Why 4 hours, 10 rounds of voting wasn't enough to pick Democrats for 2 House vacancies

Democrats in Legislative District 5 nominated three people Monday evening to fill one of the district's two vacancies in the Arizona House.

But they couldn't decide who to nominate for the district's second seat.

In a series of back-to-back meetings stretching over nearly four hours, precinct committee members from the central Phoenix district nominated Mark Robert Gordon, Sarah Liguori and Brianna Westbrook to fill the seat Rep. Jennifer Longdon vacated on Jan. 26.

But a separate nomination process to fill the seat Rep. Amish Shah left as of Thursday failed to produce a three-candidate list for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, who ultimately must appoint one from the lists of three nominees to fill out the departed lawmakers' terms.

A new meeting to address the Shah vacancy will be held Thursday at 6 p.m.

On Monday, the Democrats worked until nearly 10 p.m. through 10 rounds of voting to field one list of nominees and deadlock on another.

It was an unusual, possibly unprecedented development as the vacancies have left the district with no representatives in the House. It could take several weeks for the county supervisors to make their picks as they background the nominees. Some of the supervisors send questionnaires to help them evaluate legislative replacements.

State law doesn't set a deadline for the supervisors to make their picks.

The board has been busy this legislative cycle. Just last week, the supervisors (on a unanimous vote) sent Jevin Hodge to fill out the term of Athena Salman, a Tempe Democrat who resigned at the end of 2023.

The replacement process is happening as the Legislature is a month into its session, with a crucial vote expected this week on an election bill that could alter the state's automatic recount law.

All 11 of the candidates hit on common themes of support for public education, a need to make housing more affordable and opposition to restrictions on reproductive rights.

The three nominees who will be sent to the supervisors are familiar names in political circles. Westbrook has already filed to run for a full two-year House term in this year's primary election. Liguori has announced her intention to do the same. Gordon, who has been active in Arizona Democratic circles for four decades, did not indicate if he intends to run later this year.

Liguori was appointed by the supervisors in October 2021 to fill a vacancy in the former Legislative District 28. She completed the term but lost when she was redistricted into a new district with a competitive Democratic field.

She is a senior director at the Arizona Community Foundation, running a program that provides loans for affordable housing, rural development and community impact.

Keep up with elections: Want to stay up-to-date on Arizona elections? Sign up for The Recount, a new newsletter

Gordon started the Voting Rights Fund, and has worked for years as a civil rights and voting rights advocate. He is an Arizona representative to the Democratic National Committee and in 2018 was a Democratic nominee for Arizona secretary of state. He lost the primary to Katie Hobbs.

Westbrook ran for an LD5 House seat in 2022, losing to Longdon and Shah. She is a vice chairman of the state Democratic Party and has pledged to take no corporate contributions.

If sent to the Legislature, Westbrook said she would continue to advocate for the "sensible gun laws" that Longdon championed, as well as work on animal rights legislation, a topic Shah promoted.

Even if the Shah vacancy is addressed soon, Democrats in the southwest Valley have yet to meet to follow the same process to replace Rep. Leeza Sun, a Phoenix Democrat who resigned last week in the face of a possible expulsion.

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.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Democrats pick three to fill one legislative vacancy; stall on another