“An Arizona We Can Afford”: Democrats to Focus on Affordability, Public Schools and Healthcare in 2026

Two Arizona Democratic leaders launched a unified 2026 Democratic campaign message, “An Arizona We Can Afford,” emphasizing affordability, public education, and healthcare during the January 5, 2026, meeting of Democrats of Greater Tucson.

Arizona House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos and Assistant Minority Leader Nancy Gutierrez opened the 2026 campaign, introducing a three-point strategy to oust Republicans, tactics to elect Democrats in 7 legislative districts, and fighting back by using House Rules to disrupt Republicans.

Their actions prove that:

Democrats are organized: Three pillars support the 2026 Democratic “Arizona We Can Afford” agenda:

• Lowering costs and stopping corporate abuse that jacks up rents and drains scarce water.
• Protecting and rebuilding public education
• Defending access to affordable healthcare.

Dems are fighting back: De Los Santos and Gutierrez vowed an all-out confrontation with Republican majorities, pledging to use procedural warfare tactics, including “hostile stoppages” and disruptive amendments, to block GOP legislation.

Dems have a strategy and tactics to win in 2026: Focusing on seven battleground legislative districts (see below).

Guttierez, a longtime teacher who lost her job to low enrollment driven by vouchers, charged that “there have to be lawmakers who are making money off of this ESA voucher grift,” and cited reports of luxury spending, including “trips to Disneyland,” “diamond jewelry,” and “lingerie” charged to voucher accounts.

Democrats said they will also fight to fund staffing at a new Department of Economic Security to prevent eligible residents from losing healthcare coverage and to establish a new consumer protection office to help Arizonans challenge insurance claim denials, many of which are increasingly driven by artificial intelligence.

Democrats also plan to introduce legislation requiring full fingerprint clearances for adults working with voucher students, banning the purchase of luxury items, conducting a program-wide audit, and implementing learning accountability measures.

“This is not abstract policy,” De Los Santos said. “This is life and death.”

How Dems will take over the State Legislature

The campaign to finally flip the blood-red Arizona Legislature will focus on seven battleground legislative districts:

LD2: Phoenix (northwest/north Phoenix area)
LD4: Maricopa County, parts of the Phoenix metro area
LD9: Mesa, Tempe, Chandler area (East Valley Maricopa County) ​
LD13: Gilbert, Chandler, Queen Creek (Southeast Valley Maricopa County) ​
LD16: Casa Grande, Coolidge (Pinal County with portions of Maricopa and Pima counties)
LD17: Southern Arizona, including parts of the Tucson area, Pima County, Cochise County, Graham County​
LD23: Yuma, Maricopa, Pima and Pinal County.

De Los Santos and Guttierez also sharply condemned GOP priorities that they say favor corporations, privatization schemes, and political donors over working families.

“This is about building an Arizona we can afford,” De Los Santos said. “Right now, families are being hit by soaring utility bills, runaway rents, unaffordable healthcare, and corporate price-gouging — and Republicans are doing nothing to stop it.”

Utilities, AI data centers and corporate power

De Los Santos and Guttierez signaled a direct confrontation with Arizona’s powerful utilities and the political system that protects them. De Los Santos blasted regulated monopolies for raising rates while using customer money to bankroll political campaigns.

“These companies are guaranteed profits, they raise rates year after year, and then they turn around and spend ratepayer money influencing elections,” he said. “That is unacceptable.”

Democrats also warned about the rapid expansion of massive AI data centers across the state. These facilities, De Los Santos said, consume enormous amounts of electricity and water while benefiting from generous tax exemptions.

“These AI farms are sucking up electricity, driving up bills, draining water in a desert, and paying less in taxes than working families,” he said. “Meanwhile, everyday Arizonans are left holding the bag.”

Democratic lawmakers said they will pursue legislation to limit utilities’ political spending, reassess tax breaks for data centers, and ensure large corporate users pay their fair share for the infrastructure they strain.

Housing: Wall Street vs. Arizona families

On housing, the Democrats accused out-of-state corporations and Wall Street investors of buying up entire neighborhoods, pricing out first-time homebuyers, and driving rents to unsustainable levels.

“When corporations come in and buy dozens or hundreds of homes, that’s not the free market — that’s market manipulation,” De Los Santos said. “Every home they buy is a home an Arizona family can’t.”

Democratic proposals include caps on the number of homes corporate investors can purchase, a 60-day “shock clock” giving Arizona families first access before corporations can bid on homes, and repealing state preemption laws that block local communities from enacting rent control.

Gutierrez added that Democrats have repeatedly introduced modest renter protections — such as limiting rent hikes on properties that haven’t been improved — only to see those bills buried by the Republican majority.

“They talk about affordability, but nothing ever changes,” she said. “People see it every time they pay rent.”

Healthcare on the brink

Democrats reserved some of their harshest criticism for federal Republicans and Donald Trump, blaming them for triggering a healthcare crisis in Arizona by allowing enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of Arizonans have already lost affordable coverage, Democrats said — a shift that will raise premiums, increase uncompensated care, and push rural hospitals toward financial collapse.

“If you’re pregnant in rural Arizona, this just became more dangerous,” De Los Santos warned. “If you’re in a mental health crisis, there may be nowhere to go.”

ESA vouchers: an entire system filled with fraud

Gutierrez, a former public-school teacher, delivered a scathing indictment of Arizona’s universal ESA voucher program, calling it a billion-dollar grift riddled with fraud, luxury spending, and virtually no accountability.

“There is no learning accountability. No transparency. No proof students are being educated,” Gutierrez said.

She cited reports of voucher funds being spent on vacations, electronics, jewelry, and unregulated “pop-up schools” — including some targeting special-needs students without proper training or oversight.

Democratic proposals include a full audit of the ESA program, bans on luxury purchases, mandatory fingerprint clearances for adults working with children, minimum spending requirements on core academic subjects, and reimbursement to public schools for student evaluations conducted on voucher students.

Water, taxes and democratic governance

Democrats also pledged major reforms to Arizona’s groundwater laws, closing loopholes that allow corporations to extract water without long-term sustainability requirements — including exemptions for so-called “build-to-rent” developments.

Gutierrez confirmed Democrats are drafting tax proposals aimed at high-wealth individuals, arguing Arizona’s flat income tax and heavy reliance on sales taxes place a disproportionate burden on working families.

Finally, De Los Santos vowed a sharp break from decades of closed-door budgeting if Democrats win the majority.

“We don’t govern from back rooms,” he said. “Democracy means governing with the people — not oligarchs.”