The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast
Helping you keep up with what matters in Arizona's political news. Each week we interview politicians, public figures or journalists to break down one local issue and how it affects your life in Arizona. Coming to you every Wednesday morning, The Gaggle is hosted by The Arizona Republic's national political reporter Ron Hansen and produced by Amanda Luberto.
Episodes
October 1, 2025 • 19 mins
A key hang up causing the government shutdown involves a pandemic-era provision for Americans impacting health insurance and medical bills.
Currently, about 300,000 Arizonans earn too much to receive Medicaid help, but don't have affordable insurance options through work. This group has qualified for subsidies that cut their insurance costs from the Affordable Care Act insurers since 2021.
This relief stops at the end of the year...
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September 24, 2025 • 31 mins
On September 23, Congressional District 7 elected Democrat Adelita Grijalva to Congress and the narrow Republican majority in the United States House of Representatives is about to be slightly thinner.
Adelita's win serves as no surprise in Arizona, but it still matters on the national scale. With her win, the GOP edge over Democrats will effectively shrink to two votes separating any measure from passing the House.
Her role coul...
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September 17, 2025 • 34 mins
A vigil was held at Arizona State University for Charlie Kirk, conservative influencer and founder of Turning Point USA, after his assassination on September 10th.
His career was kickstarted and his identity as a fierce debater was solidified on the ASU campus, and his message resonated with many young people.
Charlie Kirk is not the only news personality connecting with a younger generation. According to research by the nonpart...
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September 10, 2025 • 36 mins
It's nine months into 2025 and there may have been some Arizona politics stories you bookmarked for later but haven't just yet read them. There's a lot to keep up with, and The Gaggle gets that.
This week on The Gaggle, we run through the top stories in Arizona politics so far this year and discuss their long-term impact on Arizona.
Plus, a farewell to Mary Jo Pitzl, an icon of Arizona news!
Email us! thegaggle@arizonarepublic....
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September 3, 2025 • 20 mins
Arizona has been a reliable and long-standing national leader in job growth. But so far this year, the state has taken a big step backwards.
Through the first seven months, Arizona has ranked 46th in bringing in new jobs. Despite the steep drop, it doesn't indicate yet that the state is spiraling toward a recession. But it does surprise economic experts and signal a bit of a slowdown.
This week on The Gaggle, we're joined by The ...
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August 27, 2025 • 24 mins
There’s a conservative wave washing over some local governments in the Valley’s suburbs.
Some point to Donald Trump’s aggressive efforts to erase DEI policies in city businesses. Others contend it’s a natural swing of the pendulum to correct governing bodies that they say have leaned too far left.
This week on The Gaggle, we are joined by an associate professor of public policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government...
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August 20, 2025 • 28 mins
It's been three years since the 2022 gubernatorial debate went from a discussion to a debacle and the Arizona Republic just received the public records.
The reports show behind-the-scenes deliberations involving ASU President Michael Crow and some of his top aides over how to handle known election denier Kari Lake.
Since reporting has come out, ASU, Kari Lake and even Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen have commented on th...
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August 13, 2025 • 19 mins
Anxieties you might assume are from a liberal law professor against President Donald Trump and his administration are coming from an unexpected source: Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick.
Appointed by Republican Governor Doug Ducey and a described "rockstar of the right" Bolick is no lefty, but he can't help but worry about the way the President is disregarding court decisions.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast ...
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August 6, 2025 • 32 mins
Rep. Yassamin Ansari has spent her freshman year in Congress making national headlines.
She made national headlines for her travel to El Salvador where she tried, unsuccessfully, to meet with a man who was deported to that country as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort.
At the same time, she’s thinking about her political party – from who will run for president in 2028 to who is signing up new voters.
This w...
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July 30, 2025 • 19 mins
Alfredo Gutierrez, a nationally known migrants-rights activist and prominent politician, has died. At 79 years old, he succumbed to esophageal cancer on Tuesday, July 29.
Through his long service in the state, Gutierrez exhibited an activist's DNA despite his role inside the government. He sought social justice with his dual passions of civil rights and educational access, especially for immigrants.
This week on a special episode...
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July 23, 2025 • 30 mins
Arizona Democrats have held the spotlight this month with two very different votes.
One elected legacy politician Adelita Grijalva for the party's representation in the CD 7 race to fill her late father's seat in Congress.
The other was to oust their state party chair, Robert Branscomb II.
Arizona Democrats are riddled with political infighting after losing the presidential election in 2024, and soon the party will need to com...
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July 16, 2025 • 24 mins
While the rest of the U.S. Senate will go on its annual break in August, Arizona freshman Ruben Gallego is heading to Des Moines to meet with middle America to potentially gauge his chances in what is expected to be a crowded field of Democratic contenders.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Des Moines Register politics reporter Br...
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July 9, 2025 • 19 mins
President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law in a Fourth of July ceremony, making tax cuts he passed during his first term permanent.
It offsets those revenue losses to the government with steep cuts to services like the Medicaid program, requiring states to be responsible for funding food stamp programs and delivering tax cuts to the wealthiest taxpayers.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by Th...
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July 3, 2025 • 26 mins
When Hobbs was elected in 2022, she pledged to bring sanity over chaos. But the Democratic governor has tried to navigate working opposite a Republican-controlled Legislature over the last three years.
This year's session was no exception. Hobbs vetoed 174 bills this year, a new single-year record that surpasses her 143 vetoes in 2023.
But her vetoes aren't the full story, even if they are record-breaking. She also signed 265 bil...
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July 2, 2025 • 11 mins
On July 4th, 1776, 56 men signed a document declaring the newly formed 13 colonies as one United States of America. By this charter, they formed a new country, one free from Britain's rule.
The Declaration of Independence showcased the rights and beliefs of the new country. It was a written record of what America would stand for, and it was signed by the nation's founding fathers.
Today, to honor the country's sovereignty, the ga...
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June 25, 2025 • 14 mins
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl speak with Republic reporters Stacey Barchenger and Ray Stern to explore the politics of this unusual Arizona Legislature budget cycle.
Email us! thegaggle@arizonarepublic.com
Leave us a voicemail: 602-444-0804
Follow us on X, Instagram and Tik Tok.
Guests: ...
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June 18, 2025 • 15 mins
Early voting begins June 18 in the only federal race this year in Arizona. An election to fill the seat of the late U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva is underway in Arizona's Congressional District 7.
The race in southern Arizona has produced competitive primaries on both the Republican and Democratic sides, but most of the attention has been focused on three of the five Democrats seeking their party’s nod.
This week on The Gaggle, a weekl...
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June 11, 2025 • 30 mins
June 2025 marks a decade since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. The landmark 5-4 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges resolved a long-standing national debate and brought together a conflicting patchwork of state laws.
Eight months before the SCOTUS decision, the Republican-dominated state of Arizona legalized same sex marriages, though the road to get there was rocky.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by T...
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June 4, 2025 • 43 mins
Gov. Katie Hobbs announced in May that she would not submit any more agency director nominations to the state Senate for confirmation, blaming what she called the "circus" environment for vetting her nominees.
Hobbs has been battling the state Senate since she took office for her director nominees, who have gone through a rigorous and unprecedented vetting process.
State Sen. Jake Hoffman heads the Committee on Direction Nominat...
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May 28, 2025 • 29 mins
The state's Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes is focused on the Republicans who tried to help sidestep Arizona's certified election results.
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge recently ordered Mayes to take her evidence back to the grand jury to inform them of a key legal argument made by the electors. This ruling may — or may not — undercut Mayes' case enough to reconsider a matter she has framed as protecting democracy...
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