The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast

Trump and his self-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, after the internet meme, is attempting to rein in the amount of national spending and the size of the federal government.About 32,000 of the 3 million federal employees are Arizonans, and the number of layoffs and buyouts offered by the Trump administration remains unclear. Most agencies that The Arizona Republic has reached out to for information about layoffs or buyouts have not responded. Slashing federal jobs will impact not only people who have been fired or offered a buyout, but also tourists to the Grand Canyon, Arizonans reliant on Social Security and Hotshots preparing for wildfire season.This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by The Republic's national politics reporter Stephanie Murray. Murray covers the White House and has been closely following how Arizonans will be impacted by Trump's federal job cuts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new year also brought a slightly larger Republican majority in both the House and Senate, furthering the political divide at the Capitol. Gov. Katie Hobbs has already delivered her first veto of the year, denying a Republican-backed proposal to fast-track election results.The political partition complicates Hobbs’ goal of scoring wins on her agenda ahead of her 2026 reelection bid. It also coincided with the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, and some of the bills have echoes of his pledges. This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Mary Jo Pitzl sits down with Stan Barnes, who's out at the Capitol often. He’s a former state lawmaker and the founder of Copper State Consulting Group, a political lobbying firm in Arizona.Together, they discuss if the Republican dominated Legislature can get their bills passed into law while Hobbs sits in the head office; key topics lawmakers are hoping to cover; and how the 2026 election looms over the session. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Montenegro is not new to the Capitol — he served eight years in the Legislature before an unsuccessful run for Congress in 2018. In 2022, he returned to state politics when he was elected to represent Legislative District 29 along with fellow Republican Austin Smith.At the end of last year, Republicans elected Montenegro as the new speaker of the House of Representatives for the next session.A native of El Salvador, Montenegro is the first Latino to lead the 60-member House. He won the seat after serving just two years, which sets him up for a chance to serve as speaker for three consecutive terms — a rarity in the fast-moving world of legislative term limits and politics.This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl sit down with Montenegro at the beginning of his term as speaker.Together they discuss how his immigration background influences him, unifying the Republican party in Arizona, and his approach for working with Hobbs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Being a swing state, Arizona's politics are watched with a magnifying glass across the country. It's not just who wins – though that is definitely what matters most – but it is smaller things.Among the details that seem to move to the forefront is who leads the major parties. This serves a temperature check for how the parties are running and where they're trending.2024 was a pretty good year for Republicans in Arizona, as elsewhere. President Donald Trump won the state and Republicans won in all other races that were thought to be a toss-up.Unsurprisingly, that left Democrats looking for changes in their state party leadership, despite holding office in all of the major roles in the state. The GOP stuck with a leader they didn’t initially select two years ago, though she faced a challenge to keep her post.This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Kirk Adams and Sam Richard of Consilium Consulting, a Phoenix-based firm that handles lobbying and consulting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maricopa County is the economic driver of Arizona and at least politically, largely shapes the state's identity.During the 2024 election, the county went through a political overhaul. There are a lot of new faces dealing with a lot of familiar issues. Illegal immigration, sports venues and a jail tax are all on the county's list to tackle in the months to come. But how will new blood approach old business?This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by county politics reporter Sasha Hupka. Together, they break down the big changes at the state's biggest county. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump's "Day 1" has come and gone and so far, he has kept most of his promises.The president signed an abundance of executive orders in the hours following his inauguration, some directly impacting Arizonans, with more to come in the first few days of his new administration. But is this the beginning of a MAGA marathon or an early sprint before the chance of a changing tide in the 2026 midterm elections?This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by national politics reporters Stephanie Murray and Laura Gersony. Together they go through what Trump’s second time in office may mean for Arizonans and the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President-elect Donald Trump is gearing up for his inauguration on Jan. 20 and the start of the new administration holds significance for Arizona. Trump has promised to start mass deportations on "day one" and to quickly tighten border protections.As for now, the border seems calm. But "day one" is coming soon.This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by southern Arizona reporter Sarah Lapidus. She has been at the border with The Republic's immigration reporter Rafael Romero Ruiz, talking with people who call the borderlands home.This week, The Republic is launching a newsletter to keep you up to date on changing immigration developments and border policies. Subscribe to the American Border newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

t's been four years since the riot at the U.S. Capitol shook the country. It was the first time in history there wasn't a peaceful transfer of power as the electoral votes were finalized. This week's presidential certification was notably without the violence and chaos that defined January 6, 2021.This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl take a look back at 2021 and how the aftermath of the Capitol attack is still playing out today.In this episode, you'll hear interviews from 2021 with Senator Ruben Gallego and Maricopa County Supervisor Debbie Lesko, who were representatives at the time and in the Capitol building that day. They share their firsthand account with The Gaggle.Then, an interview with reporter Richard Ruelas from 2022 as the investigation into the attack was beginning and Arizona names were coming to light.Listen to the full interviews from 2021 here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2025 isn't an election year, but that doesn't mean that Arizona politics will be boring.Newly elected Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego is preparing his move to Washington DC. Heading to the National's capitol as well, are seemingly diametrically opposed members of Congress that Arizonans voted in for the first time this year. Democrat Yassamin Ansari and Republican Abe Hamadeh are among a new batch of freshman in Congress.Meanwhile, Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs didn’t flip the Legislature like she wanted and is actually facing an even more conservative group of state lawmakers. In the background, she is also preparing her run for re-election in 2026.This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Republic politics reporters to give a sense of what they're looking at for the year ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday, listeners. We're taking the week off to be with our families. See you in 2025! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices