Rep. Lorena Austin and Jacob Martinez, both Democrats, and Republican Brad Bettencourt participated in the Clean Elections debate for Legislative District 9 on Oct. 6, 2026. The debate was moderated by journalist TJ L’Heureux of the Arizona Agenda. Democrats are hoping to hold onto a Mesa legislative district in their bid to capture the state legislature, fending off a challenge from a Republican with ties to Kari Lake.
Legislative District 9, which stretches across Mesa’s downtown core and much of the west side of the city, leans Democratic but is among the most competitive districts in the state. Its two seats in the Arizona House of Representatives have been held by Democrats since 2022, though it’s been close. In 2022, Seth Blattman narrowly defeated a Republican opponent to win his first term by just 760 votes. Two years later, Blattman eked out a second term with a vote difference of 928 between him and another Republican candidate. Blattman chose not to run for re-election this year.
During a Tuesday debate, political newcomer Jacob Martinez and Rep. Lorena Austin, who is seeking re-election, called on voters to reject Republican Brad Bettencourt, characterizing him as an outsider who will push many of the same policies the current GOP majority has. “I think it’s very clear that the choice for our district should be people who are from this community, who love it and who will always advocate for it,” Austin said.
Austin and Martinez both grew up in Mesa. Bettencourt, who attended Arizona State University and has lived in Arizona for many years, touted his career in banking as proof that he is best suited to addressing affordability issues at the state legislature. “Who up here actually has made the numbers work in the past? And who’s in the best position to make your life more affordable?” he said.
Bettencourt’s past criticism of the state’s elections were particularly spotlighted on Tuesday. Bettencourt previously worked as a technician at a vote center in Maricopa County in 2022, and testified that same year as a witness for failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake as she tried to overturn her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs. When asked on Tuesday whether he believes Hobbs was legitimately elected, Bettencourt refused to say she was. “Katie Hobbs is currently governor,” he said in his first response. “If anyone doesn’t like that, they can vote in November.” Shortly after Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Republicans who falsely claimed that Trump won frequently sidestepped the issue at the time by asserting that Biden was the sitting president. When pressed on whether he believes Hobbs was legitimately elected, Bettencourt conceded that she was elected, but omitted the key word “legitimately.” “She’s elected governor,” he said.
While Bettencourt complained that he witnessed “some of the most incompetent and inefficient group of workers” during his time in Maricopa County elections, he was unable to say what legislation he would advance in the state legislature to improve conditions. Instead, he blamed the county’s election issues on “sloppiness.” Meanwhile, Austin, who is Arizona’s first nonbinary legislator and uses they/them pronouns, said they would be interested in working to make elections more accessible for disabled voters and placing more ballot boxes in rural areas. And Martinez said he would push for the state to allow election workers to tabulate early ballots turned in on election day immediately, which he said would help speed up results and help raise public trust. “People’s biggest complaint with our elections is that we don’t get results fast enough,” Martinez said. “Yet the Republican legislature refuses to allow early ballots to be counted before a g
