A handful of familiar faces are one step closer to returning to the Arizona Legislature after Tuesday’s primary elections.
According to the Associated Press, six former lawmakers are projected to advance to the general election.
Former lawmaker Vince Leach beat out incumbent state Sen. Justine Wadsack in a Tucson-area primary rematch. Leach lost to Wadsack in 2022 when he was the incumbent.
As a freshman senator, Wadsack frequently made headlines sponsoring bills to ban books, criminalize drag shows and create partisan school board elections. She was a member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus and accused Leach of being a “RINO,” shorthand for “Republican in name only.”
LD17 is a majority-Republican district, but Democrat John McLean is running against Leach in the general election.
Farther north, former Rep. Mark Finchem defeated incumbent Sen. Ken Bennett in the Republican primary in Legislative District 1, a large district covering parts of northern and central Arizona.
Finchem, an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump who has spread false election fraud claims, used to represent a Tucson-area district but moved to LD1 after losing his bid for secretary of state in 2022.
The Associated Press also projects former Republican lawmakers Walt Blackman, Justin Olson and Jeff Weninger will win their comeback primaries.
Blackman, who served in the Legislature from 2019 to 2023, won the GOP primary in LD7, which covers parts of Coconino, Gila, Navajo and Pinal counties, alongside incumbent Rep. David Marshall. Blackman later lost to Congressman Eli Crane in the Republican primary in Congressional District 2 in 2022.
Olson is seeking one of two seats in the Arizona House of Representatives in the East Valley’s Legislative District 10. He left the Legislature in 2017 before staging failed campaigns for Congress and U.S. Senate.
Weninger, a former Chandler City councilman, last served in the Arizona House from 2015 to 2018.
A seventh former lawmaker, Tony Rivero, was also in line to win a House nomination in Legislative District 27 as of Thursday afternoon, but the race was still too close to call.
