Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ-08) recently blasted the Arizona Republic as a “dying newspaper. The congressman accused the outlet of “covering for” Democratic congressional candidate JoAnna Mendoza through its framing of a report about property-tax benefits she received on two homes.
“The Arizona Republic, a dying newspaper, is at it again!” Hamadeh wrote. “This time they’re covering for Democrat candidate JoAnna Mendoza, Congressman Juan Ciscomani’s opponent.”
The Arizona Republic, a dying newspaper is at it again!
This time they’re covering for Democrat candidate JoAnna Mendoza, Congressman Juan Ciscomani’s opponent.
They use these words and framing in the headline to cover for her.
Hamadeh criticized the newspaper’s use of the terms “mistake” and “acknowledged the error” in its coverage of Mendoza’s receipt of Arizona’s State Aid to Education property-tax reduction on two residences categorized as her primary home.
“If I sneezed the wrong way 20 years ago, these propagandists would write a nasty story about me,” Hamadeh wrote. “But all they do is cover for DEMOCRATS. Because they are an unofficial arm of the Democrat Party.”
Hamadeh said the article should have been presented under the headline: “Democrat candidate JoAnna Mendoza unlawfully takes tax benefit and claims primary residency in two counties, drawing scrutiny.”
“These people aren’t journalists, they’re activists and propagandists — and have zero credibility,” Hamadeh wrote.
The criticism followed an Aug. 13 Arizona Republic report by Laura Gersony. The version republished by the Arizona Daily Star carried the headline, “House candidate Mendoza wrongfully took home tax credit.” The report described the dual property classifications as an error and quoted Mendoza’s campaign calling it an honest mistake.
A tax filing mistake is drawing attention in a Southern Arizona House race after a candidate acknowledged the error. https://t.co/Lpb6fFZ4EB
According to the report, Mendoza purchased a central Tucson home for approximately $330,000 in 2021 and received the State Aid to Education reduction on that property. She purchased another home in Red Rock for approximately $337,000 in 2023 and later began renting the Tucson residence.
Both properties remained categorized as primary residences, leading Pima and Pinal County officials to apply the reduction to each property. The Tucson classification saved Mendoza $404.29 in 2024 and $415.87 in 2025, a combined $820.16. Her 2026 property-tax bill was not yet publicly available.
Arizona’s State Aid to Education program reduces qualifying school-district property taxes on owner-occupied residential property. The reduction is calculated through a parcel’s property classification and is generally capped at $600 under.
Arizona law classifies residential property occupied by its owner as a primary residence as Class Three property. Residential property used solely as a rental is classified as Class Four property.
County assessors are required to review residential property classifications and investigate parcels that may be rented while classified as primary residences. If an owner fails to respond to the notices prescribed by law, the assessor must reclassify the property and could impose a civil penalty equal to the additional state aid paid on the parcel during the preceding tax year.
Mendoza acknowledged to the Republic that she did not submit the necessary paperwork after she began renting the Tucson property and moved to Red Rock. Records cited by the Republic showed that she contacted Pima County officials on Aug. 10 to have the Tucson home reclassified.
“JoAnna is already in touch with the county assessor to correct the filing mistake,” campaign spokesman Kyle McCarthy told the Republic. The campaign said Mendoza would pay the amount county officials determine she owes.
The Republic also reported that Mendoza disclosed approximately $20,000 in rental income when filing her congressional financial disclosure.
Mendoza is challenging incumbent Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06) in the general election. Federal Election Commission records showed Mendoza had raised approximately $7.35 million through July 1, compared with approximately $6.17 million raised by Ciscomani.
Former U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema revealed more details into her affair with a married veteran who had been her bodyguard while in office.
A new narrative of the affair was made available through depositions filed in the ongoing lawsuit initiated by the bodyguard’s ex-wife under North Carolina’s homewrecker law, which enables an individual to sue the person they believe to be the cause of their divorce.
Matthew Ammel (Ammel), Sinema’s former bodyguard, had been married to the plaintiff, Heather Ammel (Heather), for 14 years. The Ammels had three children together. Ammel began working for Sinema in the spring of 2022.
Sinema admitted in her July 31 deposition that despite knowing Ammel was married with children, she and Ammel had sex for the first time on May 27, 2024, while on a Memorial Day trip in Napa, California. Prior to that date, Sinema denied having ever flirted with him, let alone held or touched him in any way that could be considered romantic in nature.
The former senator is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit on the claim that the affair never took place in North Carolina, physically or electronically.
At one point in Sinema’s deposition, evidence was discussed which reflected that Sinema’s phone registered her location in Southern Pines, North Carolina, when she called Ammel on the afternoon of Nov. 1, 2024. Sinema denied having been in that location on that date and insisted that she was in New York City.
Both Ammel and Sinema admitted to their affair occurring in Arizona, Washington, D.C., and other states — including New York and Colorado — but not North Carolina.
Heather admitted in her deposition that she possessed no evidence that Ammel and Sinema engaged in their affair in North Carolina, and that she didn’t believe they had a sexual encounter in the state. However, Heather stated that she didn’t acquire a computer forensics expert to investigate if there was anything deleted or hidden that would prove otherwise.
According to the latest court filings, Sinema and Ammel often communicated through Signal, an encrypted messaging app which allows for automatic message deletion according to user settings. Ammel stated in his deposition that their messages were deleted after eight hours.
Sinema denied that she caused or directed the Signal messages to be deleted, automatically or manually.
However, Heather testified in her deposition that Ammel and Sinema’s messages weren’t set to auto-delete prior to the discovery of their affair.
Ammel claimed in his deposition that he was a victim of “domestic abuse violence,” and that was the reason for initiating his affair with Sinema and later separating from his wife. Despite conflicting testimony from his ex-wife, Ammel denies continuing his relationship with her following their separation date in October 2024.
Ammel also disclosed in his deposition — which he took from “his home office” in a house in Arizona where Sinema was also present — that prior to sitting down for questions, he and Sinema had prayed together beforehand. Ammel testified that he presently works as a “cowboy” at Cross Creek Ranch in San Luis Obispo, California.
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Congressman Abraham Hamadeh (R-AZ-08) has introduced legislation to designate a section of Interstate 17 as the Mueller-Keating Memorial Highway, honoring the lives and sacrifices of two Arizonans who confronted the threat of ISIS through humanitarian service and military courage.
The Mueller-Keating Memorial Highway Act, introduced on August 13, would designate a stretch of I-17 running from Prescott to Phoenix, connecting the hometowns of Kayla Mueller and Chief Special Warfare Operator Charles H. Keating IV.
Mueller, known as “Arizona’s Angel,” was born and raised in Prescott, Arizona. She traveled to Syria to provide humanitarian assistance and was abducted by terrorists while leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo in 2013.
Mueller was held captive for approximately 18 months before being killed by ISIS militants, including then-ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Keating, a Phoenix native and U.S. Navy SEAL, was killed in Iraq while serving during Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led effort launched in 2014 to combat ISIS, reclaim territory taken by the terrorist organization, dismantle its network, and protect civilians from its violence.
Keating was the third U.S. service member killed during Operation Inherent Resolve.
🇺🇸NEW🇺🇸
Congressman Hamadeh Honored to Introduce the Mueller-Keating Memorial Highway Act
— Office of Congressman Abe Hamadeh (@RepAbeHamadeh) August 14, 2026
The proposed highway designation seeks to recognize what Hamadeh described as the “distinct, yet complementary” contributions of two Arizona heroes who confronted ISIS in different ways.
“Operation Inherent Resolve demanded both military force and humanitarian resolve, and this designation recognizes the distinct, yet complementary roles our beloved Arizonans played in that effort,” stated Congressman Hamadeh. “We can never forget the victims of ISIS and these two Americans that faced that evil with faith and courage.”
Hamadeh introduced the legislation one day before what would have been Mueller’s 38th birthday.
The congressman has previously highlighted Mueller’s legacy and efforts to bring her home.
During his swearing in ceremony, Hamadeh used the Mueller family’s Bible while taking his oath of office. He was joined at the ceremony by his family and Mueller’s parents, Carl and Marsha.
Hamadeh also traveled from Jerusalem to Damascus in August 2025 to meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Syrian Foreign Prime Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani.
During the trip, Hamadeh discussed his continuing efforts to recover Kayla Mueller’s remains and his broader “Peace Through Strength” agenda.
If enacted, the Mueller-Keating Memorial Highway would serve as a permanent tribute along I-17, linking Prescott and Phoenix while honoring two Arizonans whose lives became intertwined with the fight against ISIS and the broader conflict against terrorism.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The Protect Education Act is projected to fall more than 10,000 valid signatures short of the number required to qualify for Arizona’s November ballot after a court challenge removed thousands of petition signatures and county recorders completed their validity reviews.
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) announced Monday that applying the trial court’s rulings and county signature-validity rates leaves the initiative with approximately 245,000 valid signatures. Arizona law required the campaign to produce 255,949 valid signatures.
The calculation follows an expedited ruling Thursday from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge David McDowell in Clark v. Fontes, the lawsuit challenging the petitions submitted by Protect Education, Accountability Now, the political committee behind the initiative.
At the time of McDowell’s ruling, the final outcome remained unresolved because Maricopa and Apache counties had not yet completed their reviews. The Arizona Capitol Timesreported that the Secretary of State’s initial review had reduced the campaign’s submitted total to 389,376 signatures before the court considered challenges to individual circulators, petition sheets, and duplicate signatures.
🚨 BREAKING: “PROTECT EDUCATION ACT” FALLS SHORT
Based on the trial court’s ruling in Clark (@ClarkRimsza) v Fontes and county signature validity rates, the union-backed anti-ESA initiative does not have enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
McDowell’s ruling left 348,269 signatures presumptively valid before application of the counties’ random-sample validity rates. The court also addressed 24,369 duplicate signatures and challenges involving more than 110 petition circulators.
“The court agrees that it is conceivable that a double count could occur, but the court cannot make a decision based upon a hypothetical double counting of duplicate signatures,” McDowell wrote.
The initiative’s supporters submitted 421,451 signatures on July 2. Save Our Schools Arizona and the Arizona Education Association were among the organizations backing the campaign.
The Goldwater Institute filed its challenge July 20, alleging that tens of thousands of the submitted signatures should be rejected because of duplicate entries, defects in circulator registrations, and petitions collected by people who were legally ineligible to circulate them.
The amended complaint raised more than 73,300 objections. Those included allegations involving unregistered paid circulators, signatures collected before circulator registration, inaccurate addresses or contact information, identification problems, and circulators whose felony convictions or other legal circumstances allegedly made them ineligible.
McDowell ultimately invalidated signatures collected by several circulators. Four circulators were disqualified because of criminal histories. The judge also invalidated several thousand signatures collected by circulator Tyrone Crispell after finding his denial that he misrepresented the initiative to prospective signers was not credible.
AFEC said Monday that nearly 70,000 signatures were disqualified through the challenge, including duplicates and signatures gathered by legally ineligible circulators.
“This is a major victory for Arizona parents, students, and the integrity of our elections,” AFEC President Scot Mussi said. “This anti-school choice initiative and its union backers spent more than $7 million dollars trying to dismantle school choice in our state, but they still could not collect enough lawful, valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.”
Campaign-finance figures compiled by Transparency USA from Arizona disclosure records show the Protect Education, Accountability Now committee had reported more than $7.5 million in total expenditures through July 30. The National Education Association accounted for approximately $6.57 million in cash and in-kind contributions, while the Arizona Education Association contributed another $810,000.
The Protect Education Act, designated Proposition 212 during the ballot-review process, would make several changes to Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program. The measure would generally limit eligibility to families earning $150,000 or less, with exceptions including students with disabilities, certain military families, and students assigned to poorly performing public schools.
The proposal would also establish additional requirements for participating private schools and tutors, restrict certain ESA expenditures, and generally require unused annual ESA funds to be returned to the state.
The signature dispute is separate from litigation over how Proposition 212 would be described to voters. Last week, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Julie Ann Mata ordered Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to rewrite portions of the proposition’s descriptive title and “yes” and “no” statements after finding that the existing language omitted significant provisions of the measure. Judge Daniel Martin separately ordered revisions to the Arizona Legislative Council’s publicity-pamphlet analysis.
A new complaint filed this week alleges that Arizona’s governor, secretary of state, and attorney general may have participated in a straw donor scheme.
The complainant, San Tan Valley resident Gary DeBerge, has asked Arizona District Attorney Timothy Courchaine and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell to look into what he says are “mysterious and unexplained” irregularities in the campaigns of Gov. Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, and Attorney General Kris Mayes.
A copy of the complaint obtained by AZ Free News alleges that recent filings by one of the campaigns reflect “repeatedly altered reported receipts by millions of dollars” due to alleged eliminations of prior reported contributions.
Elect Katie Hobbs, the governor’s reelection campaign account, issued 10 amended reports for the 2026 Quarter 2 report, several of which varied by millions of dollars.
Exempt small contributions amounting to less than $100 totaled more than $1.4 million in the original filing and the first amended report, dropped to $0 in the second and third amended reports, then rose to nearly $400,000 in subsequent amended reports.
Total receipts amounted to more than $2.6 million in the original filing, but jumped to $3.1 million in the first amended report, then dropped below $1.7 million in the second amended report, then rose again to more than $2.2 million in the third amended report, and then rose again, back to more than $2.6 million in subsequent amended reports.
Donations under $100 are considered eligible for aggregate rather than individual reporting.
The complaint petitioned investigators to determine whether the millions moved around in amended filings reflected “a calculated attempt to obscure the true source and disposition” of the funds.
As noted by the complaint, Hobbs’ campaign reported much smaller totals of exempt small contributions throughout 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. Exempt small contributions across five quarters amounted to $600,000 in total. Then, in the second quarter of this year, the campaign reported a surge in exempt small contributions that amounted to more than double what the campaign pulled for an entire year and a quarter.
“Elect Katie Hobbs has reported approximately $1.4 million in exempt contributions and then later reported that those same contributions never existed,” stated the complaint. “This should immediately raise questions regarding the accuracy of one, if not all, of the recent filings made by this committee.”
The Trump administration and Republican leaders in Congress have initiated investigatory efforts into straw donor schemes by online fundraising platforms.
An example of this was illustrated prominently in the media earlier this year, when investigative reporters discovered that ActBlue, the primary fundraising platform for Democrats, allegedly misattributed around $100,000 in donations across thousands of individual political contributions over five years to one Elizabeth Waffle, an 88-year-old woman in Michigan living in a trailer with limited income. ActBlue allegedly misattributed more than 13,000 donations that occurred once or multiple times on a daily basis.
The complaint also questioned the number of contributors listed as “not employed” across the three campaigns’ 2026 filings to date.
Below are the total number of instances in which individual contributors were listed as “not employed” for the three report filings due so far this year and the four report filings made in 2025. These instances exclude retirees and may include individuals who contributed more than once.
Candidate
“Not Employed” or “Unemployed” in 2026 Filings
“Not Employed” or “Unemployed” in 2025 Filings
Katie Hobbs
46,335
26,643
Andy Biggs
26
21
Kris Mayes
17,530
13,162
Warren Petersen
0
0
Adrian Fontes
12,640
3,294
Alexander Kolodin
2
1
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The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is targeting Democratic congressional nominee Amish Shah over his documented support for admitting Washington, D.C., as the 51st state. The criticism comes as Arizona’s competitive First Congressional District race moves into the general election.
The NRCC said Thursday that Shah supported the proposal on multiple occasions while serving in the Arizona House of Representatives and characterized statehood as an effort to expand Democratic power in Congress. The committee cited a 2021 letter signed by Shah and a 2023 concurrent resolution listing him among its sponsors.
The D.C. Statehood Compact, an organization supporting admission, lists Shah among 33 Democratic Arizona lawmakers who signed the 2021 letter. The lawmakers wrote that “the State of Arizona supports admitting Washington, D.C. into the Union” and urged the state’s congressional delegation to support federal statehood legislation.
Two years later, Shah joined more than two dozen Arizona House members and eight state senators sponsoring House Concurrent Resolution 2034. The measure, which died in committee without receiving a floor vote, would have proclaimed support for admitting Washington, D.C., as a state and enacting federal legislation granting statehood to its residents.
The resolution argued that District residents pay federal taxes, serve in the military, and remain without full voting representation in Congress. It also cited the 2016 districtwide referendum in which approximately 86 percent of voters supported statehood.
Federal statehood legislation would preserve a smaller federal district containing the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court and other federal buildings while admitting the residential and commercial portions of Washington as the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth. The proposed state would elect two senators and initially one voting member of the House. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Sen. Chris Van Hollen reintroduced companion measures in January 2025.
Republicans have argued that admission would produce two reliably Democratic Senate seats and an additional Democratic vote in the House. District voters have supported the Democratic presidential nominee in every election since they first participated in 1964. Former Vice President Kamala Harris received 90.28 percent of the District’s vote in 2024, while President Donald Trump received 6.47 percent.
NRCC spokesman Ben Petersen linked Shah’s statehood position to the committee’s broader criticism of his policy record.
ALERT: Arizona Democrat Socialist @DrAmishShah pushed for making Washington D.C. 🟦 the 51st state — a Democrat power grab
Uncovered docs revealed Socialist Shah wanted to create two new Democrat-held U.S. Senate seats and a Democrat U.S. House seat 🟦🟦🟦
In a post to X, Petersen wrote, “Arizona Democrat Socialist @DrAmishShah pushed for making Washington D.C. the 51st state — a Democrat power grab. Uncovered docs revealed Socialist Shah wanted to create two new Democrat-held U.S. Senate seats and a Democrat U.S. House seat.”
“Socialist Amish Shah demonstrated he’s a partisan Democrat obsessed with seizing power to force unpopular far-left tax hikes on Arizonans,” Petersen said, adding, “Arizona families can’t afford Socialist Shah rubber-stamping a radical left agenda in Congress.”
Shah’s campaign describes him as an independent voice who worked across party lines during his five years in the state Legislature. His campaign says his congressional priorities include lowering costs, protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and defending abortion rights.
The new attack follows a contentious Democratic primary in which Shah openly criticized national party leaders. In May, Shah accused the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee of interfering in the race after it endorsed former television journalist Marlene Galán-Woods. Shah said the committee had previously assured candidates that it would remain out of the primary and described its intervention as “hubris.”
Shah defeated Galán-Woods and two other candidates in July and will face Republican nominee Jay Feely in November. Feely, a former Arizona Cardinals kicker, received Trump’s endorsement during the Republican primary. The open district includes Scottsdale, northeast Phoenix, Fountain Hills, and Paradise Valley and is expected to help determine control of the U.S. House.
The NRCC has also focused on remarks Shah made about taxes and the Democratic Party’s progressive wing. During a Democratic forum this year, Shah called Trump’s tax cuts “abominable” and said he would use his platform to “prosecute” Trump and congressional Republicans “as vigorously as I can.”
During a 2018 appearance that resurfaced in the 2024 campaign, Shah said the country’s economic system was unfair, blamed Reagan-era tax reductions for contributing to inequality and welcomed what he called a “huge progressive movement” within the Democratic Party. Shah also said during the 2024 campaign that he opposed extending the Trump tax cuts because many of their beneficiaries were wealthy.
Shah previously won the district’s Democratic nomination in 2024 and lost to Republican Rep. David Schweikert by approximately four percentage points Schweikert left the seat open after forgoing reelection to run unsuccessfully for governor.
