Arizona

**Arizona** is a state in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the Western and the Mountain states. Arizona shares the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico; its other neighboring states are Nevada and California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest. It has 11 electoral votes and is a *lean republican state.*

## Politics

### State House

The Arizona State House is composed of 60 members, each directly elected from a state house district. Members serve terms of 2 years. Elections to all House seats occur during each even-numbered year.

The Arizona House is charged with the passage of state legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the governor for consideration. Any House member may draft bills, which will ​then be assigned to the relevant House committee at the beginning of the next week. The number of bills any individual member may draft is unlimited; however, each bill requires 25 hours to draft.

There is a committee system in the Arizona House. Committees hold specialized hearings on relevant bills. A House member must serve on at least 1 and at most 2 committees. If the member has a sufficient number of political points, they may choose to serve as the ranking member of their political party on at most 1 of their chosen committees.

Playable subcommittees include: Appropriations; Tax and Fiscal Policy; Education; Health Care; Transportation, Infrastructure, Housing and Community Development; Judiciary, Public Safety, and Corrections; Commerce, Labor, and Career Development; Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources; Human Services.

Non-playable subcommittees include: Agriculture; Elections and General Government; Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security; Ethics.

A committee chair is the ranking member of the House's majority party within that committee. Above all other members of the House, a ​committee chair has the right of first review over any draft bill that falls within the purview of the committee. The committee chair may grant ​or refuse a hearing. If the committee chair refuses to grant a hearing on a bill, that bill can no longer advance. This is true even if the bill already passed through the Senate.

Once a bill is granted a committee hearing, all ranking and regular members on the committee have the right to offer amendments and have those amendments voted on. A tie or majority vote leads to adoption ​of an amendment. After the amendment process is complete, a final committee vote is held. A tie or majority vote allows the bill to advance to the floor of the full House. The entire committee phase takes ​one week. When a bill reaches the House floor, a hearing is held. Any member of the House may offer amendments, which are immediately voted on. When the amendment process is complete, a final floor vote is held. Upon passage by the House, a bill is sent either: (a) to the Senate, (b) ​to the governor, or (c) to conference report. The House floor phase takes one week.

If the House considers a Senate-approved bill but then passes an amended version, the bill must be sent for a conference report to adjust ​any discrepancies between the House and Senate versions. After that, both chambers must hold a floor vote on whether to approve the conference report.

#### Districts

In default mode (4/21/2020), the State House district configuration is about proportionate to the partisan lean of the state as a whole. Twenty-six out of 60 districts lean Republican by more than 10%. Another 6 districts lean Republican by 5-10%. Seventeen districts lean Democratic by more than 10%, and another 7 districts lean Democratic by 5-10%. Under this configuration, a neutral election year leads to an average party breakdown of 32R-24D and 4 tossups. To win party control of the State House, the Democratic Party has to win at least 2 seats that lean Republican by 7% or more.

### State Senate

The Arizona State Senate is composed of 30 members, each directly
elected from a state senate district. Members serve terms of 4 years.
Elections to the state Senate are not staggered. Elections to all seats
occur in the same year as U.S. presidential elections.

The Arizona Senate is charged with the passage of state legislation,
 known as bills, which, after concurrence by the House, are sent to
 the governor for consideration. Any state senator may draft bills,
which will then be assigned to the relevant Senate committee at the
beginning of the next week. After a bill's hearing on the Senate floor,
any senator may offer amendments, which are immediately voted on. When
the amendment process is complete, a final floor vote is held.

If the Senate amends and passes a bill that began in the House,
the bill will be sent for a conference report to adjust any
discrepancies between the House and Senate versions. After that, both
chambers must vote on whether to approve the conference report.

There is a committee system in the state Senate. Committees hold specialized hearings on relevant bills.

A committee chair is the ranking member of the majority party
within a committee. Above all other senators, a
committee chair has the right of first review over any draft bill on an
issue that falls within the purview of the committee. The committee
chair may grant or refuse a hearing. If the committee chair refuses to
grant a hearing on a bill, that bill can no longer advance. This is true
 even if the bill already passed through the House.

#### Districts

In default mode (4/21/2020), the State Senate district
configuration favors the
Republican Party. Fifteen out of 30
districts lean
Republican by more than 10%. Another 2 districts lean
Republican by exactly 5-10%. Ten
districts lean
Democratic by 10% or more, and another 2 districts lean Democratic by exactly 9%. Under this configuration, a neutral election
year leads to an average party breakdown of 17R-12D and 1 tossup that leans
Democratic. To win party control in the State
Senate, the
Democratic Party needs to win at least 1 seat that
leans
Republican by 11% or more.

### Governor

The governor of Arizona is directly elected to terms of 4 years.
Elections to the governorship are held in even years opposite to U.S.
presidential elections. The governor may sign into law or veto any state
 bill that has passed through both houses of the state legislature. The
governor may also draft legislation and send it to the state legislature
 for consideration. Draft bills from the governor almost always begin in
 the House and have to withstand the regular committee process.

### Counties

Below is a table of counties in Arizona, included with population, party registration and poverty rates.