Nathan Davis for LD9 House Focuses on Education, Climate and Abortion.

Former middle school teacher Nathan Davis said he will focus on education, climate change and abortion if elected to the Arizona state House from LD9. He spoke at the October 4, 2021, meeting of Democrats of Greater Tucson. "I believe we have the best chance that we've had in a while to retake the state legislature," he said. Democrats need to win two more seats in the house and two more in the Senate to have a majority. Meanwhile, "Republicans can do something crazy. They have crazy ideas and even the majority of the Republicans think the ideas are crazy," [...]

By Larry Bodine|2021-10-06T09:44:22-07:00October 6th, 2021|Elections, Environment/Climate Change, Healthcare, State Representative|

Dems Must Flip the Legislature, says LD10’s Stephanie Stahl Hamilton in Senate Run

"We cannot begin to enact laws that are going to protect our state waterways and art clean up our forests and address climate change unless we flip at least one chamber in our legislature and grab the governor's seat," declared Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, speaking at the September 13, 2021 meeting of Democrats of Greater Tucson. Hamilton was elected State Representative from LD10 in 2020, and today she is running for the State Senate seat in LD10, formerly occupied by Kirsten Engel. Hamilton is: One of the most progressive legislators in Arizona, according to Progress Arizona.The Regional Lead for Save Our [...]

By Larry Bodine|2021-09-15T11:51:39-07:00September 14th, 2021|Elections, State Senator|

Support New Districts for Democratic Justices of the Peace

JUSTICE of the PEACE Redistricting Please email the Board of Supervisors before Sept.7th! The Pima County Supervisors will vote on Justice of the Peace redistricting Sept. 7 (or 21). They will vote for 1 of 3 maps. Option 1 is the only Democratic map. We oppose Option 2 & 3 which are Republican maps. Please email each Democratic Supervisor to ask for their vote for Option 1 which brings equal population & fairer representation to the JPs. ARGUMENTS to Use in your Email: Equal Representation, should be at the heart of redistricting. Only Option 1 meets this criteriaby creating nearly [...]

By Larry Bodine|2021-08-23T18:11:41-07:00August 21st, 2021|Elections|

Rep. Andres Cano Demands a Justice Department Investigation of the Fraudit

Andres Cano called for a US Department of Justice Investigation of the Republican Fraudit in Maricopa County. The recount of Maricopa ballots by the Cyber Ninjas/State Senate, "Is a huge travesty of the biggest proportions we've ever seen." He spoke at the July 12, 2021 meeting of Democrats of Greater Tucson. The Senate GOP audit just announced that their bungled efforts have forced them to recount their own recount. Maricopa County voters cast 2,089,563 ballots, but the partisan audit failed to match that number. BREAKING NEWS: House Committee on Oversight and Reform Launches an Investigation into Arizona Senate’s GQP Sham [...]

By Larry Bodine|2021-07-15T19:14:40-07:00July 14th, 2021|Elections|

Four Campaigns for Democrats to Increase Our Majorities

An opinion piece in the Washington Post by Katrina Vanden Heuvel jolted me into a gnawing fear. Our Party is failing to face up to the hardening Republican opposition to any action to address such as infrastructure needs, the economic position of middle-class families, and protecting the integrity of our election systems (in the face of Republican-led state legislatures to torque them in favor of Republicans). I have seen this play before. In 2009, the Obama Administration and the feckless leadership in the Senate failed to portray the Affordable Care Act as an essential step toward better health care. I [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2021-07-15T19:16:11-07:00July 14th, 2021|Elections|

LD10 Chair Diane Nevill: How to Organize to Elect Democrats

https://youtu.be/tDkAw2-_tVk Edited by Anne Simmons. Talking to Democrats with a sporadic voting history in an effective way to turn out the vote, according to Diane Neville, Chair of the LD10 Democrats. "We're convinced," she said. This is the way to go." She spoke at the June 29, 2021, meeting of Democrats of Greater Tucson. LD10 volunteers and precinct committee persons targeted 6,479 sporadic voters in 2019, and of those they spoke to, 88% voted Democratic. When a caller had to leave a message, 82% voted. Among voters who could not be reached, only 76% voted. "We are trying to encourage [...]

By Larry Bodine|2021-07-01T19:00:13-07:00June 30th, 2021|Elections, Local Activism|

Arizona Voter Suppression Unleashed by 2013 Supreme Court Ruling

https://youtu.be/-bgpxthkrQU A notorious 2013 US Supreme Court ruling gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and unleashed the onslaught of voter suppression laws by Republicans that continue to this day, according to Robert J. McWhirter, who addressed the June 22, 2021, meeting of the LD9 Democrats. The Court in Shelby County v. Holder ruled that Arizona -- which has a dark history of suppressing Black, Latino, and Native votes -- no longer had to get pre-clearance of voting laws from the US Department of Justice. "The 15th amendment says Congress shall have the power to enforce appropriate with appropriate legislation. [...]

By Larry Bodine|2021-07-01T11:34:01-07:00June 25th, 2021|Elections, Racism|

A Recap of the Legislature’s Bad Bills

First let’s start with the just-plain-stupid category of proposed bills such as: a bill passed allowing higher speed limits and lowering the fines; a passed bill designating gun shops as essential; and one that didn’t pass that would remove the mandate to vaccinate pets. Why? Why? Why? Is there any evidence that Arizona roads and drivers can handle higher speeds safely? Guns are essential because the rise in murders and suicides is not yet high enough? And Senator Anti-vax Barto (R-LD15) obviously has not seen a rabid animal. The 11 awful voter suppression bills that passed are disturbing similar. All [...]

By Dee Maitland|2021-06-13T17:13:51-07:00June 13th, 2021|Arizona Democratic Party, Elections|

Video: Andres Portela, Tucson Council Candidate, Ward 6

Our Voice, Our Vote–Arizona advocates for progressive public policies and mobilizing voters. Andrés Portela is an Afro-Latino activist running in the August 3 Democratic primary for the Tucson City Council to represent Ward 6. If elected, he would be the first African-American on the City Council since 1980 Andrés spoke about building community through prioritizing our H.O.M.E. Housing: helping families avoid evictions, placing the homeless in housing and installing a public advocate to fight predatory landlords. At one time Andres had to live in his car, but today he is married and owns a house. Opportunity: Using the [...]

By Larry Bodine|2021-06-09T13:12:07-07:00June 7th, 2021|Economics, Elections, Tucson|

The Big Lie Persists and Threatens Our Voting Rights

The veteran columnist and commentator, Elizabeth Drew, wrote an essay entitled The Big Lie and Its Consequences. She says that the Republican Party has taken the Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election to new lengths to suppress voting and to manipulate voting results to benefit their candidates up and down ballots. She goes on to conclude: "Republicans at the state level are rushing out legislation designed to make it harder for Blacks to vote," says Elizabeth Drew. "By questioning the very integrity of America's electoral system [the Republican Party] now represents an open threat to the US [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2021-06-03T16:33:04-07:00June 3rd, 2021|Elections|