Welcome in, everyone. We are diving straight
into a fascinating timeline today, and we are
so glad to have you joining us for this custom
-tailored deep dive. Absolutely. Thanks for having
me. We've got a source document in front of us
today that, well, at first glance, you might
think it sounds like a dry audio textbook. Right.
It's essentially a Wikipedia article detailing
the complete history of United States senators
from Arizona. Exactly. Just a chronological list
of politicians. But let me tell you. This specific
list hides some incredible statistical anomalies.
You've got marathon careers and periods of just
wild... political musical chairs. It really does,
because this source tracks Arizona's representation
in the Senate from the very moment of its statehood
in 1912 all the way up to our present day March
of 2026. Which covers a lot of ground. It does.
And it specifically details the staggering of
what the Senate calls class one and class three
seats, which is crucial to understanding the
whole timeline. OK, let's unpack this, because
right out of the gate, the history of Arizona
in the Senate starts with this really funny logistical
quirk. The statehood gap. Yes, the gap. So based
on the text, Arizona officially became a state
on Valentine's Day. February 14th, 1912. Right.
But they didn't actually elect their U .S. senators
until over a month later, on March 27. Which
means they left those seats completely vacant
during that initial window. It's just wild to
think about. You know, you are officially a state,
but your desks in the Senate chamber are just
sitting empty while you wait to organize an election.
It really highlights the mechanical reality of
statehood back then. But once they did hold those
elections, they established their two Senate
seats under the mechanical rules we still use
today. The class one and class three seats. Exactly.
U .S. senators from Arizona are popularly elected
for six year terms, but they are staggered. They
don't run at the same time. So how does that
play out currently? Well, looking at the data,
the class one seat's next regular election is
in 2030, while the class three seat is up in
2028. Got it. So they are on entirely different
rhythms. Right. And that matters because it ensures
a state's delegation doesn't completely turn
over in a single election year. It maintains
a level of continuity in Washington. It's a shock
absorber for the political system. Exactly. And
what's fascinating here is the ultimate result
of that design continuity. Since 1912, only 15
individuals have ever served as a senator from
Arizona. Wait, only 15? Just 15 people in well
over a century of history. That is, I want you
to just think about that for a second. Think
about how many people have rotated through your
own workplace in just the last five years. And
contrast that with only 15 senators for an entire
state since 1912. It's an incredible bottleneck.
It really is. So I'm looking at the early records
here to figure out why that number is so low.
And the longevity of these early politicians
just jumps off the page. They really settled
in. They did. You have Henry F. Ashurst, who
was one of the state's very first senators in
the class one seat. He won that inaugural election
and served from 1912 all the way to 1941. Nearly
three decades in one seat. Almost 30 years. But
even Ashurst gets dwarfed by the absolute heavyweight
of this list. Carl Hayden. Yes. Hayden is the
ultimate record holder here. He was elected to
the class three seat in 1926, and he served from
1927 until 1969. From 1927 to 1969. That is 42
years. 42 years occupying a single Senate seat.
It almost defies comprehension today. I mean,
we are not just talking about a long career here.
We are talking about multiple generations of
Arizona history being overseen by a single person.
He weathered the Great Depression, World War
II, the Cold War, all from that one desk. And
when one person mathematically locks down a seat
for half a century, it severely restricts how
many total individuals can ever join that list
of 15. Precisely. The class three seat was essentially
off the board for decades. Here's where it gets
really interesting. Because I'm looking at another
massive name on this list, Barry Goldwater, and
his timeline is highly unusual. It breaks the
mold entirely. Walk us through the Goldwater
shuffle here. So Goldwater was elected to the
class one seat in 1952. He served there until
1965 when he retired to run for U .S. president.
Right, which usually means your time representing
your state in the Senate is over. Normally, yes.
But he wasn't done. In 1968, Carl Hayden finally
retired, opening up the class three seat. Goldwater
ran again, this time for that class three seat
one, and served there from 1969 until 1987. So
he builds his career in class one, steps away,
and then returns to claim the class three seat.
He essentially jumps tracks. It's a very rare
double duty maneuver across two different electoral
classes. And looking further down the list, John
Callow pulled a very similar trick. decades later.
He did. Kell served in the Class 1 seat from
1995 until he voluntarily retired in 2013. A
solid 18 -year run. But as the source shows,
he was suddenly appointed back into the Senate
in 2018 to temporarily fill a vacancy in the
Class 3 seat. If we connect this to the bigger
picture, what do these overlapping timelines
tell us? Well, it shows a very unique pattern
in Arizona's political ecosystem. You have a
system where established names are continually
recycled back into the fold across different
electoral classes. Name ID is incredibly valuable.
They bring the veterans back because the voters
already know them. Exactly. But that temporary
return of John Kyle in 2018 really marks a turning
point in this document because we've been talking
about these ironclad decades of consistency,
right? Right. But starting in 2018, the class
three seat. suddenly descends into absolute chaos.
The contrast is jarring. John McCain had held
that class three seat since 1987. Continuing
that tradition of longevity. Yes. But he passed
away in office on August 25, 2018. And that triggered
a rapid fire chain of succession. Let's trace
this timeline carefully because it moves fast.
The seat was vacant until September 4 when John
Creel was appointed. Okay. But Kai resigned on
December 31 of that same year. So we have another
vacancy. Briefly. Yeah. Yes. Then Martha McSally
was appointed in 2019. That's three people in
one seat in less than a year. And it continued.
Mark Kelly then won the special election in 2020
to finish out McCain's original term, and he
was later reelected in 2022. So you go from Carl
Hayden holding the seat for 42 years to having
four different occupants, McCain, Kyle, McSally,
and Kelly, in just over two years. It's a massive
institutional whiplash. And the class one seat
was shifting dramatically during this exact same
window, wasn't it? It was. Kyrsten Sinema was
elected to the class one seat in 2018. And the
source notes a pretty significant affiliation
change during her term. Yes. The record shows
she left the Democratic Party on December 9th,
2022, to become an independent. And she ultimately
chose to retire rather than run again. Correct.
Which brings us right up to the present day.
Ruben Gallego was elected in 2024 and officially
took office on January 3rd, 2025. Meaning the
current Senate delegation for Arizona as of March
2026 consists of Democrats Mark Kelly. And Ruben
Gallego. That's right. The dust has sort of settled
on a completely new era. And just to briefly
zoom out and give you a complete picture of the
state's current federal lawmakers, because the
population has grown so much since 1912. Arizona
also has nine House representatives right now.
A much larger delegation overall. Yeah. You have
Schweikert, Crane, Ansari, Stanton, Biggs, Siskamani.
Grialva, Hamadei, and Gosar. Just a huge modern
political apparatus compared to those two empty
desks back in 1912. It's a completely different
landscape. So what does this all mean? That's
the big question. We started by looking at what
seemed like a simple Wikipedia table of names
and dates. But as we tracked the data, we found
a roadmap of deep historical stability. punctuated
by these intense moments of rapid turnover and
political comebacks. This raises an important
question about how we view the constant ebb and
flow of congressional power. When you understand
the underlying rhythm of these six -year staggered
cycles, all this turnover stops looking like
random events and starts making mechanical sense.
It gives you the blueprint. And I want to leave
you with one final thing to ponder based on this
source data. Okay. Look at the stark contrast
we just discussed. You have Carl Hayden's 42
year term on one hand, and then this recent chaos
where the class three seat had four different
occupants in just over two years on the other.
The extremes of the spectrum. Exactly. You have
to wonder, is the era of the lifelong multi -decade
senator permanently over? Has politics just become
too volatile for that? Or is this just a brief
chaotic chapter before the next 40 year incumbent
emerges to quietly lock down a seat? That is
a fascinating thought. There's something to mull
over next time you look at a ballot. Keep questioning
the data, everyone, and thank you so much for
joining us on this deep dive.