A state lawmaker wants to force some unaffiliated local officials to run with party labels, saying he believes it will help prevent liberals from sneaking into office.

Republican Rep. Jay Lawrence of Scottsdale feels city council and mayoral candidates should declare their affiliations, and here’s his reasoning.

"I feel strongly about communities and about running in communities where you say, 'Here's who I am' without meandering from side to side and kind of being conservative, but never saying, 'But I'm a Democrat,'" Lawrence said.

Lawrence’s proposed legislation comes nearly a decade after the Legislature moved precisely in the opposite direction. In 2009, Jonathan Paton, a fellow Republican state senator from Tucson, got his colleagues to forbid local candidates from running with party labels.

Paton said, at the time, that the issues important to local voters shouldn’t be partisan. The measure was later struck down by the Arizona Supreme Court.

But as for the very wisdom of making potholes and trash pickups partisan, Lawrence said "Potholes are nonpartisan. However, there are many other issues. And in a city election, if you declare your loyalty, for example, to President Trump, I believe that, in and of itself, is an issue that says, 'Don't worry. I'll take care of the potholes.”

Lawrence also believes that, if nothing else, having candidates run with party affiliations will bring out more Republican voters.

"I want people to say, 'Here's who I am and here's what I believe,'" said Lawrence. And he said making people declare if they're a Republican, Democrat or something else goes a long way to providing voters with that information.