Announcements & News

6 Pima County Races You Should Know About

by Alison Jones Things are moving fast and furiously, and monthly just isn’t often enough. In upcoming weekly letters, I will be talking about what will be on your ballot. This week: countywide races. There will be six countywide races on every ballot in Pima County: Sheriff, Treasurer, Assessor, Recorder, Attorney, and Schools Superintendent. Excellent Democratic candidates are running for all positions. We ask that you vote for all of them! With the voter registration numbers in Pima, Democrats should be able to win every countywide race.  Chris Nanos is running for his old job as Pima County Sheriff. He has our support and the support of many department members. The department is under scrutiny and faces a number of challenges. Chris understands these challenges and has the experience to address them head-on. He faces the Republican incumbent.  Please learn more about him and his plans for bringing leadership back to the office here: https://www.nanosforsheriff.com/. Brian Bickel is running for Pima County Treasurer against the GOP incumbent. Brian had a successful career in business administration, and plans to make the county finances more transparent. Brian is a former Marine and has been very active in Legislative District 9. He also serves on … Read more

Progress Report from Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick

by Ann Kirkpatrick Suffice to say, last week was a challenging one for our community. The tragic, heartless, and unjust murder of George Floyd led to a nationwide outcry — an outcry sadly not unfamiliar to us. There is systemic racism still embedded in our country’s fabric, and more must be done to address it. I released a statement last week in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. I am committed to listening and educating myself on how to be a better ally. On the global pandemic front, case numbers have been rising in Arizona. There are hundreds of thousands of unemployed Arizonans and thousands who are ill. Many are facing immense adversities — like not being able to pay rent, put food on the table, get tested, or see their loved ones who might be living in nursing homes. I wrote a letter to Governor Ducey weeks ago, and still have not heard back. Last week, I joined my colleagues in sending a letter to HHS and CMS demanding more transparency on how they are working to increase testing, protection, safety, and accountability within nursing homes. I am alarmed at the statistics regarding coronavirus in Arizona nursing homes. We need answers. I also wrote to ICE regarding … Read more

Alison Jones: Mail-in voting works

by Alison Jones Pima County GOP Chairman David Eppihimer railed against mail-in ballots in a recent Op-Ed (“The left’s all-mail voting fantasy must be put to rest,” April 25). While Eppihimer is parroting Trump dogma, most voters — including most Republicans — disagree. Eppihimer’s arguments against all-mail voting are deeply flawed. Let us count the ways: This article first appeared in the Arizona Daily Star. First, he insists that a once-in-a-century pandemic should not change our voting system. Why not? Tradition for its own sake is a lame justification for anything. People used to have to travel to participate in a census. And some people thought the Pony Express was worthy of saving. They were wrong too. Eppihimer seems to think that “voter convenience” is insufficient justification for all-mail voting. He’s wrong. Voting is a right. Exercising our rights should be as convenient as possible, by definition. Americans in every generation have given their lives for the rights we enjoy. We should not have to continue fighting for those rights. Eppihimer says that voters should be clamoring for a return to in-person voting with absentee ballots available only to those with a “valid excuse.” This is a shop-worn ruse to … Read more