Arizona for Abortion Access plans to file a lawsuit by Wednesday over the way their initiative is currently summarized in the description pamphlet that is sent to voters ahead of the election, Communications Director Dawn Penich told our reporter. The hearing for the pamphlet description for the Arizona Abortion Access Act met backlash from Democrat lawmakers on Monday. “We are profoundly disappointed that the Arizona Legislative Council today chose to disregard its statutory duty to produce an impartial summary of the Arizona Abortion Access Act by rejecting our common-sense request to use neutral, universally-recognized medical terminology in their ongoing effort to put extremist politics above Arizona voter’s rights,” Penich said in a prepared statement. The group is planning to sue in order to “ensure Arizona voters are presented with clear and accurate information before they cast their ballots,” Penich said. Gutierrez said during the hearing Tuesday that“scientific language is the most appropriate to use” and suggested an amendment to the initiative’s description which would have changed “unborn human being” to “fetus,” but it did not pass. Attorney Austin Yost, representing the Arizona for Abortion access campaign committee, said Monday the legislative staff did an “excellent job” preparing the summary but suggested the same amendment. “This amendment would make the summary neutral, objective and medically accurate, and it would be consistent throughout,” Yost said, pointing to a later line item in the description which used the term “fetus.” Yost said the council has a statutory duty to provide an impartial analysis and the term “unborn human being” is “tinged with partisan coloring.” Republican lawmakers disagreed, and said the use of both terms provided a balanced description of what the constitutional amendment would do. Stahl-Hamilton, said “fetus” is the most-medically accurate word to use, just as “spontaneous abortion” is the term for an accurate way to describe a miscarriage. However, Republicans said they were more focused on how the public understands terminology. “I’m not a doctor, Representative Stahl-Hamilton, I don’t care what the medical accurate term is,” Toma said. “The average person doesn’t refer to it that way. They refer to it as a miscarriage, and we commonly refer to it as that, because there’s a distinction, and the words actually matter.” With an 8-6 vote, the panel voted to leave the language the way it was.

Political pollsters at Noble Predictive Insights say the CD1 Democratic Primary race is a toss-up. The company published its polling data for the race Tuesday and none of the six candidates got more than 20% of respondents to support them. "This race is a mess. And that's not a surprise. National politics has sucked all of the air out of the room. None of these candidates are particularly well-known. And on the Democratic side of the aisle, there’s no single issue that focuses and divides up primaries," said David Byler, the chief of research at Noble. “Many Democrats haven’t tuned in, and those who have are split and unsure.” All candidates also may have difficulty with name recognition with at least 20% of respondents indicating they’ve never heard of every candidate. Candidates Andrei Cherny and Amish Shah polled the best, with both getting support from 16% of respondents, but 35% of respondents said they’re not sure who they’ll vote for and Byler said that likely underestimated the number of persuadable voters in the race. Marlene Galán-Woods received support from 14% of respondents and Connor O’Callaghan got 11%. “It’s interesting that this close to Election Day, no candidate has reached at least 20% support. Democrats might be a little rusty in their campaigning having had no competitive primaries in a long time and since Arizona has become a battleground,” said Noble CEO Mike Noble. The poll was conducted from June 25-27 and surveyed 420 CD1 likely Democratic primary voters.

A couple of Democratic candidates in swing districts released their fundraising numbers a few days earlier than when campaign finance reports are due for quarter two. The Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee informed our reporter that LD4 candidates Kelli Butler and Karen Gresham both broke records for how much money a state House candidate has raised in the second quarter fundraising period. Butler raised more than $150,000 and Gresham raised more than $140,000. They face Gress, who raised $70,000 in the first quarter and ended the period with $177,000 in cash balance. “Last quarter's fundraising clearly shows voters want elected officials who will focus on real problems we face, especially protecting access to abortion and contraception and supporting our public schools. I'm grateful for all the voters who understand that our LD4 House race is a real opportunity to create a new, democratic majority who will prioritize these important issues,” Butler said in a written statement to our reporter. Republican Pamela Carter is also running in LD4 and raised $23,000 in the first quarter, which was nearly as much as Butler and Gresham combined during that period. Schwiebert also raised $166,000 for her LD2 Senate campaign. She had $161,000 at the end of the first quarter. Her opponent, Bolick, raised $113,000 at the end of the first quarter, while Schwiebert nearly doubled how much she outraised Bolick by in quarter one.

• To help keep traffic moving through the work zone this weekend, east- and westbound Jomax Road will be closed at I-17. Southbound I-17 drivers wanting to access Jomax Road can continue to Happy Valley Road and use northbound 19th Avenue.
• Drivers wanting to enter southbound I-17 at Jomax Road will be directed onto northbound I-17 to access southbound I-17 at Loop 303/Sonoran Desert Drive.
• The southbound I-17 off-ramp at Loop 303/Sonoran Desert Drive will be closed from 9 p.m. Friday until 8 a.m. Saturday, July 13, and from 9 p.m. Saturday until 5 a.m. Sunday, July 14.
• Earlier in the week, on Wednesday and Thursday nights, July 10 and 11, southbound I-17 will be narrowed to one lane between Loop 303 and Dixileta Drive from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. The southbound I-17 on-ramp at Loop 303/Sonoran Desert Drive also will be closed during the same hours.