LD 19 Musical Chairs

As it gets closer to election season, we'll be doing more of a legislative breakdown of the races, and what to expect. However, there is a bit of breaking news from over the Thanksgiving weekend that we felt was important to share.

LD 19 Senator Chuck Gray has announced that he will not seek another term in the Arizona State Senate. Following Gray's announcement, Representative Rich Crandall announced that he is exploring a run for the now open seat. This leaves an open seat in the house for LD 19, the other of which is currently filled by Speaker of the House Kirk Adams.

Chuck Gray moved from the House to the Senate in 2006 when Senator Marilyn Jarrett passed away. Gray won his 2008 Senate bid unopposed and was still eligible to serve another term under term limits. Those of you may also recall that Gray was one of the few opponents to the Gaylord project earlier this year. He is also been on the Senate leadership team this year that was in the middle of a lot of the budget controversy. He says that he will return to politics, it will be interesting to see what he pursues.

There is a lot of speculation on who will run for the open House seat and if anyone is going to step forward and challenge Crandall. Two names that have come up several times are former City Councilmember Rex Griswold and the owner of Sonoran Alliance who appears to be considering.