Arizona’s Partisan Showdown Ends with Dubious Budget Deal Amidst GOP Pushback

Arizona’s recent legislative session culminated in the passage of a $17.6 billion budget, signed by Governor Katie Hobbs, but the process revealed a fractured government struggling to serve its citizens amid partisan warfare. The Democrat governor faced an emboldened Republican-led Legislature that pushed back against her policy priorities and agency appointments — underscoring the dangerous dysfunction when political power is split without cooperative will. Despite bipartisan rhetoric, the session was marred by infighting both between and within parties. Republican lawmakers traded barbs among themselves and clashed openly with Gov. Hobbs, who set a record-breaking pace for vetoing bills she deemed...