Arizona Democrats Will Win by Making Republicans Own the Damage They’ve Done

Arizona Republicans promised voters lower costs, stability and competent government. Instead, they delivered higher household expenses, giveaways to the wealthy, attacks on public education and exhausting MAGA culture-war nonsense.

Now Democrats will make them pay for it at the ballot box.

Rodrigo Guerrero is the Campaigns Director for the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (ADLCC). He says the party is targeting seven competitive districts — LD2, LD4, LD9, LD13, LD16, LD17 and LD23 — in its campaign to break Republican control of the Arizona Legislature.

Democrats are a credible alternative

But Guerrero is clear-eyed about what it will take. Democrats cannot merely hope voters reject Republican extremism. They must offer a credible alternative and then outwork the opposition.

“Expecting people to vote against Republicans is not enough,” Guerrero said at the Democrats of Greater Tucson “Fight Back” program on June 11. “We need them to vote for our candidates specifically and for us.”

That means stronger candidates, professional campaign operations, aggressive voter contact and a message built around the problems Arizonans confront every day: utility bills, housing, health care, education and the rising cost of feeding a family.

Republicans Lied About Affordability

Republicans campaigned on lowering costs. Once in power, they embraced policies that protect corporations and wealthy donors while leaving ordinary Arizonans to absorb the consequences.

“They ran on a platform of affordability,” Guerrero said. “They ran on no foreign wars. They ran on all sorts of different things and have completely turned on that on a dime.”

The Republican record gives Democrats a powerful opening, especially among rural, Latino and working-class voters who may not follow every twist in Phoenix politics but know exactly what appears on their grocery receipts and electric bills.

“The economy, the economy, the economy is the most important thing,” Guerrero said. “Costs are what we’re hearing a lot of.”

Guerrero pointed to tariffs and Republican tax policies as examples of a governing agenda that places working people last.

“We’ve seen the opposite” of lower costs, he said. “We have seen very difficult tariffs. We have seen Republicans in the state Legislature being the first in the state to adopt the Trump tax cuts in their entirety. And that hurts working people.”

In Arizona, affordability is not an abstract campaign slogan. It is a $300 monthly summer electric bill. It is an overcrowded classroom. It is the cost of rent, medicine, insurance and child care.

Democrats will win by making clear who is responsible — and by showing voters that state government can lower costs, protect consumers and invest in communities.

Battleground Candidates Ready to Fight

In southern Arizona, Democrats are focused heavily on LD16, LD17 and LD23.

Democratic Rep. Kevin Volk flipped an LD17 House seat in 2024. Now the party wants to hold that seat, elect Holly Lyon to the second House position and send Edgar Soto to the state Senate.

Guerrero described Lyon, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, as a “real rock star” who is putting in the work, knocking on doors and emphasizing accountability in state government.

Soto, also a veteran, brings a background Guerrero said almost seems unbelievable.

“His bio seems too good to be true,” Guerrero said. “And then you talk to him, and you go, ‘He is that good.’”

Meanwhile, the Republicans are running child abuser Anthony Dunham for LD17 Senate. Dunham had his parenting rights temporarily suspended in 2022.

Rachel Keshel Jones – an election denier who wants to end voting by mail – is running for re-election for LD17 House. She is notorious for posing in front of the state capitol holding an AR-15 rifle.

In LD16, Democrats recruited Julia Miranda Gusse, a veteran and former Maricopa City Council member who has worked on veterans’ issues at the state and federal levels.

“She made a decision to retire to run for this seat because it’s that important to her,” Guerrero said.

In LD23, Democrats are seeking to defend their seats and prevent Republicans from exploiting electoral tactics that previously allowed them to win representation in a Democratic-leaning district.

“I think this is our year to do it,” Guerrero said.

No More Getting Outworked

The ADLCC has deployed district managers, field organizers and fundraising personnel across its targeted districts. The organization also helps campaigns pay for staff so candidates can spend more of their own money communicating with voters.

The strategy will vary by district, Guerrero said. Social media may matter more in younger Mesa-area communities. Radio may be more useful in rural areas. Direct mail, digital advertising and television will reinforce the personal contact happening at voters’ doors.

“You can’t knock on 50,000 doors in one day,” Guerrero said. “But you can send a mailer to 50,000 people in one day right when ballots drop.”

Still, campaigns are won by people willing to do the unglamorous work — raising money, calling voters, attending community events and knocking on door after door in the Arizona heat.

“If it’s a 50-50 race, the person who outworks the other one is going to win,” Guerrero said. “We’re not going to let the other side outwork us.”

Seize the Gavel and End MAGA Gridlock

Arizona Democrats have not controlled the House since the 1960s and have never held an outright Senate majority. Without the gavel, Democratic bills are buried without a hearing while Republicans waste time on ideological stunts.

“When you don’t hold the gavel, at the end of the day, it’s really hard to get things done,” Guerrero said.

Gov. Katie Hobbs has protected Arizonans by vetoing damaging Republican legislation. But Democrats cannot govern forever with a veto stamp as their only defense. They must win the Legislature.

Arizona voters are tired of Republican extremism and politicians serving wealthy interests while working families fall further behind.

“Voters don’t care for the culture-war issues that the Republicans are pushing,” Guerrero said. “People are sick of being divided. I’m sick of being divided.”

The Republican majority has had its chance. It chose MAGA theater over affordable living, corporate power over working families and obstruction over solutions. Democrats now have the better candidates, who will win by emphasizing affordability, public sch