Democrats Clara Pratte and Jonathon Hill are trying to flip two seats on the all-Republican Arizona Corporation Commission as the face off against incumbent Commissioner Kevin Thompson and state lawmaker Ralph Heap, both Republicans.
But even if both Pratte and Hill win, Republicans will still hold a three-seat majority on the five-member commission, which regulates many of the state’s water, electricity and gas utilities.
So, what will change if one or two Democrats win seats?
Not much, according to Thompson.
He pointed to comments that his Democratic opponents made at a recent debate, acknowledging the state needs a diverse mix of energy sources that includes natural gas, to meet its baseload power demands — the minimum amount of electricity it needs to serve a booming population.
That mirrors a position taken by Thompson and other Republicans.
“But in the event that we do end up with one of the Democrats on there, I don't think a lot's going to change because I think everyone's smart enough to realize the consequences of not having baseline generation,” Thompson said.
But that acknowledgment by Democrats came with the caveat that Arizona’s utilities should be prioritizing renewable energy in the sunniest state in the country, as solar becomes the fastest and most affordable energy to bring on line.
“If we can backfill with solar and wind and other non-polluting forms of energy that we create domestically without having to import and rely on external fossil fuels, then we ought to be using the cheapest, cleanest form of energy first, backfilling as needed,” Pratte said.
The right mix
That gets to the heart of the disagreement between the Democrats and Republican commissioners like Thompson.
They all agree that Arizona needs a diverse mixture of energy sources to keep the lights on. But they don’t agree on exactly what that mixture should be.
Right now, Arizona is heavily reliant on natural gas, followed by nuclear power.
According to federal data, natural gas accounted for 45% of the fuel used to generate electricity in Arizona in 2025, followed by nuclear at 27%.
Thompson has long said that natural gas should remain the backbone of the grid for the time being, arguing it is more dispatchable than solar power, meaning it can be relied on to provide immediate power during the times when energy demands are highest, like summer afternoons.
But Democrats argue the commission is banking too much on natural gas, a resource in short supply in Arizona.
Hill said that increasing the state’s solar capacity would make Arizona more self-sufficient.
And he criticized Thompson and the all-Republican commission for getting rid of pro-clean energy policies, like a renewable energy mandate on the state’s utilities, while backing a new natural gas pipeline from Texas.
“That puts us subject to some really wild swings in those markets,” Hill said. “The price of solar is very reliable. You can predict what it's going to be years ahead of time, but the fossil fuel market — what is gas? What is oil going to be today?”
Thompson said he has nothing against renewable energy and acknowledged that solar is now the quickest way to bring new sources online. But he defended the decision to get rid of the renewable energy mandates, which required most utilities to obtain at least 15% of their electricity from renewable sources.
Quite simply, he said, the requirement was no longer needed, because major utilities are now exceeding those goals.
“I think everything gets subsidized at some point in time as it gets started. Even natural gas got subsidized early on as they transitioned from fuel oil and coal to natural gas. … But at some point in time, you have to cut through the subsidies and eliminate those and let it stand on its own two feet,” Thompson said.
Who is to blame?
The Democratic candidates have argued the current commission is too deferential to Arizona’s power utilities when it weighs how to balance the mix of energy sources — and too willing to approve rate hikes as APS and Tucson Electric, two of the state’s largest utilities, seek sizable increases for the second time in four years.
Arizona voters have only elected four Democrats to the commission since 2000. The commission’s critics say that means voters only have one party to blame for rising utility costs: Republicans.
Thompson said it is not that simple.
Utilities are allowed by law to recover their costs, Thompson noted. He said the current commission has done its best to cut out the fat to avoid passing unnecessary costs to customers — like those associated with energy efficiency standards the commission repealed.
“The utilities are allowed to recover their cost to provide service. It states that in the Arizona Constitution, so it's not simply saying no. It's, how can we make sure that it's just and reasonable,” Thompson said.
The Democrats challenged that argument, pointing out APS’ parent company has reported $600 million in profits in each of the past two years.
If they win, Hill said he and Pratte would have some power to work with Republicans to further scrutinize spending by the utilities, even as the GOP maintains majority control of the commission.
“If the existing commissioners see two of their incumbents lose their seats in a single election cycle, I think they're going to get a wake-up call and be much more willing to negotiate,” he said.
And, if that doesn’t work, Hill pointed out every commissioner has the power to subpoena utilities, meaning the Democrats could force them to disclose more information about their finances.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant. We'll be dragging all sorts of documents into the public view,” he said.
If Pratte and Hill do manage to win, it will give Democrats some momentum heading into 2028, when three seats will be up for grabs, as they attempt to take control of the commission for the first time since the mid-1990s.
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