Today, Monday, November 2, 2026, the Arizona Sun published an article by Cody Bashore, "Election 2026: Familiar names seek reelection, return to office in Arizona's 7th Legislative District," about the candidates in tomorrow's election, including Richard Grayson:
With the Republican Party holding a significant advantage among registered voters in the 7th Legislative District, a trio of familiar names enter November’s general election as the favorites to either maintain their seats or return to the Arizona legislature.
Incumbent Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers is seeking a fourth consecutive term in the Arizona Senate while incumbent Republican Rep. Walt Blackman is looking for a second consecutive term in the state House of Representatives. Having been defeated by Rogers in the 2024 Republican primary, former Republican Rep. David Cook is attempting to return to the state House following four two-year terms between 2016 and 2024.
According to the Arizona Secretary of State’s updated voter registration data for the upcoming election, the makeup of LD7’s 161,421 registered voters is nearly identical to 2024’s 160,465. Republicans led the way two years ago with 47.2% of the district’s registered voters, compared to 29.9% independents and 21.3% Democrats. Independents increased to 30.8% for 2026, Republicans remained nearly the same at 47.1% and Democrats slipped to 20.2% in the district.
With LD7 encompassing parts of Pinal, Navajo, Gila and Coconino counties, the district stretches from Williams to Snowflake and south to Globe. Within Flagstaff, LD7 is primarily south of Interstate 40, but shifts north to include Pine Knoll, Northern Arizona University, Southside, West Route 66, Boulder Point, Presidio in the Pines and part of Woodlands Village.
Within the minimal increase of around 1,000 registered voters since the 2024 election, the district has seen a drop of 1,239 voters in Coconino County and a rise of 1,523 voters in Navajo County. Gila County dropped by around 450 voters and Pinal County had a rise of 1,123.Coconino is the only county with a larger percentage of Democrats than Republicans in 2026, holding a 32.4% to 30.1% advantage. Both parties trail independents in Democrats trail independents in both counties with 17.6% to 27% in Gila County and 11.7% to 26.5% in Navajo County.the county, with its 34.9% of district voters representing the highest percentage of any of the four counties.
Pinal County holds the next closest split, with 44.1% Republicans, 33.4% independents and 20.8% Democrats. In both Navajo and Gila counties, Republicans hold a majority of the voting base. Republican voters make up 59.9% of Navajo County’s voters in the district and 53.5% of voters in Gila County’s portion of the district.First elected in 2018, Blackman spent two terms as a state representative before foregoing a run at another term to instead challenge for the Republican nomination in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District. After he was defeated in the 2022 primary by Eli Crane, Blackman returned to the state legislature in LD7 with a victory in the 2024 election.
Blackman led the four-person field in 2024 with 32.8% of the vote and paced the field in the general election in each of his two other victories in 2018 and 2020 as well.
With incumbent Republican Rep. David Marshall initially foregoing a reelection bid in order to run for a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission, and then withdrawing from the race to be appointed as the Navajo County Recorder, at least one seat in LD7 will be filled by a new candidate.
Former representative David Cook earned the second Republican nomination during July’s primary. Cook represented LD8 from 2016 to 2020 before shifting to LD7 as part of the redistricting. Earning a seat alongside Marshall in 2022, Cook was forced to seek a seat in the Senate as he was term-limited in the House of Representatives after four consecutive two-year terms.
Along with Blackman and Cook, Democrat Samuel Martin and Green Party nominee Richard Grayson are on the ballot. Like Rogers, Blackman did not respond to an invitation to the LD7 debate on Sept. 29, but Cook, Martin and Grayson all participated.
Martin, a lifelong Arizona resident, currently resides in Oracle near the southern boundary of the district. Martin has spent time working as a customer service professional and overnight dispatch supervisor for Agero roadside assistance.
Grayson, describing himself as a “perennial candidate,” has run for office at multiple levels of government, with multiple parties and in multiple states since 1979. Filing as a write-in candidate, Grayson needed just one vote in the primary to secure a spot in the general election as no other candidate filed to run in LD7 for the Green Party.
As part of the nearly hour-long debate, all three candidates were asked how they could positively impact families in the district given the rising cost of living.
Cook focused on his concerns with corporations coming into communities and buying family-sized homes to turn them into rentals or short-term rentals. He explained that he hoped to bring a law from another state that required single-family homes to be on the market for 60 to 90 days before a corporation or investment company can buy it.
“Especially in the tourist areas in rural Arizona, that shuts down our housing market, because we’re all landlocked out here with the federal land surrounding us and we can’t expand these small communities anymore,” Cook said.
Grayson echoed those concerns as well, hoping to see a change by the state to allow communities to have more control over what percentage of residences could be allowed for short-term rental use. Additionally, he hoped to see various legislative efforts to assist younger families to be able to purchase homes.
In addition to his concerns regarding the issues with housing, Martin noted the rising cost of power bills in the state. Martin said he hoped to expand the use of solar power within the state in order to drop the cost of electricity for residents. He also wanted to ensure that the construction and operation of data centers would not cause a rise in utility costs for residents.
