Journalists’ Roundtable: Trump replaces DHS secretary and more

It’s Friday, which means it is time for another edition of Journalists’ Roundtable, where we discuss Arizona politics. This week, Mark Brodie subbed in for “Arizona Horizon” host Ted Simons and was joined by Jim Small of Arizona Mirror, Jessica Boehm of Axios Phoenix, and Wayne Schutsky of KJZZ.

This week’s topics included:

• President Donald Trump fired U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem; Senator Markwayne Mullin was named the new nominee.
• Auditor general report finds Arizona school districts spending 52.1 cents of every dollar on classroom instruction last year, down from 52.6 cents the year before; lawmakers propose ballot measure requiring 60% 
• New Arizona Public Opinion Pulse poll finds Representative Andy Biggs (R) leading Representative David Schweikert (R) in the GOP gubernatorial primary (40-19; 41% undecided); in the general election, Governor Katie Hobbs (D) leads Representative Biggs (42-37) and Representative Schweikert (44-35) – 16% undecided in both matchups
• Senate approves home design bill over objections of cities and towns.
• Senate approves Senator T.J. Shope’s (R) bill on transparency and contracting; Governor Hobbs has her own proposal.
• The Arizona House approved a ballot measure to require legislative adjournment by April 30, 2026
• U.S. Senate War Powers Resolution votes and the Iran military campaign

President Donald Trump fired U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem; Senator Markwayne Mullin was named the new nominee:

Wayne Schutsky: “…he seems to be kind of a similar type, a very close Trump ally. I think Trump probably appointed him cause he likes the way he wants to defend Trump’s policies on camera…changing the person, not the policy.”

Jessica Boehm: “I don’t see an ideological shift here at all, but Kristi Noem as a person just kind of demands attention, and that obviously got to a point where the attention was no longer positive in many ways.”