UPDATE 12:10 p.m., Feb. 4, 2026: A statement from the city was added to the story.

An amendment adopted by the state House yesterday could push the 2026 midterm elections ahead by two weeks. That includes Maricopa’s election for city council.  

The Arizona House of Representatives on Monday passed House Bill 2022, according to a House press release. The emergency legislation will permanently change the primary election date from the first Tuesday of August to the second-to-last Tuesday of July.  

That means the primary election will now be held July 21, instead of Aug. 4. 

The measure is now headed to the state Senate for consideration before it eventually lands on the governor’s desk.  

Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R-Scottsdale), who sponsored the bill, said the bill is aimed at ensuring overseas military voters are not “disenfranchised.”  

“This bill exists for one reason: to make sure Arizona voters, especially our men and women serving overseas in uniform, are not disenfranchised because Congress changed the rules and failed to check the calendar,” he said.  

So, how would this impact primary elections in Maricopa?  

City council candidates received a heads-up last month that the bill pushes the primary election date up two weeks, meaning the dates to submit nomination forms will be earlier than the April deadline. Currently, candidates must submit between 440 and 879 signatures to the city clerk between March 7 and April 6. 

InMaricopa contacted a city spokesperson for the new submission date. They said in an email they are monitoring the bill and “will be following direction from the state on how to proceed with any date changes.”

“Our goal is to keep our candidates informed of these changes if and when they happen. We have already been in contact with them since [Kolodin] first introduced the bill,” said city spokesperson Monica Williams.

That deadline could be as early as March 23. This would affect not only the time candidates spend obtaining signatures, but also the timeline for campaign fundraising and stumping before the election.

This is the second year when election dates were moved due to Senate Bill 1008, a Republican-backed bill requiring an automatic recount if the tally between the top two candidates in an election is off by 0.5%. The previous requirement was for a difference of 0.1% between the candidates. 

An emergency bill was passed in 2024 to address the change to state code, but it was only a temporary fix. That bill moved the primary election date from Aug. 6 to July 30.