Arizona Morning Briefing 9-8: Crane Alters Message, Musk May Be Backing Ciscomani, Feely to Attend Midterm Convention, Sinema Suit Moves Forward

We’re past Labor Day, which means we’re no longer wearing white. Or much of anything at all, really. But news-scrounging has no particular sartorial requirements. As election season begins, here’s what we’re following.

•We begin in North Carolina, where federal judge David Bragdon refused to dismiss the alienation of affection lawsuit against former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Among other juicy details from the suit brought by the ex-wife of Sinema’s former bodyguard, Matthew Ammel: Bragdon found portions of Sinema’s testimony not credible, including her account that there had been no prior flirting before Ammel kissed her. The case will proceed, which certainly makes the director of the future Netflix documentary about this case happy.

•Zeitgeist check: The Arizona Mirror reported Friday that Rep. Eli Crane quietly rewrote his campaign website after campaigning on different themes earlier this summer. Crane’s campaign removed previous language opposing “forever wars” and pledging to “rein in reckless spending,” which is smart, given that we’re currently involved in a reckless-spending-based forever war. He added substantially more material about rural Arizona: Delivering for Rural Arizona,” “Protecting Our Land,” “Rebuilding After Disaster” and “Fighting for Veterans” are now prominent themes.

•In the grain of salt department, a weekend Daily Kos community post (not our first source for news but often right about things) claims Elon Musk’s America PAC filed its first independent expenditure supporting Juan Ciscomani in AZ-06. Musk has spent nearly a million dollars in recent days supporting Republican candidates. The FEC’s current Ciscomani page still doesn’t show an America PAC expenditure and explicitly warns that 24/48-hour reports can lag the aggregate data. Chainsaw-wielding optional.

•Republican Jay Feely, running against Amish Shah in Arizona’s first Congressional district, will attend the GOP’s first-ever national midterm convention in Dallas, headlined by President Trump, this week in Dallas. This comes even as the Republic reports that Arizona candidates are running away from Trumpworld, highlighting Chandler Mayor-elect Matt Orlando, who framed his re-election campaign around the theme of “stopping” Turning Point USA. Turning Point, “joined at the hip” with MAGA according to one Republican political consultant, has raised $9 million this year for candidates.