With the pending retirement of three-term State House Legislative District (LD) 13 Representative Jennifer Pawlik from the Arizona Legislature, former 2022 LD 14 House candidate Brandy Reese, a forensic science chemist, peace officer, mother of two daughters, and public education activist, has declared her run to succeed the well-regarded legislator.
Arizona LD 13 encompasses all or parts of Chandler, Gilbert, and Sun Lakes.
Pledging to continue Representative Pawlik’s commitment to service, moderation, and listening to all constituents, Ms. Reese also vows to seek common ground solutions at the legislature, putting an emphasis on facts and evidence over fear and conspiracy theories.
Her campaign will focus on securing vital funding for public education, health care access, and reproductive freedom, looking for solutions to the water supply crisis, protecting Democracy, and providing gun safety.
Ms. Reese graciously took the time to respond to questions about her candidacy for one of the State House seats in LD 13.
The questions and her responses are below.
1) Please tell the readers two reasons you have decided to run for an Arizona State House LD 13 seat in 2024.
“I think we all understand there’s a lot at stake in this upcoming election. Families in Arizona really are depending on the people who are our elected officials to get to work and to get together. Right now, we have a very serious, some would call a crisis, with our out-of-control voucher spending that is costing our taxpayers about one billion unbudgeted dollars. That is something we need to address.”
“In addition to the voucher crisis, I think everyone is aware that the water future is at stake, and we need to be thinking about how we can use our resources wisely and creatively in ways we have not investigated before.”
2) What are at least three policy issues you will campaign on in 2024?
“I’m a mother of two wonderful young women. They both graduated from Chandler Unified School District and there are school districts that are not as lucky. Those districts don’t have the bonds and overrides to supplement their incomes and budgets. Education is the foundation of everything. We really need to make sure we are investing in education as our State Constitution prescribes for the Public Education system that is open to everyone.”
“Again, water is one of the things that we need to address with increasingly higher temperatures year after year. July has been excessively hot. It really puts into perspective our water situation and how we deal with that. We’ve got plants that are indigenous to the area that are not doing well no matter how much water they get. Water and the environment go hand and hand. We really need to address those concerns as far as our sustainability and livability in this state. We’ve got to be able to work together on those issues and find that middle-common ground where neither extreme (right or left) is directing the conversation, and we find common purpose.”
“The third issue is health care and reproductive rights, which are paramount to me. Being the mother of two daughters, with the Dobbs Decision last year, it’s heartbreaking to me that decision terrified my children. They no longer wanted to live in Arizona because they have feelings of insecurity and “what if”. Them living in a world where they have fewer rights than I did at their age is devastating to them and to me. I think medical care and treatment are personal issues that the government should stay out of.”
“Finally, we have got to address our gun violence issue. It’s not just limited to school shootings or Arizona. It’s not limited to location anymore. Where we previously felt safe in certain locations and situations, it’s no longer that way. I think people want to feel safe in their neighborhoods, schools, churches, and grocery stores. We have got to come to some sort of consensus and plan to move forward to make us all feel and be safe.”
Please explain your position on immigration.
“We all agree that we need immigration reform. It needs to be an efficient process and fair so that people who want to immigrate here have pathways to citizenship that are straightforward and don’t take decades.”
3) Please explain why voters in LD 13 should choose you over any other candidate in 2024.
“I am a trained chemist in forensic science, and I am a lifelong education advocate. So those two things working together really mean I have a focus on putting facts over fear or conspiracies. I want to make sure that in this legislature, we’re really focusing on those issues that matter the most to Arizonans in our communities like education, water, reproductive care, and gun violence. Not the extremism that we have seen as of late that has sharply divided our politics because there is so much at stake in 2024. It will be a Presidential election year. The balance of power is very much in focus. Democracy is very much on the ballot again. We need to focus on facts, truth, evidence, and data, not on conspiracy theories or lies about elections.”
4) Please explain how your campaign will persuade Democrats, Independents, and like-minded Republicans to support you in 2024.
“We all understand and respect the legacy that Representative Jennifer Pawlik has had in this district, being that very levelheaded, bipartisan leader that is well respected by members of all political stripes. I think that is paramount to LD 13 and the community in Chandler and Gilbert. We must observe and respect the legacy that she has built on community service and just being open and listening to the people she represents. I have had the honor and pleasure of being mentored by Representative Pawlik since I was just a volunteer. She is respectful, and that respect is returned by her constituents. I think that is very important for a Representative of the people. I am a Democrat, but being a representative in this district means representing all the people in that district, not just my personal beliefs or background. I think it is important to listen to the people. Going out, knocking on their doors, calling them, asking what they think and what’s important to them, and actually listening to that.”
5) Is there anything not covered in the first four questions that you would like the readers to know about you and your candidacy for a State House seat in LD 13? Please explain.
“I’ve seen what can happen when government works for people effectively and efficiently. I was born into poverty to teenage parents, and we relied on services at the County Health Departments that provide immunizations and our neighborhood Schools that are there for every kid. Also, it’s thanks to Kids Care that low-income children have access to healthcare. All of these things are in place to really help all members of our society, especially things like schools. When I see that being threatened (by voucher funding), it very much is personal to me because I can think back to little Brandy, who was in kindergarten and elementary school, and the way of life I had growing up and how I moved forward in my life through my education. I came out of that poverty, and hopefully, I would like to believe I created a better life for my family – thanks to the teachers that invested in me. That would not have been possible for me without public education. That is why that is so important to me and why I got involved in politics in the first place. It was just through seeing things around me that were not right and deciding to do something about it.”
Please click on the below social media links to find out more about Brandy Reese and her candidacy for one of the State House Seats in Arizona LD 13.
Website: reeseforaz.com
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ReeseForAZ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reeseforaz
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reeseforaz/
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