AZ-Corp Comm: Clean energy just won big in Phoenix. Advocates now want to go statewide.

After renewable energy supporters won an election to take charge of a major electrical utility company in Phoenix for the first time ever this week, Arizona Democrats are newly enthused about a pair of races this fall for the body that regulates utilities across the state.

Democrats Jonathon Hill and Clara Pratte are campaigning to flip two Republican-held seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission, an entity that, due to its unusual power, has often been nicknamed the state’s “fourth branch of government.” (A huffy state Supreme Court made sure to specify in a footnote to a 2021 ruling that “our Constitution is clear that we have only three branches of government.”)

Republicans hold all five seats on the board, and, because only two of them are on the ballot this year, they aren’t in danger of losing control of the commission this cycle. A strong year for Democrats, though, would set them up for more success in 2028 when the other three seats will go before voters.

Incumbents Nick Myer and Kevin Thompson, however, can’t focus on the general election yet. State Reps. Ralph Heap and David Marshall, who are both allied with the state’s branch of the far-right Freedom Caucus, announced last year that they would challenge Myer and Thompson in the GOP primary.



https://www.the-downballot.com/p/morning-digest-clean-energy-just