Best Democrat 2024 | Mark Kelly | Megalopolitan Life | Phoenix
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Best Democrat

Mark Kelly

Kelly is not the bluest of Democrats, but the U.S. Senator deserves credit for helping to turn Arizona into a purple-verging-on-blue state. The former astronaut and Navy pilot won election to the Senate twice since 2020, becoming the first Democrat to win multiple Senate elections in the state since Dennis DeConcini in 1988. Since taking office, Kelly has reliably voted with his party but hasn't been afraid to buck it from time to time. Kelly routinely cuts through the dogmatic clutter surrounding Arizona's border issues to approach things in a common-sense way, winning the respect of many hardline Republicans in the southern part of the state. And there are no better advocates for ending gun violence than Kelly and his wife, former Congresswoman and shooting survivor Gabrielle Giffords. Other Democrats deserve more credit for pushing Arizona into more progressive territory. But Kelly has done as much as anyone to convince Arizona's independents and moderate Republicans to vote Democrat, which is why he was seriously considered to be Kamala Harris' running mate this year.

Best Mic Drop

Paul Penzone

It's hard not to like Paul Penzone. The sensible Democrat would likely have coasted to a third term as Maricopa County sheriff in November had he opted to run. Instead, worn down by court oversight and six years of cleaning up the mess left for him by former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Penzone resigned in January just a year shy of finishing his second term. It's refreshing to see an elected official give up power without the threat of indictment. Penzone's tenure wasn't perfect, but he dismantled Arpaio's Tent City, worked to repair the agency's reputation among the communities it persecuted and racially profiled for decades, and tried to combat a staffing shortage while also facing the increasing use of fentanyl and other drugs in the jails he oversaw. Along the way, he sometimes got sideways with the federal judge overseeing the racial profiling court case left behind by Arpaio. That's what ultimately led the mild-mannered sheriff to call a press conference and quit with this zinger: "I'll be damned if I'll do three terms under federal court oversight for a debt I never incurred and not be given the chance to serve this community in the manner that I could if you take the other hand from being tied around my back."

Best Day Drinkers

Republicans in the Arizona State Legislature

Facing political fallout from an abortion ban they orchestrated, a yawning state budget deficit and myriad other problems at the Arizona Capitol, what did House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen — the two most powerful men in the legislature — do? They went on a bourbon junket with lobbyists to Kentucky. Better still, they followed that boozy vacay in April with a second one in June, trading bourbon for the fine wine of the Valley — Napa Valley, that is. Besides the optics of boozing it up with lobbyists away from home, the duo also skirted state law, which bans lobbyists from donating to lawmakers during the legislative session. Instead, the cash went to the leadership PACs of the two men. Shady but legal. The April "experience" included a private steakhouse dinner with the dudes in Louisville paired with a tour along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Cheers!

Best Anger Issues

Leezah Sun

When the best you can do is muster just one year in the Arizona House — a place where corrupt lawmakers have long found solace — you know the bad behavior has reached epic levels. Meet Leezah Sun, a Democrat who resigned her seat in January 2024 as she faced likely expulsion. Her bad behavior included threatening to throw a lobbyist from a balcony, interfering in the court-ordered transfer of children in a custodial matter and threatening to initiate a state investigation into a school district over a dispute involving a political ally. After quitting, did Sun pull back from the public spotlight, attend anger management classes and get in touch with her inner namaste? Hardly. She launched an effort to unseat an incumbent and win a seat in the state Senate and was accused of campaign shenanigans. Voters soundly rejected her in the July primary. So of course she's running for the Tolleson Union High School District Governing Board in November. This mean girl just can't quit Arizona politics.

Best Shot-Blocker

Katie Hobbs

Last year, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs set the state's single-year record for vetoes by shooting down 143 bills. She wasn't as prolific in 2024 — "only" 73 vetoes — but that was more than enough to claim the title of Arizona's preeminent legislative shot-blocker. Hobbs has now vetoed 216 bills in less than two years in office. That far outpaces the previous record-holder: fellow Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, who rejected 181 bills over six years. Among the mostly Republican-backed bills Hobbs vetoed this year were laws attacking trans people, making it easier to kill migrants, making it more difficult to protest and allowing the Ten Commandments to be posted in public schools. Republicans didn't have the votes to override any of her vetoes, but they're trying to evade Hobbs' veto pen by sending several nixed measures — including a broad law making illegal border crossings a state crime — directly to the November ballot for voters to decide.

Best Autograph Collection

Arizona Abortion Access Act Ballot Initiative

Have people ever been so eager to stop and sign a petition? The numbers would suggest no. The grassroots effort to enshrine a right to abortion in the state constitution began in earnest after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and picked up steam this year when the state Supreme Court upheld an 1864 near-total ban on abortion. That law has thankfully since been repealed, but it didn't blunt the momentum of Arizona Abortion Access for All, the group behind the initiative. When the organization filed its signatures with the Arizona Secretary of State on July 3, it turned in more than 800,000 — a ballot initiative record and more than twice the number required by law. That secured the proposed amendment a place on the November ballot. The next step will be up to voters.

Best Activists

ASU Gaza Encampment

A tiny group of people seemed to be the only ones this year with enough guts to make noise about uncomfortable truths, protesting the civilian atrocities of Israel's brutal assault on the people of Palestine to a largely apathetic, detached and complicit Arizona public. Of the 250 or so protesters who formed an encampment on ASU's lawn outside Old Main, 72 protesters were arrested on April 26 and 27. At some point during the protest, they came to know that their peaceful but unlawful trespassing on ASU property (a state-funded institution) would not be tolerated. An odd and vicious response by ASU police resulted in chief of police Michael Thompson getting the boot as he immediately went on leave and later resigned. The hammer was laid down: Kids got kicked out of the dorms immediately and were suspended, most of them until August. Their protests challenged the American concept of free speech in contemporary times and highlighted the hypocrisy of the government's response to speech it does not like. The students and other community members involved — who risked their own arrest and livelihood to some extent — were compelled by an understanding of history and colonial cruelty to speak up.

Best Failed Girl Boss Sellout

Kyrsten Sinema

What started with a historic 2018 election to the U.S. Senate for an Arizona Democrat ended in opulent ignominy. In her single term, Kyrsten Sinema tried to craft an image as a hard-nosed centrist, unafraid to buck her party like John McCain. But Sinema worked herself into a corner with a series of stubborn, questionable moves, making her look like a sociopath and evaporating support from just about anyone who voted for her. Sinema earned "Best Dumbass Political Move" in 2021 for doing a cute curtsy while voting against an increase in the minimum wage and hurting working people. She raked in millions from Wall Street, then helped Republicans kill corporate taxes. She used taxpayer dollars and campaign funds to take private jets, stay in expensive boutique hotels and buy outrageously priced wine. After all this, she had no electoral support and announced she would not seek reelection. We can only assume that upon leaving the Senate in January, Sinema will be awaited by a cushy job on Wall Street where she can live the rest of her lonely, sad life in extreme luxury with very nice material goods. Bye now, Senator Sinema. We hardly knew ye.

Best Political Fail

Jevin Hodge

After being active in Phoenix politics for over a decade, it seemed like it was finally time for young Democrat Jevin Hodge to catch a break. Hodge narrowly lost the general election for a seat on the powerful Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in 2020 by a mere 403 votes — about 0.1%. He turned around and ran against embattled GOP Rep. David Schweikert in 2022 for a seat in U.S. Congress representing Scottsdale, but lost in another close call by fewer than 3,200 votes. Then, after state Rep. Athena Salman resigned in January 2024, Tempe Democrats appointed Hodge to fill her seat for the remainder of the session. But only 46 days into taking office, Hodge resigned after allegations of sexual abuse during his college days at George Washington University surfaced. Though he denied the allegations, Hodge was toast. It's hard to imagine a bigger fail than the parable of Jevin Hodge.

Best Resignation

Roger Smith

Activists and victims of police brutality in Phoenix have been trying to bring oversight to the city's notorious force for years. The Office of Accountability and Transparency, created by Phoenix City Council in 2021, was supposed to be a tool to do that. But over time, the office was weakened and couldn't even conduct its own investigations. Roger Smith was the first director of the agency. After the city manager's sketchy, panicked, last-minute effort to stop Smith from hiring a second-in-command with extensive legal experience on policing issues, city officials formally criticized his behavior in a performance improvement plan despite giving him top marks in an annual review three months earlier. Smith resigned in defiance. In a letter, he said the agency he led "does not have the independence required to effectively perform its responsibilities." As Phoenix started up its fight against possible independent oversight in anticipation of a damning report from the U.S. Department of Justice, Smith's resignation highlighted the city's lie that the watchdog agency provides "robust, independent, civilian review of the PPD."

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