LD-17 Representative Rachel Keshel Goes Live on Substack
NEWS ANALYSIS BY DOUGLAS WOLF | September 21st, 2025
SaddleBrooke residents live in Legislative District 17. Currently, our Senator is Vince Leach, who recently announced his retirement after serving this current term.
In the House, the District has two representatives, one is Republican Rachel Keshel and the other is Democrat Kevin Volk. This pairing is an anomaly. The registration of voters in the district show a plus 9 for Republicans and under normal circumstances, both seats would be held by Republicans. But, in 2024, the Democrats poured money into the race to defeat Cory McGarr over the pseudo-issue of abortion rights-the issue was settled by voters prior to the election-but that didn’t enter the consciousness of many voters and so McGarr lost. It helped that Volk’s his family name is well known due to its commercial real estate business and the plethora of building advertising signs around Tucson.
In 2026, there will be another state-wide election and all the state legislators will be on the ballot. As was noted Senator Vince Leach is not going to be on the ballot and he has endorsed Christopher King as his replacement. At this date, no other Senate contender has emerged-but it is very early. On the House side, Rachel Kershel is planning to run again as is Kevin Volk. Eagle Crest resident, Republican Kirk Fiehler has filed the paperwork to explore possibly running.
Representative Keshel has made many changes since she first was elected in 2022. Prior to her recent marriage, she was Rachel Jones. Still, her Substack logo has this mixed name message:
Rep. Rachel Keshel
Rep. Keshel has initiated a weekly videocast using Substack as a platform and has also started posting videos on X. Click here for today’s version at 6PM
Her husband is also very active on Substack:
Captain Kershel
Captain Keshel has been the subject of critical New York Times articles for his activities to combat election fraud. Another Left-wing publication recently wrote this:
A former Army intelligence captain who has traveled the country spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election is taking his work to one of the most crucial swing states for the 2026 midterms.
Last week, the far-right local election group Pure Integrity Michigan Elections (PIME) announced that Seth Keshel is joining the organization as a special advisor, with a focus on building out PIME’s “extensive community engagement program” launched last year “to reach out to underserved segments of the voting community, encouraging their civic participation.”
Keshel is one of the country’s most prominent election conspiracy theorists who recently claimed to have briefed an unnamed top White House staffer on “critical election research.”
“I need to be careful not to give out more information than is necessary, but my presentation was to one of President [Donald] Trump’s most critical staff members and his own key staff – someone who undoubtedly interfaces with the President daily,” he wrote in May on his blog. “I had promised them this would be worth their while, and that there would be information shared that I’ve never shared publicly, and that is actionable in that they could change the elections world if in fact some of these changes could be integrated.”
The Keshel’s are a emerging power couple in Arizona and possibly national politics.
