Overview
- Republicans Tom Horne and Kimberly Yee meet in a Clean Elections Commission debate Thursday night, following Wednesday’s Democratic forum with Brett Newby and Teresa Leyba Ruiz.
- The Citizens Clean Elections Commission sponsors both events, and The Arizona Republic streamed the Democratic debate with the Arizona Media Association as partner.
- The candidates keep the focus on the Empowerment Scholarship Account vouchers, which let parents use state funds for private schooling, and on teacher retention.
- Newby calls for scaling back ESA vouchers, hiring more school counselors, and changing the K‑12 spending cap by resetting its base year and indexing it to inflation.
- Ruiz, a longtime educator and former Glendale Community College president, pushes tighter ESA oversight and more public school funding, while Horne and Yee emphasize school choice and culture issues ahead of the July 21 primary.