Legislative Elections
The District DeskLegislative District 4
Debate availableLD4 · 2-Year Term
Population
246,417
Registered Voters
170,825
District Lean
R+13.5
Voter Registration Breakdown
General Election Debate
Legislative District 4 General Election Debate
State Senate
Carine Werner
Republican · Senate
Carine Werner, who co-owns a real estate consulting firm, won her Senate seat in 2024 by unseating Democratic incumbent Christine Marsh in the swing district. She also sits on the Scottsdale Unified governing board and chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, focusing on oversight of the state's Medicaid behavioral health and child protection systems.
Prominent Endorsements
Aaron Lieberman
Democrat · Senate
Aaron Lieberman founded Jumpstart, a nonprofit pairing college students with preschoolers, and Acelero Learning, which ran Head Start programs; he now runs an electric-vehicle charging company. Voters elected him to the House in 2018 and 2020, and he resigned in 2021 to run for governor, finishing with 5% in the Democratic primary after effectively withdrawing. He has called that run "spectacularly unsuccessful."
State House
Matt Gress
Republican · House
Matt Gress was Gov. Doug Ducey's budget director before winning a House seat in 2022. He is a registered lobbyist in four other states for Americans for Fair Treatment, an anti-union nonprofit whose agenda his bills track; this year he pushed measures barring school districts from deducting union dues and teachers from work stoppages. In 2024 he joined Democrats to force a vote repealing the 1864 abortion ban, and Republicans removed him from the Appropriations Committee as a punishment.
Prominent Endorsements
Pamela Carter
Republican · House
Pamela Carter, a former Scottsdale gym and sports-medicine business owner, worked on President Donald Trump's 2020 Arizona campaign and lost a 2022 Scottsdale City Council bid. She won her House seat in 2024 by edging out Democrat Kelli Butler. Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed five of her bills, including one making it manslaughter to encourage a minor's suicide. The gym filed for bankruptcy in 1982 and she filed personally in 2009. Her sister, actress Lynda Carter, declined to endorse her.
Prominent Endorsements
Tammy Caputi
Democrat · House
Completed the Agenda's candidate questionnaire
Tammy Caputi owns a lighting and electrical supply company. She lost a 2016 House race, won an at-large Scottsdale City Council seat in 2020 and lost reelection in 2024. A development-friendly council member, she voted as a lame duck to approve Axon's corporate campus and its 1,900 apartments, which prompted the Legislature to pass a bill blocking a citizen referendum. She says she has spent her career "making payroll," not making promises.
Prominent Endorsements
Karen Gresham
Democrat · House
Completed the Agenda's candidate questionnaire
Karen Gresham, a retired CPA, has sat on the Madison Elementary School District Governing Board since 2021 and is its president. She outpolled Matt Gress in the 2020 school board race, in which he lost his seat, then finished last in the 2024 House race. She campaigns on fully funding K-12 schools, early literacy and teacher pay.
Prominent Endorsements