An attorney with America First Legal (AFL), the nonprofit created by President Donald Trump’s policy chief Stephen Miller, is running for a seat in the Arizona House.
AFL senior counsel James Rogers is gunning to represent LD10. For the past five years he has been in court challenging faulty election processes and other red-meat Republican issues. With that history heavily promoted, Rogers campaigns as one with the potential to be the foremost election integrity expert in the legislature.
Rogers’ platform also focuses on what he calls “straightforward” conservative issues: affordability to encourage family growth, election integrity, purging gender ideology from schools, protecting the unborn, stopping illegal immigration, and defending gun ownership rights.
Since Republican State Rep. Ralph Heap won’t be returning to represent LD10 — he’s running for the Arizona Corporation Commission — Rogers and State Rep. Justin Olson are running together as a slate.
There’s a third Republican candidate in the mix: Ciara Anderson, who moved to Arizona in 2021 from Washington state. Anderson has served as a Republican precinct committeeman and LD10 executive board member, and founded a mothers-focused coalition through Turning Point Action.
Two are running on the Democratic side: Brian Calaway and Helen Hunter. The No Labels party has one candidate: David Scott.
Rogers, a sixth-generation Arizonan, takes credit for drafting key Republican-led legislation like Proposition 314, the Secure the Border Act approved by voters in the 2024 election. The law criminalized illegal migration into the state and gave the state authority to act on immigration matters: state and local law enforcement may arrest illegal aliens, and state judges may order deportations.
A similar law in Texas, Senate Bill 4, has been challenged in federal court and would determine the fate of Arizona’s law. So far, Texas’s law has withstood legal challenges.
Rogers was senior litigation counsel at the solicitor general’s office for former Attorney General Mark Brnovich during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 to 2022. In that time, Rogers led on lawsuits against former President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates and border policies.
Prior to serving under Brnovich, Rogers was a foreign service officer with the State Department from 2015 to 2021. According to his April 2025 testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Oversight and Intelligence, Rogers endured retaliation for whistleblowing.
Rogers alleged that State Department leadership ignored Trump on policy to more thoroughly vet visa applicants during his first term, but that he complied and was punished for it through a denial of tenure. Rogers also reported that his rate of problematic visa issuances, such as overstays, was more than 50% lower than his colleagues’ while following the directive of Trump rather than his supervisors.
Rogers estimated that the number of visa overstays was two to four times higher than it would have been had State Department leadership complied with Trump’s orders.
“[T]he malfeasance of State Department consular managers during that time likely caused 900,000 to 1.4 million extra overstays that were easily avoidable. Most foreigners who overstay their visas do so with the intent of illegally immigrating and remaining in the United States long-term,” said Rogers. “To put that in perspective, ten U.S. states have populations of 1.4 million or less. In other words, consular managers working to subvert President Trump’s policies managed to add an entire state population’s worth of illegal aliens in just four years.”
Since joining AFL in 2022, Rogers has led on cases challenging the Biden administration, such as the alleged diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) discrimination that occurred within the federal government.
Rogers also testified before the House Judiciary Committee last March to discuss court-ordered immigration policy made through the landmark Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe (1982), which determined that states must permit children of illegal aliens to attend public school. Rogers argued that the decision was wrong, and that the legal framework used by the Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade through Dobbs v. Jackson could be applied to overrule Plyler v. Doe.
“The Court’s role is to interpret the Constitution, not to serve as a policymaking body filling in the gaps left by legislative inaction,” said Rogers. “Where the Constitution’s text, history, and precedent all point in the same direction — and where the Court’s own analytical concessions compel application of a standard under which the challenged law would clearly survive — the Court must follow the law, not its own policy preferences.”
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The proposed ballot initiative would have required the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to establish an online marketplace payment system next year for all ESA purchases with approved vendors, and would have eliminated the current reimbursement and debit card system.
The initiative would also have further restricted allowable expenditures, and required valid fingerprint clearance cards for qualified tutors and school personnel. Any parents who intentionally misuse funds would have been disqualified permanently from the ESA program.
Under the canceled initiative, the ESA program would have had to submit quarterly reports addressing vendor payments, disqualifications, and recovered funds to the attorney general as well.
Fortify AZ was supported in its signature-gathering efforts with millions from the American Federation for Children (AFC). Arizona campaign finance records reflected $1.2 million to their political action committee, but AFC said they invested over $5.3 million into the ballot initiative.
AFC said the proposed reforms were aligned with best policy practices implemented in other states: Texas, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Utah, Tennessee, New Hampshire, and West Virginia.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, AFC CEO Tommy Schultz said their organization backed the ballot initiative as the “best opportunity to save school choice in Arizona,” which they say is under threat by school choice opponents behind the other proposed ballot initiative which would end universal school choice, the Protect Education Act.
“After a small number of individuals acted to sabotage this chance for the school choice-gutting petition to be pulled and commonsense reforms enacted, we are evaluating our best next steps to ensure the union-backed petition does not rip school choice away from thousands of Arizona students overnight and fundamentally break the program for the rest,” said Schultz.
As the Arizona Agendareported, Republican lawmakers and the Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, nearly reached a secretive school choice reform deal to end both the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Reform and Accountability Act as well as the Protect Education Act.
However, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club raised concerns over the impact of the secretive deal on the ESA program.
Don't Cut a Deal that Kills ESAs — Lawmakers are negotiating a secret bargain with teacher unions tonight. Over 100,000 Arizona students hang in the balance. https://t.co/dToo9ac4uQ
— AZ Women of Action (@AZWomenofAction) June 12, 2026
Ultimately, lawmakers voted against the proposed deal.
Matthew Nielsen, founder of the Educational Freedom Institute, called the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Reform and Accountability Act an “ill-conceived, and now ill-fated […] waste.”
The other ballot initiative to end the universality of the ESA program will continue. The Protect Education Act would place a $150,000 income cap for ESA program enrollees.
Additionally, this initiative would not only require qualified tutors and schools to have valid fingerprint clearance, it would subject them to Arizona State Board of Education discipline and require them to pay a fee and register annually with ADE.
Protect Education, Accountability Now, the political action committee behind the still-active ballot initiative, has spent about $2.7 million of the nearly $4.6 million it has raised.
98% of those funds (more than $4.4 million) came from the National Education Association, a national teachers’ union and the largest labor union in the nation.
As of this report, the ESA program has over 100,700 students enrolled.
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The federal government says delays are bound to occur with impending construction on Arizona’s second-busiest border entry point.
The 16-acre San Luis I Land Port of Entry, established in 1984, will undergo another series of renovations beginning June 20 to improve its operations and infrastructure. Construction on this leg of the project will last approximately four to five months per Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The forthcoming construction is part of a greater $356 million expansion and modernization project which pledges to make San Luis I Land Port of Entry an “eco-friendly gateway” as the “first fully electric, net-zero energy land port of entry” in the country. Construction work on the port of entry began in 2023 and is scheduled to conclude in the spring of 2029.
The port expansion and modernization project was announced in 2024 under former President Joe Biden as a major “green expansion” initiative for his Investing in America agenda. Nearly $100 million of the total project funding came from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) subsidies for “low-embodied carbon construction materials and emerging and sustainable technologies.”
IRA funds also went to 37 other land port of entry projects. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) both endorsed the project and its net-zero approach.
The IRA appropriated $3.4 billion for GSA to institute net-zero emissions infrastructure reforms in federal facilities across America by 2045.
The General Services Administration (GSA) has stated in its public project summary for the port of entry that the current infrastructure has proven inadequate to handle traffic volumes and CBP mission requirements.
“The modernization and expansion project will improve efficiencies and traffic flows, reduce wait times, increase CBP processing capacity and operational security by effectively deploying the latest technology to identify high risk activity and shipments and combat drug trafficking,” stated the GSA.
In March, the GSA announced the San Luis I Land Port of Entry opened 16 new northbound vehicle lanes, doubling the previous capacity, covered with two shade canopies spanning 16,000 square feet.
The expansion and modernization project also includes a secondary vehicle processing area, additional pedestrian inspection lanes, and a new administrative facility. It further expands southbound privately owned vehicle operations with upgraded primary and secondary inspection and processing buildings, as well as expanded employee parking.
Last July, the Office of the Inspector General notified the GSA that contractors who hadn’t undergone the required security screening had worked on the port of entry expansion and modernization project.
Travelers seeking passage through the San Luis I Land Port of Entry should review border wait times on the CBP website or the mobile app, Border Wait Times.
The San Luis I Land Port of Entry encounters three million drivers and 2.5 million pedestrians annually, per GSA data.
The GSA awarded the design-build contract for the expansion and modernization effort to Hensel Phelps Construction Company in 2022, which is based out of Colorado and one of the biggest general contractors and construction managers nationwide.
Community stakeholder and civic leader briefings on the port of entry occurred in the spring of 2024.
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A court has ordered Maricopa County officials to participate in a settlement conference next week to determine election powers.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney issued the order in response to Recorder Justin Heap’s request for contempt sanctions against the board.
The settlement conference is scheduled for Monday, June 22. The contempt hearing will remain scheduled for Tuesday, June 30 unless the board of supervisors and recorder resolve their dispute.
In the order issued last week announcing the contempt hearing, Blaney stated that the supervisors would be required to explain their “willful, continuing, and escalating noncompliance” with his order to restore certain election responsibilities, personnel, and technology to Heap.
Heap says the board has failed to return resources to include IT personnel, servers, databases, and websites, as well as refused to authorize the use of state and federal funds.
The superior court ordered the board of supervisors to restore those resources to Heap back in April.
The board has refused to comply. They say the ruling would cause problems with the administration of the upcoming primary and general elections.
“[T]he ruling creates more confusion than clarity,” said the board. “The Board of Supervisors has purchased equipment and planned to provide tabulation of early ballots in the 2026 Primary and General Elections. However, the ruling calls into question who is responsible for overseeing and executing this option for voters.”
Instead, the board has established an independent resource page to provide “just the facts” about the ongoing lawsuit and the Shared Services Agreement (SSA) negotiations that determine the distribution of election authority between the recorder and board.
SSAs distinguish election responsibilities between the board and recorder. Heap’s predecessor, Stephen Richer, coordinated with the prior board of supervisors to reduce the recorder’s scope of responsibilities in his final months in office in 2024.
The board appealed the superior court ruling with the Arizona Court of Appeals last month.
The board maintains that it has “consistently negotiated in good faith” with Heap. Several efforts to settle on a new SSA have failed. The board claims that Heap has made inconsistent demands and “at least twice” rejected their proposed new SSAs.
Also last week, a months-old incident involving employees within the recorder’s office resurfaced following a public announcement by Heap. Heap accused the board of retaliation over a criminal investigation into two of his employees for alleged theft of election equipment. Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee accused Heap of perpetuating “a parade of falsehoods, misrepresentations and strawmen.”
The board responded that Heap’s employees had no right to remove and later return an envelope scanner from the Maricopa County Election and Tabulation Center during the Tempe Jurisdictional Election. According to the board, that equipment was replaced due to the alleged security compromise.
Heap countered that the equipment belonged to his office and was therefore under the purview of his employees. Heap claimed the board ignored the alleged incident for months and dismissed their narrative as “baseless allegations.”
🚨 UPDATE: RECORD CORRECTS THE BOARD'S MANUFACTURED SCANDAL AND MALACIOUS SLANDER.
The Board spent 3 months sitting on these baseless allegations. Then, after losing in court again and facing contempt proceedings, it launched a smear campaign against career election employees… https://t.co/FRSwQb27ml
— Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap (@azjustinheap) June 12, 2026
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The Republican-led Arizona legislature has submitted a legislative package to Gov. Katie Hobbs that they say will further strengthen parental rights and protections for children.
Among these bills are HB 2249, which would expand on Arizona’s current parental bill of rights by requiring schools to notify and obtain written consent from parents prior to facilitating a child’s social transition of their biological gender.
Social transitioning includes the usage of preferred pronouns and provision of accommodations that align with the child’s gender identity to include access to nonbiological restrooms and locker rooms.
Additionally, SB 1095 would outlaw gender transition procedure referrals or procedures for minors, and SB 1094 would allow individuals to take a civil cause of action against physicians who perform gender reassignment surgeries on minors.
Arizona banned gender reassignment surgeries on minors in 2022, and excludes gender reassignment procedures from Medicaid coverage. SB 1095 extends that ban to medications, as in puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh (LD-3), who sponsored SB 1094, said in a press release last week that these latest bills were created in response to requests from parents.
“Arizona families have made clear that they want commonsense protections for children and stronger parental rights,” said Kavanagh. “This legislation ensures that parents remain involved in critical decisions impacting their children while protecting minors from irreversible procedures with lifelong consequences.”
State Sen. Janae Shamp (LD-29), sponsor of SB 1015, said regulation was necessary to ensure accountability for irreversible procedures, and that a lack of regulation would essentially subject children to political experimentation.
“Arizona children are not political experiments, and parents should never be cut out of life-altering decisions involving their own kids,” said Shamp. “For too long, activists have pushed radical gender ideology into medicine, education, and government while silencing common sense and ignoring the concerns of families. These bills draw a clear line.”
GOP lawmakers have had trouble codifying bills addressing the gender transition of minors under Hobbs. In accordance with the stance of the Democratic Party, Hobbs supports gender transitions for minors and typically spurns enacting statutory pressures on this modern social practice.
The governor has consistently vetoed bills which would impose restrictions on individuals who identify as transgender. Last year, Hobbs vetoed bills that would have prohibited amending birth certificates and driver’s licenses to reflect gender identity rather than biological gender.
Hobbs also issued an executive order her first year in office requiring state employee healthcare plans to cover gender transition surgeries. Every summer since taking office, Hobbs has flown the Pride flag above the American flag in honor of Pride month.
We dropped the Pride banner from the Executive Tower to kick off Pride Month. To our LGBTQ+ community: I will always stand up for your freedom to be who you are, love who you love and your right to live with dignity and respect. pic.twitter.com/ffO9InrjX0
— Governor Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs) June 2, 2026
Hobbs’ husband, Patrick Goodman, was formerly a counselor specializing in youth gender transitions at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
There’s also been resistance to Arizona regulation on transgenderism from the courts. In 2023, a federal court blocked Republican lawmakers’ attempt at enacting a ban on biological males who identify as females from participating in women’s and girls’ sports, the Save Women’s Sports Act. Petersen v. Doe (formerly Doe v. Horne) is pending petition with the Supreme Court.
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