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Erica Cornejo won a three-way Democratic primary at the time, taking 43 percent of the vote to Patrick Moran鈥檚 32 percent and Alfonso Ramirez鈥檚 25 percent. There was no general-election challenger, so in December 2016 she took office. Moran and Ramirez went on with their lives.

But suddenly, last month, memories of the disagreeable contest came back, when it emerged that the Arizona Attorney General鈥檚 Office has begun looking into an election-fraud complaint made by Moran against Cornejo 2陆 years ago.

Moran, I should explain, had been serving as justice of the peace for about a year, having been appointed to the post vacated by longtime judge Jose Luis Castillo. But Castillo supported Cornejo in the primary, which became relevant in the residency complaint.

When Cornejo decided to run for the judgeship, she and her husband owned a house in the Sam Hughes neighborhood, which is part of Precinct Two, but they and their two children had not lived there for a couple of years and instead had been living with her parents in the Catalina Foothills. So, when she decided to run, she had to find a residence in the precinct, as state law requires.

My former colleague Murphy Woodhouse interviewed Cornejo about the residence issue before the 2016 primary. The Star ultimately decided not to do a story at the time, but I鈥檝e listened to a recording of the interview.

You can tell from the interview and from the complaint Moran filed why there was an issue. But you can also see why the paper decided it was a borderline story, especially since courts are notoriously loose on enforcing residency requirements. What鈥檚 hard to tell is why it has come back up now.

I asked Ryan Anderson, spokesman for the Attorney General鈥檚 Office, but he was pretty tight-lipped.

鈥淲e got a referral, and it鈥檚 an ongoing matter,鈥� he said.

The Pima County Attorney鈥檚 Office received the original complaint in the summer of 2016 and passed it to the Attorney General鈥檚 Office that Sept. 30. Cornejo鈥檚 attorney, Jeff Rogers, said she did nothing wrong in declaring her residency.

The most suspicious detail in the complaint is that when Cornejo filed to run, she listed as her address a separate unit at a home owned by Castillo, the former judge who was a top supporter. The plan, Cornejo explained in 2016, was for the family to move in, but then there were mold and other issues with the home, so she didn鈥檛.

Another residence in the district didn鈥檛 work out, before Cornejo finally rented an apartment in a complex on East 22nd Street, and the family split time between her parents鈥� place and the apartment, she said in the 2016 interview.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to uproot my children for something that was going to be a pipe dream of mine,鈥� Cornejo told Woodhouse. 鈥淚 knew that it was going to be a limited amount of time till the primary. If I didn鈥檛 make it past the primary鈥� .鈥�

Of course, she did win, and Moran happily left his first political experience behind.

鈥淚鈥檇 forgotten about it till I heard the AG was looking into it,鈥� he told me. 鈥淚鈥檓 back in private practice and I鈥檝e moved on.鈥�

But, mysteriously, the Attorney General鈥檚 Office had not moved on. We鈥檒l have to wait and see if there鈥檚 a good reason why.

GOP race flare-up

This episode will probably go down on the blooper reel of GOP efforts to connect with African-Americans.

On Saturday, Feb. 16, Pima County Republican Party Chair David Eppihimer and two other party leaders attended the Drum Major Awards, an annual event organized by Clarence Boykins and others to honor people who have demonstrated a spirit of service as described by Martin Luther King Jr. in his sermon on the 鈥渄rum major instinct.鈥�

The party gave out certificates to the award winners, each of whom gave a speech. But one of the speeches, by winner Valerie Stanley, who organizes the annual Juneteenth ceremony, did not sit right with Eppihimer.

He told me Wednesday that he understood her to be advocating, essentially, cultural segregation. That only blacks should attend Juneteenth, only Mexican-Americans should attend mariachi festivals, strictly Jews should attend Jewish cultural events. That sort of thing.

鈥淚 was stunned and Ophelia (Parker, a fellow Republican) was stunned. But we finished up the event professionally, and we shook hands and went home,鈥� he said.

The next day, he wrote Boykins an email saying he was 鈥渁ppalled by the racism displayed鈥� by Stanley, and in light of her comments, the Pima GOP would be pulling out of its planned participation in the upcoming Juneteenth event. Later he retracted that email, noting he had not consulted with the executive committee before pulling out and apologized for his haste.

鈥淎ll hell has been breaking loose since then,鈥� Eppihimer said.

It鈥檚 not Eppihimer鈥檚 first brush with racial controversy, though. Last year he accused U.S. Rep. Ra煤l Grijalva of being a 鈥渞aging racist鈥� against whites.

Kuuleme Stephens, a GOP executive committee member who is part of the minority outreach committee, resigned from the party leadership and wrote a long blog post excoriating Eppihimer, who is beginning his second two-year term as chair. Stephens did not attend the event, but said Eppihimer misunderstood Stanley鈥檚 comments, and that his overreaction reflected what she called his ongoing issues with sexism, racism and control.

Boykins wrote an email to Eppihimer explaining that he thought Eppihimer had misunderstood Stanley鈥檚 remarks, as well. What she was calling for, basically, was for African-Americans to be in charge of their own community events, Boykins said.

The episode has left hard feelings on all sides that as yet are unresolved.

Sinema slips out

Far be it for me to question the vote-counting skills of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican. But if I were McConnell, I鈥檇 have considered calling a quick vote on the border-wall national emergency declaration by President Trump, sometime between Thursday this week and Tuesday next week.

That鈥檚 because Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has made herself quite unavailable to vote during that period. Sinema flew out Wednesday to New Zealand, where she is participating in Saturday鈥檚 Iron Man Triathlon in Taupo.

Sinema scheduled the triathlon before being elected to the Senate, her spokeswoman, Hannah Hurley, told me.

In a written statement, Sinema said: 鈥淎s Chair of the Women For Tri Advisory Committee, I鈥檓 racing Ironman New Zealand to celebrate and highlight the increase in women鈥檚 Ironman participation in this part of the world. Women For Tri is working to increase women鈥檚 participation in Ironman competitions across the globe, and I鈥檒l be meeting with local Women For Tri ambassadors to continue breaking down barriers and encouraging female athletes.鈥�

I found the early absence from the U.S. Senate a little surprising. Who takes an international vacation two months into their new job? But it鈥檚 true that senators often miss votes as they鈥檙e traveling, for work or personal reasons.

Still, it could be significant if McConnell were to call that vote. After the House voted against the president鈥檚 national-emergency declaration on Wednesday, the Senate is required to take up the issue within 18 days. And with three Republicans likely to vote against the president, one missing Democrat could turn the vote into a tie, to be broken by the vice president.