Charlie Fisher, Executive Director of the Arizona Democratic Party, and Liz Luna, Executive Director of the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee released the following statement:

“Twenty-one years ago Arizona voters passed Proposition 106, creating our Independent Redistricting Commission. We were one of the first states to take the job of drawing political boundaries out of the hands of self-interested politicians, and did so in the hope of creating more fair and competitive districts. In the subsequent two decades, Arizona has become the most politically competitive state in the country. Unfortunately, the maps passed by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission do not do justice to the intent of Proposition 106, and Arizona voters deserve better.
“Our constitution protects Arizona voters from political gerrymandering, but today’s maps give Republicans an unfair advantage that is not reflective of recent voter trends. Arizona is no longer a red state. Over the last few years, we have seen eight statewide elections decided by less than a 3.5% margin, with four, including the 2020 Presidential election, decided by less than 1%.
“Democratic Commissioners Shereen Lerner and Derrick Watchman negotiated in good faith with their Republican colleagues, expecting Independent Chair Erika Neuberg to fairly weigh the interests of Arizonans. Instead, they were stonewalled by a chair who sided with Republicans on nearly every major split vote.”

“The fastest-growing group of voters in Arizona is independents, yet, the chair who was appointed to help represent their interests, consistently sided with Republicans. ‘If I’m your chair, some 3-2 votes might be necessary, but if it’s always 3-2 – and especially if it’s always in one direction, that’s a warning sign. So, my success would be a robust majority,’ said AIRC Chair Erika Neuberg.
“Despite that, Chair Neuberg began the redistricting process siding with Republican commissioners on a 3-2 vote to hire a partisan operative who failed to disclose in his application the tens of thousands of dollars he made in 2020 helping Republican candidates and concluded this process with a 3-2 vote to solidify maps that clearly were altered by the GOP to protect extremist incumbents like Wendy Rogers, Vince Leach, Paul Gosar, and Andy Biggs.
“Reporting has shown that Arizona Republicans have done all they could to rig this process from the start. And rather than demonstrate true independence, Chair Neuberg let her Republican sympathies dominate much of her decision-making. Several times, concerns about improper procedures, lack of access to meetings, and an overall unfair process were raised by the Democratic commissioners, the Democratic leaders in the legislature, and members of the public. They were all dismissed by the chair without examination – let alone correction.
These maps do not reflect the increasingly competitive nature of our state. We will examine every legal remedy available to fight for fair and competitive maps for Arizona voters.”
Read more about how Republicans undermined the Independent Redistricting Process.
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“Communities of interest” is the most disingenuous of all the criteria. The only criteria that should really count is competitive districts, as close to 50-50 or 33-33-33 as possible. “Communities of interest”, as we have seen again just perpetuates existing interests or reinforces racial and income segregation. Some of us live in districts that always seem to be non competitive and perpetuate the one party dictatorship of the legislature, when the statewide vote is very tight. Gerrymander for competitiveness should done. Too bad if it results in rural/urban districts. The IRC was planned to be stacked from the start.