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Minimum wage employees in Arizona should receive a welcome bump in their paycheck this month, as the state’s minimum wage has gone up for the eighth straight year. By Camaron Stevenson Minimum wage employees in Arizona should receive a welcome bump in their paycheck this month, as the state’s minimum wage has gone up for the eighth straight year. Arizona’s minimum wage is now $14.35, a $0.50 raise from 2023. For a full-time, minimum-wage worker, the annual increase will go from $28,808 to $29,848. Arizona now has the 10th-highest minimum wage in the country, and is ranked 24th in cost of living, according to a recent report by Forbes. The raise is due to the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act, a voter-approved law that required the state’s minimum wage be raised every year to match cost-of-living increases. It also required employers to provide paid sick time for employees, and raised the minimum wage for tipped employees to be $3 less than the untipped minimum, provided employers can prove tips make up the difference. The push to raise the state’s minimum wage and pass the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act was led by Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), a progressive grassroots organization that has spent the years since advocating for what they call a People First Economy. Other economic victories include LUCHA’s efforts in securing over $250 million in the state budget last year and $40 million in education grants for in-state college applicants. Arizona voters overwhelmingly chose to raise the state’s minimum wage in 2016—and took a step further in Flagstaff, where city residents passed The Minimum Wage Act, which set a gradual minimum wage increase from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2021. The city’s minimum wage is also set to increase annually based on the Consumer Price Index, “or $2.00 above the State of Arizona minimum wage, whichever is higher.” Flagstaff also raised its tipped minimum wage to $15.90 an hour. The federal minimum wage, in contrast, has remained at $7.25 per hour—$2.13 for tipped employees—since 2009. The US Congress voted to raise the minimum in 2021, but failed to pass when eight Democrats—including Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema—sided with Republicans to vote against it. Link to original article: https://coppercourier.com/2024/01/02/arizona-minimum-wage-raise-2024/

Tucson voters strongly back Dems' governance By Tim Steller It would have been understandable if Tucson voters took a dimmer view of the Democratic incumbents this election. We had a record year of murders in 2021, and violent crime has remained frighteningly persistent. Housing prices have surged faster than our wages, making our formerly cheap city feel expensive. The camps of homeless and addicted people have spread to all parts of the city. It isn’t hard to paint an ugly picture of Tucson’s condition. Opponents tried this year, putting together a relatively coherent campaign arguing Democratic rule is not solving our problems. But that ugly picture is not what Tucson’s voters see. They sent an astonishingly clear message Tuesday that they approve of this mayor and City Council and the direction they’re moving the city. While the vote totals aren’t final yet, each of the four winners so far has taken a bigger percentage of the vote than they did four years ago. Mayor Regina Romero has 60% of the vote as compared to her 56% total in 2019. Ward 1 Council Member Lane Santa Cruz has 62% of the vote, compared to 58% in 2019. Ward 2 Council Member Paul Cunningham has 63%, compared to 60% in 2019. And Ward 4 Council Member Nikki Lee has 65%, compared to 58% in 2019. Not only are their margins on pace to exceed their last elections, but the ballot issues Democrats supported are doing surprisingly well, too. The Tucson Unified School District bond issue is winning by an 18 percentage point margin — the same margin by which the last effort at a bond issue lost in 2017. Budget overrides in the Sunnyside and Flowing Wells school districts were winning as well. Perhaps most shockingly, the latest proposal to raise pay for the mayor and council members has apparently won by 299 votes. (Which goes to show you what I know, since I argued against it a week ago.) Still in the afterglow of her victory speech Tuesday night, Romero told me she thinks Tucson voters disagree with the challengers’ view of the city. “When the opponents talk about Tucson being dirty and full of crime and homelessness, I know Tucsonans know the quality of work that we’re doing. They pay attention to what we do and not what they say.” “They want to see us move toward investing in our parks, investing in our roads,” she went on. “I just think that Tucsonans understand the vision that we’ve put out there. They like it. They like the work we’re doing and they voted to continue that work.” Although turnout topped out at about 30%, it’s hard to dispute Romero’s assessment. Those who vote seem to like the way she and this purely Democratic council assertively govern. That means some of the most hotly debated policies of this council will likely continue. Housing first as the city’s approach to homelessness and behavioral-health problems will remain. Fare-free transit will continue, as long as they can find the money for the extra $9 million or so per year. Adaptation to a hotter climate will remain a top priority. And there are simpler details that reflect this council’s broadened approach to providing services. I swim often in city pools, and it used to cost a small sum to enter, but since the pandemic began, the city has kept them free to use. Like the free bus, it’s convenient, even if it costs taxpayers a little. Tucsonans seem to be fine paying more taxes if we get recognizable benefits from them, like the gradually improving roads paid for by Prop. 411, a 10-year, half-cent sales tax. “There’s a lot more people happy with what we’re doing than I thought,” said Cunningham, who joined the council in 2010. “This is the most I’ve felt appreciated since I’ve been in office.” Of course, Democrats’ victories come in part due to structural advantages, including their superior numbers: 127,234 Democrats; 98,133 independents; 60,109 Republicans. Beyond those numbers, there’s the city’s hybrid election system, under which City Council candidates are chosen only by the voters in their ward, but the final winner is chosen by all the city’s voters. If the council members were chosen by ward only, Republicans would have a good chance to win one seat — Ward 4 on the southeast side. Incumbent Lee lost the vote in her ward in 2019 but won the election due to the votes of the rest of the city’s residents. Ward 2 on the northeast side also presents an opportunity for Republicans, but Cunningham won the ward in 2019 and probably continued that trend this year. The greater numbers also translate into a massive fundraising advantage. In the mayor’s race, Romero reported raising $251,866, split almost evenly between contributions and city matching funds. Janet “JL” Wittenbraker, her Republican opponent, reported raising $24,936 and loaning her campaign $26,086. Romero also benefited from the contributions of Living United for Change in Arizona, or LUCHA, both financial and organizational. The group knocked on 23,000 doors and spent almost $130,000 on behalf of Democrats, they said. Wittenbraker, a first-time candidate, joked that the day-in, day-out work of campaigning is “a heck of a weight-loss plan.” She worked hard, but to surprisingly little result. She pointed to the disappointing voter turnout as a key factor in the outcome, noting that the 60,000 registered Republicans in Tucson are probably enough on their own to defeat a mayor or council candidate. “People don’t vote,” she said. “If I was surprised by anything, it was that our efforts to get out the vote really fell on deaf ears. That makes me sad.” What the results seem to show, she said, is “that the Democrats approve of what the Democrats are doing.” But it struck me as something more — as a strong endorsement of the way the incumbents are trying to solve Tucson’s obvious problems. Link to original article: https://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/tim-stellers-column-tucson-voters-strongly-back-dems-governance/article_25be2048-7f80-11ee-b285-3b944bb86b6c.html

DACA recipients prepare for the potential end of the program By Morgan Fischer When Karina Ruiz was 15 years old, she moved with her family to Phoenix from Mexico in 1999. Now 39, Ruiz, a longtime recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, still has no direct pathway to U.S. citizenship. As one of the 21,890 DACA active recipients in Arizona, according to March 2023 data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ruiz often provides context to her long journey around her status in the U.S. by explaining that she “became a grandma waiting for the DREAM Act.” Ruiz has raised three boys in Phoenix, all of whom are U.S. citizens, and one of whom has three children of his own. In addition to raising a family, Ruiz’s history in Phoenix runs deep. She graduated from Sunnyslope High School in 2003 before she went on to spend 12 years working toward her degree in biochemistry at Arizona State University. Her journey took more than a decade because of her status as a DACA recipient. During the time Ruiz was working toward her graduation, non-citizen residents had to pay expensive out-of-state tuition, so graduation was delayed as she worked to afford the diploma. A recent court ruling will send the fate of DACA to the U.S. Supreme Court. Because of the politicized nature of the high court, it's possible that it will affirm the lower court's ruling that the program is illegal. Ruiz is being forced to consider what will happen to her family, her property and her life in Phoenix. For Ruiz and other recipients, that means beginning to save money to cover future legal fees, speaking with immigration attorneys, establishing power of attorney related to who would take care of their children, property and finances and having conversations surrounding potential relocation to avoid deportation or family separation. Adriel Orozco, a senior policy council at the American Immigration Council, said it may be “a little early for these conversations.” An argument before the Supreme Court on this case would likely happen in late 2024, with a decision announcement around May or June 2025, he said. However, Orozco suggested recipients should start to prepare. Because of Ruiz’s status as a mother and grandmother, she has begun establishing a power of attorney for her children “in case we need to leave them with some other family member,” she said. “That’s a constant fear that we’re going to be separated from them if we are deported,” Ruiz said. A large conversation that many DACA recipients and their families are beginning to have surrounds possible relocation as moving back to their country of origin or being deported there doesn't seem like a desirable option for many recipients. “From what I have heard from people, most of us are willing to stay in the States because it’s the place where we call home,” Ruiz said. “It’s not in the mind of most of us to return to our motherlands because, quite honestly, it’s not familiar to us.” Because of violence faced by her family there, Reyna Montoya, 32, a DACA recipient and the founder and CEO of Aliento, doesn’t view moving back to Mexico, where she was born, as a viable option. Aliento is an Arizona-based organization that supports undocumented, DACA and mixed immigration status families. “I don’t want to go back to Mexico; there’s so much trauma that happened with my family,” said Montoya, who has lived in Arizona since she was 10 years old. “I don’t want to leave home. (Arizona) is home.” Montoya has considered other options, such as immigrating to another country with a friendlier immigrant-to-citizen pipeline, such as Canada. However, other recipients view returning to their country of origin as the only way to keep their family together. Karime Rodriguez, who became a DACA recipient as a teenager after her family moved to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 2 years old, experienced family separation as a teenager when her father was deported to Mexico, which “destroyed her entire family,” she said. Rodriguez, 25, who received her green card this year thanks to her spouse petitioning on her behalf, has been working closely with recipients who want to avoid family separation at all costs. “Some of my close family is considering moving back to our home countries because just the thought of family separation — never being able to see their kids again, never being able to see their spouses again — is something that they can’t live through,” said Rodriguez, the membership coordinator at Living United for Change in Arizona, or LUCHA, an Arizona-based organization with values around social, racial, and economic transformation. While the recent ruling allowed active DACA recipients to continue to renew their status, the decision halted the ability for new applications to apply for the program. As recipients, advocates and policy analysts await the Supreme Court’s decision, advocates are pushing for legislators in Congress to pass legislation to create a pathway to citizenship for recipients of the program. Rodriguez wants a “pathway to citizenship that is clear, that is fair and that is clean,” she said. “I’m hoping that this motivates our legislators to finally give us the permanent solution that they’ve been promising us.” Link to original article: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2023/11/12/daca-recipients-consider-relocation-as-potential-end-to-program-looms/71400529007/

TUCSON- Tonight's 20-plus point resounding victories of LUCHA Blue candidates Mayor Regina Romero and Councilmember Lane Santa Cruz solidifies what our polling has been telling us for months leading up to the general election: The power of Co-governance is not just an effective form of government, but it wins elections. Tucson voters want to be included in the policy-making process and will reward candidates when they listen to their community's needs. Both Romero and Santa Cruz have worked diligently hand-in-hand with communities across Tucson to deliver on major policies that have bettered the lives of all Tucsonans. From their ambitious Climate Adaption Plan to new affordable housing developments and Free and Fair Transit, both candidates have dedicated their first term in office to community-centered solutions. To assist in the co-governance, LUCHA has been at the center of it all through civic engagement, listening sessions with residents, and in partnership with elected officials. And with the help of Romero and Santa-Cruz, LUCHA innovated solutions in true co-governance spirit to find answers to big issues. Tonight, before a large crowd, Alejandra Gomez, Executive Director of Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), delivered her congratulatory remarks. "It is not enough to elect candidates based solely on the letter next to their name. We need leaders who are deeply connected to their communities, leaders who embrace the principles of co-governance, and leaders who understand that their role is to work with their constituents. That is Mayor Regina Romero and Councilmember Lane Santa Cruz! And that is who won tonight!" LUCHA has been on the ground hard at work knocking on tens of thousands of doors, talking to well over a hundred thousand key voters in Tucson, while dispersing nearly 50,000 pieces of literature to households across the Old Pueblo. In all, Tucson invested well over $130K to ensure the reelection of Mayor Romero and Councilmember Santa Cruz, collectively, outraising Republican-backed candidates and dark money groups combined. That is community-driven power-building in action. LUCHA is proud of tonight's critical electoral victories but understands that the work is just beginning as its focus shifts to the 2024 Presidential Election. Tucson will serve as the litmus test when evaluating candidates up and down the ballot in 2024. Community-driven government is not just an option but, rather, a requirement to tackle the pressing challenges our communities face today. ### About Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA): Living United for Change in Arizona is a grassroots 501 (c)(4) non-profit organization dedicated to building power with Arizona's working families. LUCHA fights for racial, economic, and social justice, striving to create a just and equitable society for all. Check us out on social media and our website for more information.

Statement by Living United for Change in Arizona & The Copper Courier PHOENIX – Nearing the 2024 Presidential election cycle, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) has formed a partnership with The Copper Courier to highlight important work happening in the organization and give a voice to our communities through thoughtful, and credible editorial and think piece writings. LUCHA aims to work with The Copper Courier to combat disinformation from right-wing propaganda, defend our Democracy, and better inform our communities. The dynamic media partnership marks an exciting and transformative moment that will allow LUCHA to take its work in the community to the next level. The Copper Courier and LUCHA share several core values: empowering communities through knowledge, economic justice, expanding access to health care and child care, addressing the climate crisis, and reducing inequality in all forms. This partnership will allow both organizations to work together to more effectively bring good information to our communities surrounding these topics and providing communities with the tools they need to safely and responsibly participate in the democratic process. LUCHA is a prominent grassroots member-led organization dedicated to social and economic justice that has been at the forefront of many legislative and electoral fights. It fights for communities and empowers Arizonans to regain power to deliver reforms. The organization has trained hundreds of organizers across the state, knocked on over a million doors, and registered hundreds of thousands of voters since 2010. Over a decade of work has led to significant triumphs, defeating former Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, SB1070, former Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, and U.S. President Donald Trump. While also crucial in electing leaders like Arizona Rep. Raquel Teran, Mayor Regina Romero, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, President Joe Biden, and Gov. Katie Hobbs. Beyond the electoral work, LUCHA has focused on putting members and community first, utilizing community input as a guiding force for the organization. In the end, LUCHA has been a force in shaping the political landscape in Arizona, taking power back and giving it back to the community. The Copper Courier is a civic media company and a well-respected voice in media in Arizona. They aim to protect and strengthen our Democracy through credible, fact-based journalism to create a more informed, engaged, and representative America. The Copper Courier reaches audiences who do not regularly engage with civic information and are unlikely to subscribe to paywalled media outlets, delivering their reporting on the social platforms readers use most frequently. The Copper Courier is as authentic in the news world as they come. It is owned by Good Information Inc. and supported by reader contributions, sponsors, philanthropic donations, and corporate underwriting. They maintain an editorial firewall between their newsroom and underwriters, sponsors, and donors and do not accept funding from any national or state political party, party committee, candidate, or campaign. LUCHA does not dictate The Copper Courier’s editorial coverage, nor does this partnership mean The Copper Courier will attempt to direct LUCHA’s grassroots efforts to issues they report on. The organizations will work together to ensure reporters source their stories using members of underrepresented communities and marginalized voices, that reporting will focus on information of value to everyday Arizonans—not political insiders—and that reporting will quickly be distributed to those need it in a way that is accessible to them. Alejandra Gomez, Executive Director of Living United for Change in Arizona: “We are thrilled to team up with The Copper Courier; our partnership will revolutionize the media landscape in Arizona with our collective voices. We are thrilled to collaborate with such a respected force in the media committed to fact-based journalism that amplifies marginalized voices. Their approach to news media is revolutionizing the industry and attracting thousands of new readers every year. This partnership will ensure we go on the offensive, utilize the transformative power of the media to properly inform our communities, and fight the surge of disinformation during the 2024 election and beyond.” Martin Nieves, Community Development Manager, The Copper Courier: “In the ever-evolving tapestry of Arizona’s media scene, joining forces with LUCHA is not just a strategic move but a personal one for all of us here at The Copper Courier. We’re deeply passionate about fostering authentic, community-driven narratives. Collaborating with LUCHA means we’re not only enriching our journalistic endeavors but also ensuring they resonate deeply with the grassroots heartbeat of our beautiful state. The challenge of the digital age, particularly as we get close to the pivotal 2024 presidential election, is to counteract disinformation. Together, our unified voice will not just echo but will resonate with truth, passion, and an unwavering commitment to the Arizonans we proudly serve and report to.” Camaron Stevenson, Founding Editor and Chief Political Correspondent, The Copper Courier “As a civic media newsroom, we strive to bring attention to issues that matter to the communities we report about and to amplify voices that are too often underrepresented in traditional news coverage. We also have seen firsthand how quickly misinformation can spread and how crucial it is to get the correct information out quickly in online spaces where people get their information. Partnering with LUCHA is an exciting next step to further these goals and to provide news coverage to countless Arizonans who otherwise might not have the opportunity to access reporting on topics that directly impact their lives.” ### Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) organizes low- and moderate-income and minority families to take action on the issues most important to them and advance the cause of social and economic justice for all. Working in collaboration with our sister organization, ACE, LUCHA incorporates leadership development with grassroots issue-based campaigns, advocacy, and civic engagement to create an Arizona in which every resident has an equal voice in determining the policies and shaping the decision-making bodies that will govern our communal life.

Co-governance between elected leaders and community members is key to addressing climate change, affordability, and securing a multi-racial democracy in 2024 and beyond. By Alejandra Gomez, Executive Director of Living United for Change in Arizona As a progressive grassroots power-building organization, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) is deeply rooted in communities across the state. We are tapping into the needs and wants of our neighborhoods struggling with the effects of the affordable housing crisis, rising grocery bills, and a climate crisis that continues to pummel Arizona with record-breaking droughts and heat. LUCHA firmly believes that the people closest to the problem are the ones closest to the solution. This very concept has transformed how we support candidates and push for sound policies and reforms. Simply put, it is not enough to elect candidates into office with a ‘D’ next to their name; gaining the trust of community members goes much deeper than party lines. We need leaders we can entrust with our vote and who will work with us at a grassroots level to address community concerns once in office. Our communities are facing multiple challenges and threats to their livelihoods. Electing strong, morally principled, empathetic, and responsive leaders is an absolute necessity. Those worthy of our vote are those who are profoundly rooted in their communities and believe in the fundamental principles of co-governance. Leading with those you serve Co-governance is the idea that elected officials work not just on behalf of the community but with the community hand-in-hand, side-by-side, to address the many issues impacting their lives. Co-governance is not just a powerful concept but a practical and community-driven approach to governing. Once you get to know your community by listening and understanding who your constituents are, their expectations, and their needs, you develop guardrails and checks and balances on your power that makes turning your back on them tough! When big decisions need to be made, the community that elected you into office is top of mind. When you partner up with grassroots organizations like LUCHA that are connected to the very heartbeat of our barrios, you ensure that the voices of the people are central in shaping our collective future and home, not silenced. Co-governance is alive in Tucson Examples are few and far between, but in Tucson, we are seeing it take place from the Mayor to the city council. Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and Ward 1 Councilmember Lane Santa Cruz represent shining examples of co-governance in action. From climate change to community development to affordable housing, Tucson is shaping its city’s future so all residents can prosper. Cities across the country are grappling with the challenges of climate change; it is crucial to understand that combating the effects must start at the local level. Mayor Romero’s commitment to protecting our environment and building a climate-resilient city is precisely the leadership our communities have been calling for. Tucson has become a national model, demonstrating that local governments must play a pivotal role in addressing the impacts of climate change. Community-centered solutions Romero has pushed for the community’s demands to take on climate change head-on through initiatives like Tucson’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. This ambitious initiative provides a strategic pathway to reduce city emissions to net zero by 2030, anticipates the impact of climate change across Tucson, identifies the most vulnerable communities to climate change, and provides robust solutions to ensure Tucson can adapt and be more resilient to the impacts of the crisis. Under this plan, the city has invested millions of dollars into new green spaces, reducing water waste, “decarbonization” using solar technology to power government and private buildings, electric vehicle power charging stations, improving bike lanes, and making public transit more accessible. Much like the rest of Arizona’s cities, Tucson faces multiple crises impacting our most vulnerable communities. Housing affordability has become a crisis that has led to many families unable to afford rent and lose their homes. Through listening sessions with residents and in partnership with elected officials, LUCHA has innovated solutions with elected officials in a true co-governance spirit to find answers to housing affordability. Mayor Romero has pushed her city to expand affordable housing options, breaking ground in new affordable housing developments and working to protect renters’ rights. The support is not limited to only families searching for affordable housing; supporting Tucson’s houseless is a focal point for the Mayor and council, using state funds to buy hotel rooms to provide our vulnerable houseless community with more permanent housing options. These policies have been instrumental in improving the lives of families in Tucson. Improving local infrastructure and fostering a more accessible and interconnected Tucson has been a significant goal since day one for the Mayor. For years, LUCHA members in Tucson have called for improving transportation options, reducing barriers around mobility, improving safety conditions for all commuters, and filling those potholes in busy Tucson streets. As true co-governors, Romero and the city council have significantly improved local infrastructure, making Tucson more accessible and interconnected while also ensuring communities of color are proportionally represented in urban planning. Earlier this year, Mayor Romero and the council passed an extension to the Free and Fair Transit program, which allows all residents to ride public transportation (bus, shuttle services, and street car) for free. People-powered governance is popular with voters Recent polling makes it clear that voters support this model, and we believe the reforms and advancements made in Tucson will swiftly reelect the two incumbents for another term. This resounding support for the Mayor’s vision underscores the importance of leadership that reflects the priorities of our barrios. The widespread support for Mayor Romero and their policies powerfully underscore the vital role that grassroots organizing and community-based governance play in shaping our state’s future and national politics. Arizona’s future gleams with promise, but only if we can preserve the progress made and build upon our success. If we continue this work, we will ensure a future where our elected leaders prioritize the well-being of their constituents and where we join forces in an unwavering battle for social and economic justice. As we look ahead to the crucial 2024 presidential election, Tucson should serve as our litmus when evaluating candidates up and down the ballot. A testament to the idea that our voices matter, and responsive, community-driven government is not just a possibility but a necessity to address the critical issues before us and for our communities to thrive. Tucson is the model, but it is also a story of hope for Tucsonans, the state, and the nation. Link to original article: https://coppercourier.com/story/mayor-regina-romero-and-tucson-are-models-for-arizona-and-the-nation/

How suburbanites, Latinos and the ghost of John McCain turned Arizona into a presidential battleground By Mark Z. Barabak MESA, Ariz. — In 2016, Jenny Richardson voted Republican for president, as she had in every presidential election for decades. She appreciated Donald Trump’s status as a political outsider and liked the prospect of him remaking the Supreme Court to satisfy social conservatives such as herself. By 2020, however, Richardson was done with Trump and his incessant mayhem. She voted for Joe Biden, not because she was particularly thrilled with the Democrat but because he wasn’t the obstreperous incumbent. “I wanted a more conservative court,” Richardson, 54, said on a recent morning when the beastly Arizona summer finally yielded to a temperate taste of fall. “But then, four years later, his behavior was reprehensible to me and I couldn’t support him again.” The defection of Richardson and others like her in Phoenix’s sprawling suburbs was a ripple that helped turn a tide. Biden became only the second Democratic presidential candidate since 1948 to carry Arizona and the first since Harry Truman to win Maricopa County, which takes in Mesa and most of the wall-to-wall communities carpeting Phoenix’s Salt River Valley. For much of its history, the West was Republican ground. Today, it’s a bastion of Democratic support, a shift that has transformed presidential politics nationwide. Mark Z. Barabak explores the forces that remade the political map in a series of columns called “The New West.” Biden’s victory — albeit the narrowest in Arizona history — was part of a broader political transformation across the West, which over the last two decades has turned the once solidly Republican stronghold into a bulwark of Democratic strength. Over the last several months, I’ve traveled through a half-dozen states — along the Pacific Coast, across the Southwest, into the Rockies — to explore the reasons for the change, which has drastically refashioned the national race for the White House. There are commonalities throughout the region. Among them the defection of Republicans like Richardson, who consider the GOP too extreme, and the relocation of Democrats who imported their political affinities from places like California. Jenny Richardson, a Republican who served eight years on the Mesa school board, voted for Joe Biden in 2020 because she couldn’t abide President Trump’s behavior. Another factor is the rapidly growing Latino population and its expanded political influence, especially here in Arizona, where years of pugnacious policies aimed at immigrants foreshadowed the nativism of Trump’s MAGA movement. “We’re becoming younger. We’re becoming browner. Diversity is increasing overall,” said Alejandra Gomez, who helped mobilize Arizona’s Latino vote. Biden also benefited from the timely endorsement of Republican Cindy McCain, widow of the late Sen. John McCain, whose national stature and unflinching independence made him an Arizona icon. But no single factor can explain Biden’s victory — not when he carried the state by fewer than 11,000 votes out of more than 3.3 million cast. “Arizona is a microcosm of the country right now,” said Paul Bentz, a GOP pollster in Phoenix, citing its solidly Democratic cities and staunchly Republican rural areas. “Then you’ve got the suburbs, which are like the swing states.” Whatever the reasons for Biden’s win, the result underscored that Arizona — once politically as blood-red as a desert sunset — has grown highly competitive and showed why the state will again be a top presidential battleground in 2024. Before there was Donald Trump and his crude talk of Mexican rapists invading America, there was Maricopa County and its swaggering sheriff, Joe Arpaio. Forcing inmates to wear pink underwear and sleep in surplus Army tents, among other stunts, made Arpaio a big hit with Arizona voters. Until he wasn’t. His harsh policies didn’t dramatically reduce crime and the sheriff department’s repeated violations of civil rights ended up costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in legal settlements. After 24 years in office, Arpaio was finally ousted in 2016. But not before his actions and the passage of a controversial state law aimed at illegal immigration spawned a Latino backlash — in the same way Proposition 187 helped turn California blue. Joe Arpaio’s hardline stance on immigration and serial violation of civil rights as Maricopa County sheriff spawned a backlash among Latinos that has served to benefit Democrats in Arizona. In Arizona, the flashpoint was Senate Bill 1070, a 2010 law that effectively turned police into immigration officers and encouraged racial profiling by targeting individuals based on ethnicity and skin color. (The measure, which critics dubbed the “show-me-your-papers law,” was largely overturned after years of legal challenges.) Among those moved to political action was Ruben Gallego, an Iraq war veteran who began as a staffer at Phoenix City Hall and now represents the city in Congress. The Democrat is running for a U.S. Senate seat in 2024. While the crackdown on immigrants animated the GOP’s right wing, “Latinos start[ed] seeing the Republican Party not as the party of McCain but the party of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and all these other crazy guys,” Gallego said. Add Trump to the equation “and it’s a continuation of what Latinos in Arizona had seen for the last decade.” Latinos make up about one-third of Arizona residents. It is a relatively young population, which means more become eligible to vote each year. Many, like Jacob Martinez, came of age amid Arizona’s incendiary immigration debate. “I grew up with SB 1070. I grew up with Sheriff Joe Arpaio,” said Martinez, 22, a first-year law student at Arizona State, who watched Trump’s casual bigotry and demonization of immigrants with an unsettling sense of history repeating. “We couldn’t have that at the nationalized level for even a little bit longer.” In 2020, Martinez cast his first-ever presidential ballot for Biden. Jacob Martinez was unsettled by Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, which echoed Arizona’s incendiary immigration debate. He cast his first presidential vote for Biden. The Democrat won about 6 in 10 Latino votes in Arizona, matching Hillary Clinton’s performance in 2016. Trump won about 37% Latino support, compared with 31% the first time he ran, part of a pattern seen elsewhere across the country. The difference was the Latino percentage of the electorate, which grew from 15% in Arizona in 2016 to just under 20% in 2020. The result was a net increase in Biden’s vote, helping him eke out victory by less than half a percentage point. The showing also amounted to a win for grassroots organizations that spent more than a decade registering and mobilizing Latino voters. One of them, LUCHA, signed up about 20,000 new registrants ahead of the 2020 election and logged millions of voter contacts through phone banks, door-knocking and social media. (The Spanish acronym for Living United for Change in Arizona translates to “fight” or “struggle.”) While Arizona is diversifying, “without the year-round organizing and mobilizing of Black and brown and Indigenous young people, we would not be where we are now,” said LUCHA’s executive director, Alejandra Gomez, who got her start in politics working against Arpaio. “Because demographics is not destiny.” Cindy McCain had finally had enough. Her late husband loathed Trump — he made no secret of that — and the feeling was mutual. The Arizona senator said Trump’s positions on national security were uninformed and dangerous. Trump mocked the 5 1/2 years McCain spent as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. McCain cast the deciding vote against Trump’s effort to repeal Obamacare. Trump sneered he was “never a fan” of McCain and “never will be.” Two months before the 2020 election — and two years after McCain died of brain cancer — the Atlantic published an article that quoted Trump describing America’s war dead as losers and suckers. It was, Cindy McCain said, “the final straw.” Although she hadn’t voted for a Democrat since age 18, McCain endorsed Biden, citing Trump’s “lack of character, integrity [and] values.” She hoped, in particular, to sway any suburban women who were still fence-sitting. President Biden presented Cindy McCain with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a July 2022 ceremony honoring her late husband. John McCain had long feuded with Republican extremists. They picketed his Senate office. They opposed him in primaries. But in more than three decades, McCain never lost an Arizona election. He was widely revered not just as a war hero who refused to buckle under torture but also someone whose go-it-alone attitude reflected the state’s broad libertarian streak. “It turned a lot of people off,” Kirk Adams, a former Republican speaker of the Arizona House, said of Trump’s attacks. Cindy McCain’s endorsement amounted to an invitation, or a kind of permission slip. “It was a nod that said, ‘Hey, there are people, there are conservatives, that are not OK with Trumpism, that are putting their country over their political affiliation,’” said Yasser Sanchez, a Republican-turned-independent who helped rally Latino support for Biden. “That was literally John McCain’s thing,” said Sanchez, who keeps a photo of himself smiling alongside the late senator amid a gallery of Republican notables filling his Mesa law office. “Put country over party.” Cindy McCain didn’t just endorse Biden in a lightning round of TV appearances. In a 60-second commercial filled with images of the two former Senate colleagues, she spoke directly to the camera and praised the Democrat as someone who would “put service before self” and lead the country with “courage and compassion, not ego.” McCain never mentioned Trump, but then she didn’t have to. Her support may have sealed Biden’s victory. Arizona is not a solidly blue state, like California or Colorado. It’s not purple, like Nevada, which remains highly competitive even though it has voted Democratic in the last four presidential elections. Rather, Arizona is something like a Dr. Seuss character, as Paul Bentz, the GOP pollster, put it. The state is red, with purple spots. (Significantly, those purple spots are located in and around Phoenix and Tucson, where the vast majority of Arizona voters live.) That permutation is enough to convince Republicans that Biden’s exceedingly close victory was something of an anomaly in what, they believe, is still a fundamentally conservative, center-right state. Democrats are just as certain that 2020 was the first step toward a lasting shift and it’s only a matter of time until Arizona, with its changing population, turns as reliably blue as many of its Western neighbors. The result in 2024 will indicate which is closer to the truth. Link to original article: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-11-01/how-democrats-won-the-west-and-reshaped-presidential-politics-arizona

Incumbents vying to keep their seats for another term in Tucson’s upcoming general election have largely outraised their opponents, campaign finance reports show. By Nicole Ludden A combination of public matching funds, political action committee buy-in and individual contributions have pushed the group of four Democrats ahead of their challengers. Mayor Regina Romero has raised the most money out of the candidates running for mayor and City Council seats in wards 1, 2 and 4, according to the latest report denoting campaign activity up to Sept. 30. Her receipts, when considering both contributions and public matching funds, totals $235,156. Tucson voters will decide the mayor and three council members who will serve for the next four years at the general election on Nov. 7. Ballots have already been mailed out, but drop-off ballot locations will be open through Election Day. Mayor Mayor Regina Romero, who’s seeking her second term, has raised $120,681 in contributions on top of $114,475 through the city’s public matching funds program, according to her latest finance report. The Democratic incumbent has brought in significant dollars from political action committees. Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) and Chispa AZ, have contributed $126,087 and $35,031 to Romero’s campaign, respectively, for campaign activities like canvassing and ad placements. The mayor reports spending $145,370 as of Sept. 30 on costs including rent and utilities for her campaign site and $20,000 for digital ads. The political action committee for AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, donated $1,000 directly to Romero’s campaign. Republican Janet Wittenbraker reports raising $42,830, a combination of individual contributions and $25,740 in loans from herself. Her campaign has spent more than $25,000 on political consulting, signage and printing, among other expenses, according to her latest finance report. Independent Candidate Ed Ackerley reports raising $27,615 and spending $20,083 as of his latest campaign finance report. Most of the money came from individual contributions, while the candidate owes $6,705 in outstanding debts and obligations to his own advertising firm, Ackerley Advertising. He’s paid his own firm $1,071 for graphic design, postage and ads. Libertarian Arthur Kerschen has not raised any money for his campaign. The Pima County Libertarian Party, however, reports raising $14,831 and spending $11,622 as of Sept. 30. Only one other Libertarian candidate, Pendleton Spicer, is on the general election ballot. Democratic incumbent Lane Santa Cruz has raised $141,317 as of their latest campaign finance report — a combination of $73,600 in contributions and $67,717 in public matching funds. The council member is seeking their second term. Three PACs have contributed to Santa Cruz’s campaign, including Mijente, a national nonprofit supporting Lantinx and minority rights, which contributed $40,041 for mailers and canvassing in support of the candidate. The Working Families Party National PAC spent $37,808 on phone banking and mailers, while Rural Action Arizona spent $2,200 on Facebook ads for Santa Cruz. The candidate reports spending $107,623 of their campaign money on payroll for staff, canvassing and text blasts. Santa Cruz’s Republican opponent, Victoria Lem, has not filed her latest campaign finance report due Oct. 16. Her latest report denoting expenses up to July 15 documents $2,810 in receipts and $85 in expenses. Current Council Member Paul Cunningham, a Democrat, reports raising $86,860 with $51,750 in contributions and $35,110 in public matching funds. The council member seeking a fourth term has spent $76,967, according to his latest campaign finance report. Cunningham has raised $3,000 from political committees: $1,000 each from the AFSCME People PAC, the Tucson Fire Fighters Association PAC and the Tucson Police Officers Association PAC. Republican challenger Ernie Shack has raised $6,008, according to his latest campaign finance report, while spending $2,398. However, his finance reports only list $4,813 worth of donations from seven contributors. None of the reports lists what Shack spent his campaign money on. Libertarian Pendleton Spicer reports raising $1,360 and spending $950. The majority of the campaign money is from individual contributions. Nikki Lee, current Ward 4 council member, has raised $42,046, broken down into $23,568 in contributions and $18,478 in public matching funds. The incumbent seeking a second term received $2,000 from PACs: $1,000 each from the AFSCME People PAC the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 99. Lee reports spending $26,373, largely on the payroll for her campaign staff. Republican Ross Kaplowitch’s latest campaign finance report lists $5,252 in contributions and $2,608 in spending. The majority of contributions came from individual donors, while most of his campaign’s expenses are for signage. Link to original article: https://tucson.com/news/local/government-politics/tucson-general-election-campaign-finance/article_b25226ba-6ede-11ee-9662-a3c32fd895e2.html

Hispanic Heritage Month's end offers a chance to honor and celebrate pioneering Latinx-led organizations fighting for a more inclusive democracy. By Manuel Madrid, Rethink Media Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to honor and celebrate the countless contributions to American society and culture made by Latinx community members. There are more than 60 million Latinx Americans working to make our country a stronger, better whole. They are parents, students, community leaders, engineers, artists, doctors, entrepreneurs, civil servants, and a critically important electorate that’s only recently begun to receive some of the attention it deserves. At the vanguard of the movement to more effectively organize within these communities are dozens of pioneering Latinx-led organizations looking to optimize their strategic outreach on democracy issues and blaze new paths towards collaboration. For our part, ReThink has evolved in our approach to Inclusive Democracy and made partnering and supporting Latinx-led organizations a priority in 2023 and 2024. As we enter the final days of this year’s heritage month, we’d like to spotlight some of our Latinx partner groups and their invaluable Spanish-language initiatives. We’d also like to share more about our own language justice work and resources created to aid democracy advocates on the ground. EMPOWERING SPANISH-LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES IN THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY. MIXING SPANISH AND SPANGLISH IN THE TARHEEL STATE. Poder NC executive director Irene Godínez is working to ensure that the voices of Latinx North Carolinians of all ages are heard and carry power. Poder NC’s focus is on grassroots organizing, training, civic engagement, and growing the electorate. In fighting for a stronger democracy in North Carolina, Godínez says her organization has been intentional in its outreach to Spanish-speaking communities, making sure to meet them where they are. “Poder does bilingual work, but we also use a lot of Spanish,” Godínez told ReThink Media. “We know that our target audience is young Latinx people who are English-dominant.” One example of this kind of tailored outreach is Poder’s successful get-out-the-vote digital advertisement released before the 2022 elections: Godínez explains the importance of Spanish-language outreach, but cautions that groups should assess their capacity and existing partnerships before getting involved and make sure to keep an eye out for collaborative opportunities. “You need to make sure things are intentional and well thought out and the community’s needs are being met in a way that’s accessible” says Godínez. “Unless an organization is able to see Spanish-language work all the way through, they should instead consider partnering up with advocates whose base is Latinx and who can bring that added experience.” SPANISH-SPEAKING VOTERS PUT PRESSURE ON ELECTION DENIERS In the southwest, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) Democracy Director Gina Mendez and her team are organizing on multiple fronts to achieve a more inclusive democracy. LUCHA’s wide-ranging work on voting rights emphasizes outreach by native Spanish speakers with connections to the communities they serve. The group is in the midst of a campaign to register 12,000 new voters by December in addition to their series of Democracy Orientation events that educate on issues like voter suppression and non-citizen voting. “By tailoring outreach to Spanish-speaking communities, we're not only breaking down language barriers but reaching a large portion of Arizona's population,” says Mendez. “For our Democracy to shine bright, we must do the work to include all voices.” The organization is investing in Arizona’s numerous rural communities spread between border towns. These are places where nearly a majority of the population is Latinx or Spanish speaking, requiring a tailored approach in outreach. It’s why LUCHA has decided to bring on organizers directly from these communities to best connect with residents. In Cochise County, for example, Mendez tells of the work being led by one of LUCHA’s organizers, Douglas. Douglas, who primarily speaks Spanish, is dedicated to keeping public attention on the county’s board of supervisors after its dangerous decision to refuse to certify election results last November (the board eventually gave in following a federal court order). Now, like back then, Douglas is pushing his community to remain involved by testifying, often in Spanish, during the board meetings. “As the presidential elections are upon us, we are organizing to ensure that Spanish speaking voters' voices are included and putting pressure on election deniers in Arizona,” says Mendez.” A NEW DAWN FOR CAMPAIGN FINANCING IN THE BAY AREA In California, Bay Rising acting executive director Irene Rojas-Carroll and colleagues are working to achieve generational change. Bay Rising is composed of three local alliances: Oakland Rising, San Francisco Rising and Silicon Valley Rising. Those local anchor alliances, in turn, are driven by grassroots groups, led by people of color, that organize communities of color. In 2022, the Oakland Rising alliance, along with several partner groups, achieved a massive victory for democracy when Oakland became the first city in California to adopt a program of public campaign financing for elections known as “Democracy Dollars.” The program is centered around empowering regular voters by giving them vouchers which can be put towards funding the campaigns of local candidates. In doing so, it also aims to counteract the influence of wealthy donors looking to take away Oaklander’s power over the decisions that impact their everyday lives Whether it’s supporting “Democracy Dollars”, fighting for better public safety laws, or bread-and-butter voter outreach, Rojas-Carroll says that knowing your audience and considering cultural contexts is essential. “This is the work of democracy advocates, by and large: building a bigger “We”,” says Rojas-Carroll. “It’s not just people who already have the ear of elected officials – we mean all our families. Latine people and Spanish speakers are a part of the fabric of our communities. We’re all connected.” Leading up to the 2022 midterm elections, Bay Rising ran a series of Spanish ads, educating voters on the importance of voting in district attorney races via radio, Facebook/Instagram, and YouTube. The campaign was a hit, racking up more than 700,000 impressions across all platforms. Rojas-Carroll notes, though, that outreach to Latinx communities and other communities of color can’t be one-dimensional or short-sighted. “Voter education is intergenerational,” says Rojas-Carroll, noting that there are multiple generations in Spanish-speaking households which require tailored outreach. “Outreach needs to be strategic and requires narrative building,” Rojas-Carroll adds. “We’re not going to radically change people’s minds in just one or two years.” TRAINING THE NEXT WAVE OF SPANISH-LANGUAGE ADVOCATES. In April and May 2023, ReThink Media partnered with the Center for Popular Democracy in rolling out a pilot Spanish language spokesperson training program designed for democracy advocates. The training program was aimed at bolstering advocates’ ability to support pro-democracy programs while also advancing an agenda of language justice. The training program was preceded by a “listening tour” of meetings with leading democracy organizations (NALEO, UnidosUS, Brennan en español, Hispanic Federation, and All Voting is Local) that are investing in Spanish language outreach as well as with researchers focused on reaching Spanish speaking audiences (Equis Research and Anat Shenker Osorio Communications, among others). Over four weeks, more than two dozen Spanish-speaking advocates (including team members of LUCHA AZ, Oakland Rising, and Bay Rising) learned about news values, using social media to reach Latinx audiences, messaging on democracy issues in Spanish, and how to handle live interviews. The series also resulted in new curriculum materials, new talking points in Spanish, and the development of new Spanish language resources for democracy advocates, including press lists and a Spanish language democracy messaging guide. Link to original article: https://rethinkmedia.org/blog/hispanic-heritage-month-latinx-partners-leading-way

Following Judge Hanen's ruling of DACA unlawful, Arizona Center for Empowerment (ACE) spokesperson, Karime Rodriguez, speaks with reporter, Oscar Ramos, about the direct impact this decision has on our communities and the services ACE offers to assist. Link to full show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxepTIqEYCo

Redoblarán esfuerzos de reforma migratoria, luego que DACA fue declarado ilegal Por Oscar Ramos, Prensa AZ Si bien un juez federal declaró ilegal la versión revisada de la Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia (DACA, por sus siglas en inglés) impide la deportación de cientos de miles de inmigrantes traídos a Estados Unidos cuando eran niños, también se negó a ordenar el fin inmediato del programa y las protecciones que ofrece a los beneficiarios y los activistas pro inmigración señalaron que seguirán en la pelea por los llamados “soñadores”. El juez federal de distrito Andrew Hanen estuvo de acuerdo con Texas y otros ocho estados que presentaron demandas para detener DACA y se espera que el fallo fuera finalmente apelado ante la Corte Suprema de Estados Unidos, enviando el destino del programa ante el tribunal superior por tercera vez. “La solución a estas deficiencias está en el poder legislativo, no en el ejecutivo ni en el judicial. El Congreso, por diversas razones, ha decidido no aprobar una legislación similar a DACA… El Poder Ejecutivo no puede usurpar el poder otorgado al Congreso por la Constitución, ni siquiera para llenar un vacío”, escribió Hanen en su fallo. Raquel Terán, activista y candidata al Congreso por el Distrito 3 de Arizona, reconoció la inacción para una reforma migratoria y prometió ponerla entre sus prioridades, de ser elegida en 2024. “Tenemos que trabajar por una reforma migratoria comprensiva y completa y nuestra prioridad debe ser el ‘dream act’, necesitamos soluciones permanentes para éstos ‘soñadores’ y ese es un compromiso que tenemos con nuestra comunidad por la que hemos luchado durante tantos años”, dijo Terán. “Una reforma migratoria comprensiva y la lucha contra las políticas antiinmigrantes son la causa por la que estamos aquí y no podemos dejarla a medias, tenemos que seguir empujando tanto a demócratas como a republicanos para lograrla en beneficio de nuestra comunidad”, agregó Terán. “Buscaremos soluciones para esos 11 millones de personas que se mantienen en las sombras, pero trabajando para sostener a sus familias y también la economía de este país”, recalcó Terán. La orden de Hanen extendió la orden judicial vigente contra DACA, que prohibía al gobierno aprobar nuevas solicitudes, pero dejó el programa intacto para los beneficiarios existentes durante la revisión legal en curso. El juez afirmó que la regla de Biden para proteger a los ‘Dreamers’ busca eludir al Congreso. Hanen también rechazó una solicitud de los estados para ordenar el fin del programa en un plazo de dos años y dijo que su orden no requiere que el gobierno federal tome ninguna medida contra los beneficiarios de DACA, conocidos como “Dreamers”. Por su parte, Alejandra Gómez, directora de LUCHA, una organización social pro inmigrante afirmó que esa decisión en contra de DACA ya era algo que se veía venir y que además estaban listos para continuar la defensa de alrededor de 35 mil “soñadores” de Arizona. “Lo que sabemos con certeza es que vamos a continuar organizándonos porque es una decisión que esperábamos desde hace dos años, ya que DACA siempre ha estado bajo constante ataque político, pero no dejaremos solos a nuestros ‘soñadores’”, afirmó Gómez. “Vamos a trabajar e incluso a presionar a nuestros oficiales electos para que encuentren soluciones y podamos dar permanencia y certeza a tantas familias inmigrantes tanto en Arizona como en todo el país. Nosotros les hemos ayudado a llegar a esas posiciones y ahora es tiempo que ellos le ofrezcan resultados a nuestra comunidad”, sentenció Gómez. Thomas Sáenz, presidente y asesor general del Fondo Mexicano Americano de Defensa Legal y Educación, o MALDEF, que representa a los beneficiarios de DACA en la demanda, dijo que en última instancia corresponderá a los tribunales superiores, incluida la Corte Suprema, pronunciarse sobre la legalidad y si Texas demostró que había sido perjudicada por el programa. La administración Biden también criticó el fallo del juez. “Estamos profundamente decepcionados por el fallo de hoy sobre DACA del Tribunal de Distrito en el Sur de Texas”, dijo la secretaria de prensa Karine Jean-Pierre en un comunicado el miércoles por la noche. “… Como hemos sostenido durante mucho tiempo, no estamos de acuerdo con la conclusión del Tribunal de Distrito de que DACA es ilegal y continuaremos defendiendo esta política crítica de desafíos legales. Mientras lo hacemos, de conformidad con la orden del tribunal, el DHS continuará procesando renovaciones para los beneficiarios actuales de DACA y el DHS (el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional) puede continuar aceptando solicitudes de DACA”. Enlace al artículo original: https://prensaarizona.com/2023/09/continuara-lucha-por-los-sonadores/

Another federal court ruling against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has left Arizona Dreamers in a continued state of unease. By Jessica Boehm, Axios Phoenix Driving the news: A federal judge last week again struck down the program that protects undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. DACA's protections will remain in place for more than half a million beneficiaries. However, no new applications will be allowed. Why it matters: Arizona was home to more than 22,000 DACA recipients, the fourth largest Dreamer population in the U.S., per a September 2022 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services report. Another 22,000 people in Arizona are likely eligible for the program but have not applied, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Given the recent court rulings, they may never be able to. Between the lines: While current recipients are protected, many Dreamers and advocates worry the ongoing legal disputes will continue to chip away at the program. Abril Gallardo, a Dreamer who works for Living United for Change in Arizona, told Arizona's Family her organization is encouraging DACA recipients who need to renew their status to do so as quickly as possible "because you never know what can happen." What they're saying: "I think some of the people, even myself, I'm like, can we just like have a resolution at this point? We just want to know if it's going to end or not, because I think that the uncertainty is having real implications on people's lives, because then you just can't plan," Dreamer Reyna Montoya, the founder and executive director of Aliento, told The Arizona Republic. Link to original article: https://www.axios.com/local/phoenix/2023/09/18/daca-ruling-arizona-dreamers