September 2021

Kirsten Engel Emerges as the Frontrunner in the Race to Succeed Ann Kirkpatrick in Congress

By David Gordon|2021-09-15T10:41:50-07:00September 15th, 2021|Local Candidates and Electeds, US Congress|

State Senator Kirsten Engel claimed the title of the front-runner in the race to succeed Ann Kirkpatrick in what is now Arizona Congressional District Two. Supported by many endorsements, she's running on popular issues such as ensuring Arizona's water supply, protecting reproductive freedom, and supporting voting rights. Now that Dr. Randy Friese has dropped out of the race, Kirsten Engel and Daniel Hernandez are contesting each other for the Democratic Party nomination of that pivotal House seat in the 2022 elections. Engel has also been acquiring several endorsements from former colleagues inside and outside the State Legislature including: State Senator [...]

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

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

"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 [...]

Mayor Romero Pans Arizona Attorney General’s Claim that Vaccine Mandate is Illegal

By David Gordon|2021-09-12T15:44:33-07:00September 12th, 2021|Healthcare, Tucson|

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich wants to get his party's nomination for the United States Senate so much that he is willing to risk lives during a pandemic to do it. Political hack Mark Brnovich In a September 7, 2021 press release, Brnovich asserted that Tucson's vaccine mandate for city employees is not legal because it violates Governor Ducey's Executive Order and state law. In the press release, the Arizona Attorney General stated: “Tucson’s vaccine mandate is illegal, and the city could be held liable for attempting to force employees to take it against their beliefs. COVID-19 vaccinations [...]

Lauren Kuby Will Fight Special Interests at the Arizona Corporation Commission

By David Gordon|2021-09-12T14:41:34-07:00September 11th, 2021|Local Candidates and Electeds|

Democrats have made gains on the Arizona Corporation Commission over the last two election cycles. In 2018, Sandra Kennedy re-took a seat she had previously held on the Commission. Former Tolleson Mayor Anna Tovar won a seat in 2020. (Former Commissioner Bill Mundell, a former Republican turned Democrat, came close to winning as well.) Former Tempe Vice Mayor and current Tempe Councilmember Lauren Kuby, a fighter against Dark Money and Senior Sustainability Scientist at Arizona State University, is running to capture another seat for Arizona consumers in 2022. Running on a ticket with Sandra Kennedy who is running for reelection, [...]

Rep. Daniel Hernandez Calls for Progressive Action in Run for Congress

By Larry Bodine|2021-09-08T14:30:40-07:00September 6th, 2021|Local Candidates and Electeds, US Congress|

State Rep. Daniel Hernandez (D-LD2) is running for Congress in Tucson's CD2. The district is 27% Latino but has never had a Latino member of Congress, he pointed out at the September 30, 2021 meeting of Democrats of Greater Tucson. In the past, Hernandez ran the national Latino outreach program at Planned Parenthood and aims to bring Latino immigrants "from out of the shadows and into a pathway to citizenship." He supports HR1, the For the People Act, to protect Latino voting rights. His sister Alma Hernandez is also a state House member from LD3 and his other sister Consuelo [...]

Supervisor Rex Scott Recaps Challenges of First 7 Months in Office

By Larry Bodine|2021-08-29T16:47:17-07:00August 29th, 2021|Education, Healthcare, Housing, Local Candidates and Electeds|

https://youtu.be/GW7VXusCRuc Pima County Supervisor Rex Scott took office in January, at the height of the Covid pandemic, and immediately had to confront issues regarding evictions, childhood education, county roads, affordable housing, redistricting, and higher water prices. Speaking at the LD9 meeting on August 24, 2021, he recounted how he solved most of the issues. The hot potato was the controversial move by the city of Tucson to hike water rates unilaterally on June 22 on people living in unincorporated Pima County. The abrupt action kicked rates up to 40% higher per month for 400,000 people living outside the city. The Supervisors had [...]

Luci Messing and David Lujan: Overturn New Tax Laws that Gut Education

By Larry Bodine|2021-08-25T15:41:08-07:00August 25th, 2021|Ballot Referenda and Initiatives|

Video editing by Anne Simmons. Invest In Arizona Now leaders Luci Messing and David Lujan called on voters to sign petitions to nullify three new state tax laws that cut hundreds of millions of dollars that fund public education. David Lujan led the successful effort to pass Prop. 208, the Invest In Ed ballot initiative, in 2020. Lujan is the Director of the Arizona Center for Economic Progress. He is a former member of the state Senate and House of Representatives. Luci Messing is the Chair of the Education Council of the Arizona Democratic Party, serves on the Tanque Verde [...]

Save Democracy! Be a Petition Circulator Now

By Larry Bodine|2021-08-23T16:40:33-07:00August 23rd, 2021|Education, Referendum|

We need Circulators. We have less than a month to collect the remaining signatures on our six different referenda. We are currently at about 10% of our goal in Southern Arizona, and the rate of return is increasing dramatically. The number of signatures increased by 79% in this past week. We need to recruit more circulators and create more tabling opportunities as quickly as possible. Please step up and help with this effort. Help put the three most egregious voter suppression bills, the three tax giveaways to the rich, and the initiative to make dark money transparent on the 2020 [...]

Why You Should Sign All the Petitions

By Larry Bodine|2021-08-23T16:57:08-07:00August 23rd, 2021|Referendum|

Have you seen volunteers carrying the six referendum petitions and the one initiative petition? All seven of these petitions are nonpartisan. Many thanks to the Democrats of Oro Valley for compiling this detailed information. If the new bills that they target go into law, all Arizona citizens will be adversely affected: AZ will lose almost $2 billion annuallySales taxes are raised to plug the shortfallServices may be cut by local governments and school boardsLegal voters will be purged from the early voter list and don’t receive their mail-in ballotsCounty election officials can’t use grant money to cover election shortfallsAn identifier is placed on your ballotThe [...]

Support New Districts for Democratic Justices of the Peace

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

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 [...]

September 2021

August 2021