Arizona Democrats at odds ahead of critical midterm elections
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Heading into the pivotal 2026 mid-term elections, Arizona Democrats would rather fight with each other than with Republicans.
Over the weekend, the newly elected Democratic leader sent the party into a meltdown. In a scathing letter, Robert E. Branscomb II accused the state’s two Democratic U.S. Senators of trying to threaten and bully him.
In response, the state’s top Democratic elected officials, which included the senators and the governor, issued a joint statement saying they had lost their faith in Branscomb’s leadership.
“While the Chair has lost our trust, we’re not going to let that deter us from our mission of winning in 2026,” they said in their letter.
This kind of infighting rarely comes to light and occurs at a pivotal time.
Next year, Democrats will aim to retain the top three statewide offices, pick up congressional seats, and win one or both chambers of the state legislature. A public feud like this could have real political consequences for Democrats because it threatens to harm the kind of fundraising the party needs to succeed next year.
Arizona’s Family Complete Political Coverage
In his letter, Branscomb described how the party infighting started. The chairman said Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego threatened to pull their support because they were upset with his hiring decisions.
“The idea that both Arizona Senators would withdraw support because I did not choose their preferred candidate is not only troubling — it’s a threat to the integrity and independence of our party,” Branscomb wrote.
Branscomb, who is Black, also accused someone on Kelly’s staff of trying to sow racial division among the party by saying, “My election was the result of ‘Black folks coming after Latinos.’”
In their joint statement, the state’s top Democrats wrote, “Unfortunately, his statement today includes many false claims and is the kind of bad-faith response we’ve come to expect from the new leadership over the last several weeks.”
Rank and file Democrats elected Branscomb in January, after a disappointing election in which the party lost seats in the state Legislature.
And when asked if he would consider resigning since he lost the trust of Arizona’s top Democrats, Branscomb said, “I have done nothing wrong.”
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
