is described as a write-in nominee whose ballot status rests on the primary compilation, and we assert nothing beyond that flag. He is the only Republican on this Senate ballot.
Pros: The sole non-Democratic option in the race. Cons: His file is unverified at this sourcing depth — a write-in nomination on 572 votes, with no record located against which to test claims under endorsement diligence. The flaw, plainly: Insufficient record. A statement about verification, not a demerit against the candidate — and his ballot status itself rests on the compilation, as flagged.
The House race
Janeen Connolly (D), incumbent, was renominated with 9,015 primary votes, and Brian Garcia (D), incumbent, was renominated with 12,315 votes. The Republican nominee is Donald Hawker, with 6,883 votes — only one Republican nominee for the two seats.
The Democratic incumbents' best honest case is the incumbents' case in a D+19.7 district: both hold these seats, both were renominated, and House caucus math is lighter than Senate math — a stalled House is not a lost House. Hawker's best honest case is that he gives the district's Republican voters a named option for one of the two seats. Against all three: no Manchin-test break was located for either Democrat, and Hawker's record was not verified at this sourcing depth.
Pros: Connolly and Garcia — renominated incumbents in a district aligned with their party. Hawker — the only Republican nominee on the ballot. Cons: Connolly and Garcia — party-line Democrats, enabler class. Hawker — record insufficient to verify under endorsement diligence. The flaw, plainly: Enabler class, not extremist, for both Democratic incumbents; insufficient record for Hawker.
OUR CALL
Senate — No endorsement. Kuby is a party-line Democrat with no Manchin-test break located, in the chamber where that is priced heaviest. Loughrige is a flagged write-in nominee whose file is unverified; this publication does not endorse what it cannot verify. Neither earns the call.
House — No endorsement. Both Democratic incumbents are party-line nominees with no documented break toward our values, and the lone Republican nominee's record is unverified at this sourcing depth.
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
- Wikipedia, "2026 Arizona Senate election" and "2026 Arizona House of Representatives election" (compiling Arizona Secretary of State primary results, July 21, 2026, and SeeTheMoney campaign-finance reports as of March 2026) — rosters, primary vote totals, Kuby's 2024 margin, primary result and fundraising, Loughrige's flagged write-in nomination (572 votes), and the 2024 presidential baseline (Dave's Redistricting via Wikipedia)
- Record gaps: no verified biography or public-service record was located for Loughrige or Hawker at this sourcing depth; no detailed legislative voting records for the incumbents were examined, so the Manchin-test assessment rests on the compiled record; Loughrige's ballot status rests on the primary compilation and is flagged accordingly
- Standing check: no pedophile-association material meeting the proven standard was located for any candidate on this ballot
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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