Opinion: The tenor and direction of the Arizona House and Senate changed in the primary, with consequences that could overshadow whatever the next governor does.

Editorial board| Arizona Republic

The spotlight remains on the November matchup for Arizona governor.

But state House and Senate races could have a more directimpact on voters lives.

Sure, the next governor can use her bully pulpit to voice an agenda.

But the Legislature will decide whether to go along with it.

And most of those races have already been decided.

Flipping the House or Senate in the general election remains a longshot. Both are likely to remain in Republican hands.

Meanwhile, primary voters sent the message that they prefer a united and far more populist GOP setting the Legislatures tenor and direction.

The America First slate of candidates was widely victorious in the House and Senate. Rusty Bowers, Joanne Osborne, Tyler Pace and Joel John, conservative lawmakers who faced these opponents because they periodically balked the party line, were resoundingly defeated.

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Next years Legislature also will be missing some of the lawmakers who could compel compromises including Michelle Udall, who was trounced in her bid for education superintendent, and Michelle Ugenti-Rita, who was trounced in her bid for secretary of state.

Meanwhile, Sen.-elect Jake Hoffman is pushing membership in a newly formed Arizona Freedom Caucus, a multistate effort to get lawmakers to vote as a bloc on red meat issues for populists, including election integrity and critical race theory.

Hoffman says nearly a thirdof returning House Republicans have already signed on, with more to come in the Senate. Its likely that most, if not all, of those newly elected America First candidates will join as well.

Depending on how large that caucus grows and it might be difficult to know, because members wont have to declare it publicly its likely that the next session will be like the last one on steroids (not the cross-party budget compromise that ended it, but the heavily partisanideology fest that led up to it).

Expect even more focus on what schools teach without subject matter experts like Udall, who chaired the Houses education committee, and Paul Boyer, the Senates education committee chair who, after repeatedly balking the party, figured it was safer not to run for reelection.

We already knew, no matter the outcome on Aug. 2, that there would be a giant loss of institutional knowledge in key issues like education and water, particularly among the Republicans who will be calling the shots, when the next Legislature takes its oaths of office.

But thats still a problem.

Because as tempting as it may be to distill education into a matter of what teachers can or cannot say, that oversimplifies the debate.

If the goal is to improve student achievement, especially after a pandemic that decimated the progress most schools were making …

Or to address chronic teacher shortages so all classrooms have a highly qualified instructor at the helm …

Or to revise archaic spending limits and funding formulas to ensure money gets where it is most needed, those are far more complex and nuanced issues. Ones that require deep subject-matter knowledge and a willingness to consider multiple sides, if we have any hope of tackling them.

Ditto with water policy another issue that voters say is of utmost importance to them.

And for good reason. Arizona is sitting on a ticking time bomb. Deep cuts along the Colorado River will further strain groundwater, a finite resource governed by state laws with holes so big you could wedge a troubledGlen Canyon Dam into them.

The next Legislature will be forced to do a lot more to protect this critical resource, even if its predecessors just made a major investment in water augmentation and conservation projects.

Bowers, who as House Speaker played a major role in those efforts,wont be around to shepherd negotiations, and few lawmakers that remain have the deep, nuanced knowledge necessary to make sense of competing proposals.

Add to that an expectation to vote first as a bloc and ask questions later (or, more likely, to not ask questions at all), and these could be perilous times indeed.

Not just for water and education but for other hot-button issues like abortion and voting access that could directly impact lives.

Witness what happened this past session when Republicans ram-rodded a fix on precinct committeemen that ended up angering just about everyone, putting everything else on hold while lawmakers scrambled to undo what they just did.

The legislative process is supposed to be about asking questions, about thinking critically about how bills are worded and making compromises to address constituents concerns. The bills that pass with this back-and-forth are typically stronger, better and stacked with fewer unintended consequences than those that are bulldozed through with no real debate.

But thats what we could be in for, regardless of who takes over theGovernors Office in November.

Kari Lake received top billing on the America First slate; its unlikely for her to balk her legislative compatriots. If Republican Karrin Taylor Robson wins, shed have an equally difficult time rejecting the populist playbook, particularly when all that gets you is a nasty challenge in the next primary election.

As a Democrat, Katie Hobbs might be more willing to use the power of a veto pen. But that could quickly derail the legislative session. And she doesnt have enough compatriots in the House or Senate to block bills or compel major changes before they reach her desk.

Republicans must be willing to ask questions and vote no if valid concernsare ignored.

Time will tell if anyone steps up to fill that role.

This is an opinion ofThe Arizona Republic's editorial board.

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Arizona House and Senate lineup could impact your life more than the governor's race - The Arizona Republic