On Jan. 20, we finally closed the door on the 2024 election by inaugurating President Trump and witnessing an unprecedented flurry of first-day executive orders.
One day later, on Jan. 21, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs filed his statement of interest to run for Arizona governor — an election to be held on Nov. 3, 2026.
Hours after Biggs’ announcement, former state legislator Travis Grantham declared his intent to run for Biggs’ congressional seat.
And on Jan. 24, Data Orbital released a poll pitting Biggs against his presumed 2026 Republican primary opponents, Treasurer Kimberly Yee and attorney Karrin Taylor Robson.
Lord have mercy.
Politicians are already campaigning for 2026
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs speaks during a news conference in New York City on May 16, 2024.
There are more than 640 days until the next general election. We Arizonans are trapped in a perpetual political campaign.
And with political campaigns come those sure-to-please-everyone fundraising calls and political advertisements.
Perennial candidate Rodney Glassman, running for attorney general in 2026, recently announced that he has already raised more than $200,000 (from donors who, remarkably, continue to contribute despite Glassman’s losses in 2018, 2020, and 2022).
Biggs spent the weekend delivering a stump speech for his new campaign. A pro-Robson group has already bought online and mobile truck advertisements to let Arizonans know that President Trump supports Robson.
This is too much. And we’re all feeling the effects.
No wonder voters are tired. It doesn’t end
Shortly after the 2022 election, 97% of Bostonians said “they’re tired of the long election cycles.”
During the 2024 campaign, two-thirds of Americans reported being “exhausted” with politics. More than half said that they were “angry” with the never-ending politics and that long campaigns had become a source of stress.
Things are especially bad in Arizona, where political spending is through the roof, owing to our competitive races. According to University of Arizona Political Science Professor Samara Klar, Arizonans are “sick of it.”
But don’t blame Biggs, Robson, or Glassman. They are playing by the rules of the game.
It is, however, time to rethink those rules.
Long ballots are adding to the fatigue
One of the fatiguing features of Arizona politics is that we seem to elect “everything, everywhere, all at once.”
For the last few general elections, voters in Maricopa County have had an average of more than 75 items on the ballot. City races, county races, judicial retention elections, initiatives, state legislators, federal legislators — the list goes on.
All of these races demand money from Arizonans. My own race for reelection as Maricopa County recorder added up to more than $2 million in spending across the four candidates.
Opinion: I oversaw close elections. We must limit early ballots
And each race requires your attention.
Did you do research for your presidential vote? Almost certainly. What about Congress? Probably.
All of the propositions? Probably not. Judges? Almost certainly not.
What if we extended lawmakers’ terms?
Studies confirm your attention is not endless (duh). The longer the ballot, the less likely you are to complete it. And the more decisions, the worse your ability to process all the options.
So, let’s get rid of some races.
We currently elect our state legislators every two years — both the representatives and the senators. That means they are always telling you “this is the most important election of our lifetime,” and they are always fundraising.
Maybe we could elect them every four years instead of every two years. This would spare us some campaigns, some fundraising dollars, and it would also provide the legislative body more stability and predictability.
State Sen. John Kavanagh wrote about such an idea in 2015. It should be revisited.
Should these Arizona offices really be elected?
Do we really need an elected recorder? Treasurer? Assessor? Sheriff? Mine inspector?
From what I saw in my four years as recorder, these offices need a competent and honest manager, not a politician. That person can be appointed.
What about judicial retention elections?
In the November 2024 election, Proposition 137 aimed to end these elections. That failed massively (77% voted no). But it was worded in a way that made some voters think it was more about the politics of the moment, rather than the underlying idea.
Finally, does anyone think it’s a good idea to flood our voters with more than 10 initiatives and propositions?
In November 2024, Arizonans had to read and study lengthy measures on everything from ranked choice voting to criminal sentencing mandates to compensation for first responders. Can we put a limit on these?
We can set limits on signs, fundraising
Unfortunately, most of these changes would require amending Arizona’s constitution. That’s not an easy thing, but it still should be considered.
On the fundraising and political spending front, most limitations are barred by the First Amendment (and that’s a good thing!) But some limitations are allowed.
In Georgia and Nevada, state legislators and other officers can’t seek campaign contributions while in legislative session. We could do that and potentially postpone the full fundraising blitz.
We can also place tighter limitations on some forms of spending.
For example, the political street signs that remind us about politics every time we go to the grocery store — we can put tighter limitations on the size and durations of those signs.
Above all, let’s keep odd years election-free
Perhaps most importantly, we should do what we can to keep our odd years election-free.
This means going back to the drawing board on how to get Tucson to move its major elections onto the same calendar as everyone else. Political street signs in Tucson must seem like a permanent feature of the landscape.
The above is by no means an exhaustive list, but I hope these ideas open a conversation about how we can get Arizona out of the morass of perpetual politics.
In the meantime, welcome to the 2026 election!
Stephen Richer is a former Maricopa County recorder and is now a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Follow him on X, formerly, Twitter, @stephen_richer.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona voters are sick of elections. Let’s pare them back | Opinion
