Joan Greene, Lynsey Robinson, and other leading Maricopa County and state Democrats want to build on the successes of 2018 and spearhead efforts to turn the East Valley increasingly blue, making it totally Democratic by 2024.
Their goals include:
- Having clean air to breathe and safe water to drink.
- Having safe, accountable and technologically modern public traditional and charter schools with qualified instructors dedicated to student academic success, career development, and social development.
- Providing quality affordable and accessible healthcare for everyone as well as retirement security.
- Ensuring that people can live on living wages and if necessary “transition to other jobs when technology replaces them.” Instigating a modernized infrastructure and a “Green Deal” for our environment that champions “safety” and clean energy.
- Electing public servants that support the community, play by the rules, are inclusive, and support solutions that benefit everyone rather than dark money supporters.
What portion of the voting public would not be for that agenda?
Former (and future) Arizona Congressional District Five Candidate Joan Greene and former LD12 State House (and newly elected Maricopa County Democratic Party Second Vice Chair and possible 2020 candidate for the LD 12 State Senate Seat) Lynsey Robinson are confident that the majority of the residents of the East Valley portion of Maricopa County. This area includes most of Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Queen Creek, Higley, and San Tan Valley, which are receptive to these community solution ideas and are poised to turn this part of Arizona bluer.
In the 2018 elections, the East Valley showed increasing signs of shifting from red to blue.
- LD 18, with the election of Jennifer Jermaine to the state house, became totally blue.
- Jennifer Pawlik became the first Democrat in recent history to win a seat to the State House in LD 17. Her running mate for State Senate, Steve Weichert, nearly bested the sitting State Speaker of the House.
- Greg Stanton easily solidified the Democratic hold of the Ninth Congressional District.
- Congressional Candidates Anita Malik and Joan Greene surpassed voting expectations in the districts they ran in.
- For the first time in several cycles, the Democratic Party fielded candidates for all state races (Ms. Robinson actually earning a record number of votes for Democrats in her district) and the voters rewarded that participation by turning out at presidential election levels.
Moving forward to make the East Valley all blue by 2024
Meeting with Ms. Greene and Ms. Robinson at the SoZo Café in Chandler, they outlined their ideas for making the East Valley Blue. These include:
- Strengthening of the Democratic vision and showing voters “how issues connect” like how “pulling the community together helps the homelessness” or reframing issues like infrastructure by pointing out that “if we fix roads (invest in infrastructure), then your car will not need repair when it hits a pothole” or offering pragmatic solutions like offering corporations economic incentives if they invest in their workers or the community they are located in.
- Voter education and outreach. Both Ms. Greene and Ms. Robinson advocate “broadening the tent” and reaching out to Independents and Republicans instead of just “talking to ourselves” by emphasizing “solutions” and ideas rather than whether one is conservative or liberal.
- Improve turnout strategies like what LD 18 did with its neighborhood watch outreach. Furthermore, having greater voter transportation assistance on Election Day like “renting a bus” to take voters to the polling station so they are not hindered from participating in the process. Finally, increasing the rate of early voting ballot submittals so people do not wait until the last minute to vote.
- Citing Jennifer Pawlik’s election as an example, persuading quality and trusted candidates that ran in 2018 who did not win to run again in 2020 and build on the relationships and foundations they laid last year.
- Raising money (the county is donor dependent) and investing in “human capital” (more P.C.’s and support for them) to be allocated in East Valley Districts for the Democratic message to be relayed.
Ms. Greene, Ms. Robinson, and other leading local Democrats are right to pursue ideas and agendas that focus on community and solutions. The great majority of the people want to move forward, not backward and do not care if it is a conservative or liberal approach if the solutions are balanced, helps everyone, and move the community forward. Reactionaries in the “Trump” Party have lost sight of that. Democrats have not and as recent electoral developments in LD 18 and 17 have shown, the prospects for turning the East Valley of Maricopa County Blue improve every day with the common sense pragmatic progressive solutions the Democratic Party champions.
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