Jimmy Jenkins/KJZZ

Chuck Coughlin

The 2019 Arizona legislative session includes a member roster in the House that is the closest it’s been in decades. There are 31 Republicans and 29 Democrats, making for some interesting political speculation about which issues will lead to common ground.

One of those Democrats is freshman lawmaker Aaron Lieberman from Legislative District 28 in Phoenix.

District 28 is one of only a few districts in the state to have split-party representation. Usually that’s meant two Republicans and one Democrat, but Lieberman’s victory over incumbent Maria Syms and Republican challenger Kathy Petsas turned that to two Democrats and one Republican.

The Show spoke with Rep. Lieberman about his victory.

One of District 28’s residents is longtime political consultant Chuck Coughlin of HighGround. He explained why Democrats ended up winning both seats in the district and whether it had more to do with the area turning purple or in-fighting on the GOP side.

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