We sketched out the dynamics of the races in LD17.

Abraham joins LD17 race: Democrat Morgan Abraham announced on Monday he plans to run for one of the state House seats in Legislative District 17. Abraham, a former state legislator, hopes to take one of the seats in the Tucson-area district from Reps. Cory McGarr or Rachel Jones, both first-term representatives and members of the Freedom Caucus. (July 11, 2023) (Tucson Agenda)

Ballot bind: Sen. Justine Wadsack may have broken the law last week when she tweeted a photo of a ballot she claims is hers, but that officials say can’t actually be hers, the Tucson Sentinel’s Dylan Smith writes. The ballot pictured in the photo tweeted by Wadsack includes a proposition she’s not eligible to vote on, since it’s in a different precinct, but Wadsack publicly doubled and tripled down on her claims that it’s hers. (November 3, 2023)

Bad company: Tucson-area state Sen. Justine Wadsack went on a show where the hosts deal in anti-semitic conspiracy theories, the Arizona Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy reports. During the show, Wadsack and Flagstaff Sen. Wendy Rogers continued to push the false claim that the 2020 and 2022 elections were “stolen” from Republicans. Wadsack also said immigrants were “replacing us,” a version of the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, and she defended her effort earlier this year to ban drag performances and let parents ban any book they decide isn’t fit for a school library. (November 9, 2023)

Battle royale: The race for southern Arizona’s LD17 race is heating up, with a leading social conservative pushing to end a former state senator’s bid to regain his seat, Capitol Media Services’ Fischer reports. Merissa Hamilton is pushing for state Sen. Justine Wadsack to be the Republican nominee this year and has called for former state Sen. Vince Leach to rescind his candidacy. Leach told Fischer he has no intention of dropping out of the race and has a better chance of winning the general election than Wadsack and can raise more money. (January 23)

No takers: Arizona Democrats can’t find anybody to run against state Sen. Justine Wadsack, a first-term Republican running for re-election in Legislative District 17, the Tucson Sentinel’s Jim Nintzel reports. Voters in the district, which wraps around the north side of Tucson from Marana to Vail, chose Democratic candidates in statewide elections in 2022. That makes it tantalizing to Democrats as a district they could win and shift the balance of power in the state Legislature. They haven’t found a candidate for the district’s senate seat, but Kevin Volk is running as a Democrat for one of the district’s House seats. (February 8)

Out and in: Republican candidate Beatrice Cory Stephens dropped out of the District 2 county supervisor race, then jumped back in, the Sentinel’s Nintzel reported. Stephens is trying to win the seat held by Supervisor Matt Heinz. She posted on social media on Monday that she didn’t see a way to win and planned to drop out. But after encouragement from state Sen. Justine Wadsack and state Rep. Cory McGarr, both Republicans from Legislative District 17, Stephens decided to get back in the race. (February 21)

Throwing his hat in the ring: Republican state Sen. Justine Wadsack could be facing a challenger in the state Senate race in LD17, after Democrat John McLean filed a statement of interest earlier this month, the Tucson Sentinel’s Jim Nintzel writes. McLean, an executive with a long career working for a high-tech defense contractor, has been active for years in Tucson’s dog rescue community. He previously served as CEO of Areté Associates and also worked for TRW Space and Defense group. (February 26)

Kevin Volk knocked on a thousand doors over the last few months, talking to people about what they want in a state legislator and making his case to get their vote. After wearing out a pair of shoes as he pounded the pavement, Volk turned in more than 2,000 signatures last week. It was enough to put him on the ballot as the Democratic candidate for one of the two state House seats in Legislative District 17. (April 5) (Tucson Agenda)

John McLean’s plan to win the state Senate seat in Legislative District 17 is straightforward: “Focus on the issues, as opposed to personalities.” He’s the only Democrat in the race, so the personalities he’s up against belong to incumbent Sen. Justine Wadsack, a Republican who built her reputation by embracing controversy, and former state Sen. Vince Leach, who lost to Wadsack in the 2022 Republican primary. (May 14) (Tucson Agenda)

All five Republican candidates in Legislative District 17 had the opportunity last week to persuade voters to choose them. But the only one who showed up was Vince Leach, the former state legislator who is trying to win back the Senate seat he lost to Sen. Justine Wadsack in the 2022 primary. So instead of a five-candidate debate for the Senate seat and two House seats, voters heard Leach’s positions on the budget deficit, immigration, water, and an array of other issues. (May 30) (Tucson Agenda)