Classified · Public Record · Open the Files
50 YEARS ON A GOVERNMENT PAYROLLSCR 1020 — AUTOMATIC PAY RAISE FOREVER47 OF HIS BILLS VETOED244 BILLS WITH PHOENIX DEMOCRATS54 BILLS WITH KATIE HOBBSLONE GOP NO ON HB 2710 ELECTION INTEGRITY8-FOOT POLICE FILMING BAN — STRUCK DOWNTP ACTION SCORE: 67% ON HEALTH FREEDOMTP ACTION SCORE: 67% ON EDUCATIONFOUR BILLS TO REGULATE VAPE & NICOTINE“NOBODY RAISED THESE CONCERNS” — ON HIS OWN GUN BILLWROTE THE FY 2026 BUDGET HOBBS SIGNED50 YEARS ON A GOVERNMENT PAYROLLSCR 1020 — AUTOMATIC PAY RAISE FOREVER47 OF HIS BILLS VETOED244 BILLS WITH PHOENIX DEMOCRATS54 BILLS WITH KATIE HOBBSLONE GOP NO ON HB 2710 ELECTION INTEGRITY8-FOOT POLICE FILMING BAN — STRUCK DOWNTP ACTION SCORE: 67% ON HEALTH FREEDOMTP ACTION SCORE: 67% ON EDUCATIONFOUR BILLS TO REGULATE VAPE & NICOTINE“NOBODY RAISED THESE CONCERNS” — ON HIS OWN GUN BILLWROTE THE FY 2026 BUDGET HOBBS SIGNED
FILE: KAVANAGH-J / LD-3 / 2026ARIZONA REPUBLICAN PRIMARY · JULY 21, 2026
Public record · Sourced receipts

STOPKAVANAGH

Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh has been on a government payroll for 50 years. He's been in the Arizona Legislature for 19 years. His signature 2026 bill is a ballot measure to give himself an automatic pay raise — every year, forever, with no future vote.

Every claim on this site is sourced to a roll call, a bill number, or a published quote in his own words. Click any case file below to read the receipts. Then vote on July 21, 2026.

Open the Case FilesView Sources
EVIDENCE · DO NOT IGNORE · EVIDENCE · DO NOT IGNORE · EVIDENCE · DO NOT IGNORE
See the Receipts
CASE FILES

The Kavanagh Record

Receipts. Roll calls. Quotes. Each case file is in his own bills, his own votes, or his own words.

DEAL
Worked With Katie Hobbs 54 Times.
SPONSORSHIP DATADATA

Worked With Katie Hobbs 54 Times.

Before she became governor and started vetoing every Republican bill in sight, then-State Senator Katie Hobbs and John Kavanagh worked together on 54 separate pieces of legislation. He has co-sponsored 244 bills with Phoenix Democrats career-wide — 61 with progressive Catherine Miranda, 51 with Lela Alston, 36 with self-described socialist Juan Mendez.

Source: Arizona Legislature primary bill sponsor records, 2012–2026 sessions (azleg.gov; Legiscan.com bill search).

Open sources
SOURCES
RAISE
Wants to Give Himself a Pay Raise — Forever.
SCR 1020 (2026)ENGROSSED

Wants to Give Himself a Pay Raise — Forever.

After 50 years on a government payroll, Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh's signature 2026 bill is a ballot referral that automatically raises legislator pay every single year, indexed to inflation, with no future vote required.

Source: Arizona Capitol Times, Jan 11, 2026 — “There aren't many people looking around for half-time workers.”

Open sources
SOURCES
GRADED
Turning Point Gave Him a D in Education.
TP ACTION SCORECARDCITED

Turning Point Gave Him a D in Education.

Turning Point Action publishes the lifetime key-issues scorecard the Republican grassroots actually use. Sen. John Kavanagh’s lifetime grades: Educational Freedom 66.67%. Health & Medical Freedom 67.50%. Taxes & Spending 73.33%.

Source: Turning Point Action lifetime key-issues scorecard — Sen. John Kavanagh (LD-3).

Open sources
SOURCES
BAN
Tried to Make Filming the Police a Crime.
HB 2319 (2022)STRUCK DOWN

Tried to Make Filming the Police a Crime.

Kavanagh personally wrote the 8-foot police-filming ban — passed in 2022, immediately struck down by a federal judge as unconstitutional. The Arizona Attorney General refused to defend it. He then wrote a USA Today op-ed defending it anyway.

Source: USA Today op-ed, March 2022 / federal court ruling, July 2022.

Open sources
SOURCES
BAN
Wrote a Bill to Ban Releasing Balloons.
SB 1004 (2026)INTRODUCED

Wrote a Bill to Ban Releasing Balloons.

Yes, really. SB 1004 (2025/2026) — “unlawful release of balloons.” One of dozens of nanny-state bills Kavanagh has personally introduced. Every session since 2007, he has introduced a bill to make a new thing illegal in Arizona.

Source: Senate Bill 1004 (2026) — Arizona Legislature.

Open sources
SOURCES
BAN
Wanted a Crime for Driving With a Dog on Your Lap.
SB 1116 (2018)INTRODUCED

Wanted a Crime for Driving With a Dog on Your Lap.

SB 1116 (2018) would have made it a crime to drive with an animal on your lap. It is one of more than fifty animal-related bills he has personally filed — a steady drumbeat of new mandates, restrictions, and offenses telling Arizonans how to handle their own pets and property.

Source: Senate Bill 1116 (2018) — Arizona Legislature; public bill and sponsor record (azleg.gov, Legiscan.com).

Open sources
SOURCES
BAN
Wrote a Bill Mandating Hand-Washing at Petting Zoos.
SB 1082 (2026)INTRODUCED

Wrote a Bill Mandating Hand-Washing at Petting Zoos.

SB 1082 (2026) imposes new state mandates on petting zoos requiring supervised hand-washing stations and government training. Just one of 50+ animal-control bills he has personally sponsored.

Source: Senate Bill 1082 (2026) — Arizona Legislature official text and sponsor list (azleg.gov).

Open sources
SOURCES
BAN
Bills to Criminalize Standing in a Median.
SB 1022 / SB 1029INTRODUCED

Bills to Criminalize Standing in a Median.

SB 1022 / SB 1024 (2023) and SB 1029 (2025) — bans on “asking for money on a median” and pedestrians on streets. He told ABC15 of these laws: “like jaywalking, we have these laws on the books to remind people this is wrong.”

Source: ABC15 Arizona and Arizona Mirror — on-the-record interviews on panhandling and median-safety legislation.

Open sources
SOURCES
BETRAY
27 Republicans Voted YES. Kavanagh Was the Lone NO.
HB 2710 (2022)VETOED

27 Republicans Voted YES. Kavanagh Was the Lone NO.

On HB 2710 (2022), the major election-integrity bill of the cycle, 27 Arizona House Republicans voted YES. John Kavanagh was the only Republican to side with the Phoenix Democrats. The bill failed by 4 votes.

Source: Arizona House of Representatives official roll call: HB 2710, Third Reading, June 24, 2022 (azleg.gov).

Open sources
SOURCES
DEAL
Cut the Budget Deal Hobbs Wanted.
SB 1735 (2025)PASSED

Cut the Budget Deal Hobbs Wanted.

Senate Majority Leader Kavanagh wrote and passed SB 1735 (2025) — the FY 2026 budget — with bipartisan Hobbs support, while his own deputy whip dismissed the House Republican budget as “fantasyland.” When the House GOP drew a line, Kavanagh handed Hobbs the deal she wanted.

Source: AZ Capitol Times, June 16, 2025 — “House GOP budget rejected.”

Open sources
SOURCES
RINO
When He Breaks Ranks, He Breaks LEFT.
SENATE VOTE TABULATIONDATA

When He Breaks Ranks, He Breaks LEFT.

On the votes where Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) breaks with the GOP caucus — he votes MORE conservative 20.5% of the time. When Kavanagh breaks ranks, he votes more conservative just 0.6% of the time. He is the lowest-conservative break-ranks profile in the entire Arizona Senate. The day he got the gavel, even that collapsed.

Source: Arizona Senate official roll calls, 2023–2026 sessions (contested Yea/Nay votes; azleg.gov and Legiscan.com vote history).

Open sources
SOURCES
QUOTE
He Branded the Grassroots ‘The Wrath of the Base.’
AZ Capitol Times (Jan. 11, 2026)CITED

He Branded the Grassroots ‘The Wrath of the Base.’

Asked by the Arizona Capitol Times (Jan. 11, 2026) why no Senate Republican would be the one to break ranks, Majority Leader Kavanagh said it was because that senator would have “incurred the full wrath of the base.” He did not say the Constitution, or the district, or your rights stopped them. He said full wrath, and the base, like you are a hazard the caucus is trained to avoid — not the people he is supposed to answer to. In his own words, it is fear of the primary, not respect for you, that keeps the line from breaking.

Source: AZ Capitol Times, January 11, 2026 — “Ringing in the new hot topics.”

Open sources
SOURCES
ADMIT
Voted For a Gun Bill. Then Said He Didn’t Understand It.
AZ CAPITOL TIMES (cited)CITED

Voted For a Gun Bill. Then Said He Didn’t Understand It.

Kavanagh sponsored legislation requiring Arizona police to sell off firearms used in crimes. After Second Amendment voters started raising concerns, he told the Arizona Capitol Times: “nobody… raised these concerns when we passed it.” He is now filing carve-outs in 2026 to clean up his own work. The Senate Majority Leader admitted, on the record, that he voted on a gun bill he did not fully understand — and only thought twice about it after pressure from the base.

Source: Arizona Capitol Times — “John Kavanagh has second thoughts on selling firearms used in crimes.”

Open sources
SOURCES
CAREER
50 Years on a Government Payroll.
AZ SENATE BIO + PRESSCITED

50 Years on a Government Payroll.

20 years as a Port Authority of NY/NJ cop. Years as a public-college professor. 6 years on Fountain Hills Town Council. 19 years in the Arizona Legislature. His wife was the Mayor of Fountain Hills. He calls himself a “citizen legislator.”

Source: Arizona Senate biography; AZ Capitol Times, January 11, 2026.

Open sources
SOURCES
FAIL
47 of His Bills Have Been Vetoed.
CUMULATIVE VETO COUNTVETOED

47 of His Bills Have Been Vetoed.

Forty-seven Kavanagh-sponsored bills have been killed by Arizona governors — including 11 election-integrity bills and the entire 2026 SNAP/TANF trio. His one veto-bypass move? A ballot referral to give himself a pay raise.

Source: Arizona bill status records and governor veto actions, 2012–2026 (Arizona Legislature; Governor’s Office veto messages on azleg.gov).

Open sources
SOURCES

July 21, 2026 · LD-3 Republican Primary

RETIRE KAVANAGH.

Robert Wallace is the conservative challenger taking on the Senate Majority Leader in LD-3. Every dollar funds another door knocked, another mailer mailed, and another Republican primary voter who sees the case file before they cast a ballot.

Donate to Wallace

Secure · Anedot · Wallace for Senate

SOURCESevery claim. every receipt.

We don't need to make anything up.

Every claim on this page is tied to a published news article, an official Arizona Legislature bill or roll call, a governor’s action, or a member biography on azleg.gov. Below, the receipt for each case file:

  • SPONSORSHIP DATADATA

    Worked With Katie Hobbs 54 Times.

    Arizona Legislature primary bill sponsor records, 2012–2026 sessions (azleg.gov; Legiscan.com bill search).

  • SCR 1020 (2026)ENGROSSED

    Wants to Give Himself a Pay Raise — Forever.

    Arizona Capitol Times, Jan 11, 2026 — “There aren't many people looking around for half-time workers.”

  • TP ACTION SCORECARDCITED

    Turning Point Gave Him a D in Education.

    Turning Point Action lifetime key-issues scorecard — Sen. John Kavanagh (LD-3).

  • HB 2319 (2022)STRUCK DOWN

    Tried to Make Filming the Police a Crime.

    USA Today op-ed, March 2022 / federal court ruling, July 2022.

  • SB 1004 (2026)INTRODUCED

    Wrote a Bill to Ban Releasing Balloons.

    Senate Bill 1004 (2026) — Arizona Legislature.

  • SB 1116 (2018)INTRODUCED

    Wanted a Crime for Driving With a Dog on Your Lap.

    Senate Bill 1116 (2018) — Arizona Legislature; public bill and sponsor record (azleg.gov, Legiscan.com).

  • SB 1082 (2026)INTRODUCED

    Wrote a Bill Mandating Hand-Washing at Petting Zoos.

    Senate Bill 1082 (2026) — Arizona Legislature official text and sponsor list (azleg.gov).

  • SB 1022 / SB 1029INTRODUCED

    Bills to Criminalize Standing in a Median.

    ABC15 Arizona and Arizona Mirror — on-the-record interviews on panhandling and median-safety legislation.

  • HB 2710 (2022)VETOED

    27 Republicans Voted YES. Kavanagh Was the Lone NO.

    Arizona House of Representatives official roll call: HB 2710, Third Reading, June 24, 2022 (azleg.gov).

  • SB 1735 (2025)PASSED

    Cut the Budget Deal Hobbs Wanted.

    AZ Capitol Times, June 16, 2025 — “House GOP budget rejected.”

  • SENATE VOTE TABULATIONDATA

    When He Breaks Ranks, He Breaks LEFT.

    Arizona Senate official roll calls, 2023–2026 sessions (contested Yea/Nay votes; azleg.gov and Legiscan.com vote history).

  • AZ Capitol Times (Jan. 11, 2026)CITED

    He Branded the Grassroots ‘The Wrath of the Base.’

    AZ Capitol Times, January 11, 2026 — “Ringing in the new hot topics.”

  • AZ CAPITOL TIMES (cited)CITED

    Voted For a Gun Bill. Then Said He Didn’t Understand It.

    Arizona Capitol Times — “John Kavanagh has second thoughts on selling firearms used in crimes.”

  • AZ SENATE BIO + PRESSCITED

    50 Years on a Government Payroll.

    Arizona Senate biography; AZ Capitol Times, January 11, 2026.

  • CUMULATIVE VETO COUNTVETOED

    47 of His Bills Have Been Vetoed.

    Arizona bill status records and governor veto actions, 2012–2026 (Arizona Legislature; Governor’s Office veto messages on azleg.gov).

Aggregate counts (50 years on payroll, 19 years in the Legislature, 244 bills with Phoenix Democrats, 54 with Katie Hobbs personally, 167 broke-ranks votes, 47 vetoed bills) are tabulated from public Arizona legislative session data: official bill and sponsor records, House and Senate roll calls, governor’s vetoes, and the member biography published for John Kavanagh on azleg.gov. (Bill and vote indexes such as Legiscan.com mirror the same public filings.)