Explore the races, meet the candidates, and compare their priorities.
LD3 · 2-Year Term
Population
240,816
Registered Voters
181,749
District Lean
R+29.7
Voter Registration Breakdown
Debate recap
Legislative hopefuls spar over school vouchers, funding “It’s unfortunate that Rick thinks that those 104,000 students are a drain on the budget,” Republican candidate George Khalaf said.
Read the recap: LD3 debate recap (opens in a new tab)State Senate
Republican · Senate
Completed the Agenda's candidate questionnaire
John Kavanagh has held a legislative seat since 2007, alternating between the House and Senate across 10 terms, and became Senate majority leader in June 2025 while chairing the Appropriations Committee. He worked as a police detective sergeant and a college professor. He won his 2026 primary over Robert Wallace and ran unopposed in 2024. He defends the school voucher program, saying the Education Department caught improper purchases and made families repay. He’s also been a champion of “bathroom bills” that would ban students from using a restroom that doesn’t align with their gender at birth.
Prominent Endorsements
Democrat · Senate
Completed the Agenda's candidate questionnaire
Jeffrey Fortney is a special education teacher who has served on the Cave Creek Unified School District Governing Board since January 2021, winning re-election in 2024 as the race's top vote-getter. He ran unopposed in the 2026 Democratic primary. He supports keeping Empowerment Scholarship Accounts for special education students but would repeal universal eligibility, saying more than 1,000 students in his district use vouchers, most of whom never attended its schools.
Prominent Endorsements
State House
Republican · House
Completed the Agenda's candidate questionnaire
George Khalaf is a pollster and political consultant who founded the survey firm Data Orbital and previously served as political director of the Arizona Republican Party and director of the Arizona Right to Life Foundation. In a settlement agreement he admitted he "improperly caused" Mark Brnovich's U.S. Senate campaign not to timely pay nearly $500,000 in invoices; that campaign remains $463,173 in debt.
Prominent Endorsements
Republican · House
Completed the Agenda's candidate questionnaire
Cody Reim was appointed to the state House in March 2026 to replace Joseph Chaplik. He entered politics in 2023 over water service for Rio Verde Foothills, where he lives, and has aligned with the Freedom Caucus. In 2024 he lost a Cave Creek Unified School District board race, finishing fifth for three seats.
Prominent Endorsements
Democrat · House
Julie Gable is a management consulting firm founder and Arizona State University graduate who began as a coder, worked at Accenture and has run technology consulting firms. She sits on the boards of the Phoenix Zoo and the Arizona Humane Society. She supports the voucher program's original special education purpose but calls its growth a problem, and opposes Proposition 320's 60% classroom-spending mandate as arbitrary.
No Labels · House
John Skirbst is an account manager at CVS Health and the founder of Sport 2 Combat Racism who is on the LD3 ballot for a third straight cycle, each time under a different label. He drew 488 write-in votes as an independent in the 2022 House race, and as a Democratic write-in for the district's Senate seat in 2024 he got 219 votes, short of the 447 needed to advance. He describes himself as a fiscal conservative who leans liberal socially.
Democrat · House
Richard Spargo is a medical and pharmaceutical recruiter. He is active in the Sons of the American Revolution and has worked with the Secretary of State's Office on planning for the nation's 250th anniversary. He wants a moratorium on all data centers and said the state should go after voucher-program swindlers.