Arizona Legislature becomes battleground in race for GOP congressional nomination

The GOP race for an Arizona congressional seat is up and running at the state Legislature.

On Thursday, the battleground was the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Anthony Kern, the panel's chairman and a candidate for the GOP nomination for Congressional District 8, held a bill sponsored by House Speaker Ben Toma, also a candidate in that race. Toma was not present to explain his legislation, so Kern didn't hear the bill, effectively killing it.

"He's already taken a week off because of the Israel trip," Kern said of Toma. "Either be speaker of the House or run for Congress."

Kern was referring to a six-day break the House took earlier this month when a bipartisan delegation of 17 House members took an expense-paid trip sponsored by a pro-Israel group.

The trip was a sore point with Republican members of the Senate, who refused to grant a request to allow the House to suspend floor sessions for the duration of the trip. That forced at least some representatives to come in every third business day and convene a session, as House rules require.

Toma, who was in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, said the more obvious it is that Kern is playing politics by complaining about the Israel trip, the more it will harm his ambitions. He also predicted Kern's tactics would backfire.

"The net result of what he's done is he killed a good policy over petty politics," Toma said in a phone call with The Arizona Republic.

His House Bill 2435 would have set penalties for anyone convicted three or more times of organized retail theft with the intent to re-sell the merchandise. The punishment would have ranged from 4.5- to 7.5 years, and carry a fine of up to $150,000.

Kern's not the only member of the Senate sidelining Toma's bills.

Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, has not scheduled Toma's signature piece of legislation for a hearing, saying the measure needs work. The move means House Concurrent Resolution 2060 won't make it to the ballot, barring some extraordinary legislative gymnastics.

HCR 2060 proposed tougher provisions for the E-Verify program, which employers are required to use to screen out would-be workers who are not legally present in the U.S.

Petersen said earlier this week the business community has concerns with the measure and noted time has run out to get it to a vote.

Toma missed several days at the beginning of the month due to the Israel trip, though he said that shouldn't have held up work on the bill. He said he made it clear more than a month ago that he is willing to make changes to the measure. However, HCR 2060 has not had any traction in the Senate.

In addition to Toma and Kern, four other Republicans are seeking the CD8 seat: former U.S. Congressman Trent Franks; former GOP nominee for attorney general Abe Hamedeh; Blake Masters, who was the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in 2022; and Phoenix resident Adrienne Johnson.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads as well as on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @maryjpitzl.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Congressional politics at the Arizona's Legislature: Kern slams Toma