For Phoenix-born resident and mother Brittani Barraza, it is all about bringing all people together and being their voice for positive change in the Arizona State Legislature.
Seeing both the positive and negative impact the Arizona State Legislature has had on her and the neighbors in her community, Ms. Barraza launched a successful primary write-in campaign to appear on the November 8, 2022, ballot as a candidate for the State Senate in the new Legislative District (LD) 27.
If successful in her run, she will champion policies that:
• Improve the affordability of housing.
• Protect a woman’s right to choose.
• Provide quality and affordable health care including expanding Kids Care.
• Address the water crisis.
• Fully fund public education including full-day kindergarten and pre-school.
Ms. Barraza’s opponent is Trump-endorsed Republican and 2020 election denier/fake Arizona Presidential elector Anthony Kern, a former State Legislator who disgraced himself by promoting legislation that would have shielded his disparaging police record and once equated helping the poor with feeding animals.
This should not be a hard choice for the voters in LD 27.
Do they want the candidate that wants to help people and believes in Democracy or the one that was a cop with a checkered past, promotes the Big Lie of the 2020 Presidential election and equates the poor with animals?
Ms. Barraza graciously took the time to respond to questions about her candidacy.
The questions and her responses are below.
1) Please tell the voters, at least three reasons they should vote for you over, over your opponent in the new LD 27.
“First, I was born and raised in Arizona. Phoenix specifically. The reason why this is important is that I’m not going anywhere. I will be fighting the fight for the people of THIS community. I won’t be attending rallies in Washington DC fighting against democracy. I’ll be here at home, my lifelong home in Arizona, fighting to save democracy and protect our personal freedoms.
Second, growing up here, I’ve been a part of the education system and am familiar with the health and welfare services afforded here and I know what it’s like firsthand to be impacted by legislation that’s passed, or opposed, here. When it comes to education, I actually have skin in the game. Especially when it comes to primary education because I have three boys and two of them are currently in elementary school with my youngest one starting school in the coming years as well. As I mentioned, I’ve been personally impacted by the legislation passed in the last three decades. Anything passed or opposed for the next decade and a half to come is directly going to impact my children and me.
Finally, and most importantly, my campaign is going to be one based on inclusivity. I am not here to widen the divide between Democrats and Republicans. I want to be inclusive of anyone and everyone that’s a part of my community. I want to be a voice for my community. I don’t want to ostracize anyone. I’m not here to call out my opponent for whatever he’s done, or even talk about him. My focus is going to be on what I can accomplish for my community.”
2) Please describe what are at least three issues in this legislative race. Please explain.
“One of the first and main reasons why I was inspired to run for office would have to be the ever-increasing displaced population. Those without homes, those without somewhere to stay, somewhere safe. Shelters alone, in and around Phoenix, are not enough to actually serve the people who don’t have a home. There aren’t enough transitional and safe places for people to be. In most shelters you have to be in the door at a certain time, like 5pm for example and are locked in until the morning when you’re then kicked out, having no place to go for protection from the sweltering summer heat. If someone is looking for a job and they have no home and only have access to a shelter after business hours, how are they supposed to get calls or be contacted or follow up with potential employers? It just really doesn’t work for the people that need it the most and that need has just been growing exponentially, hand over fist. Especially so in this last year or two with the pandemic and now with the increased price of literally everything, there are so many more people on the street than ever before. When we have more than enough room space and homes that there shouldn’t be anybody sleeping on the ground, especially here in desert hot Phoenix.
Another issue would be the environment. As far as legislation goes, I hope you get this reference that I was kind of born in the long summer like in Game of Thrones, I’m like a summer child because we’ve been in a drought for the last two decades and right now it has become more of an issue that needs attention, especially with the announcement that just happened last week. I think it was Tuesday when they announced that tier two, twenty percent of our, water from the Colorado river is going to get cut which is understandable because there’s not enough water in the river anymore. So for me, the legislation that I would like to support would be environmental and not just renewable energy, but water increase, water efficiency, replenishing, and finding alternative water resources. I think a lot of that actually comes from the Corporate Commission in Phoenix here in our district and in our state. I know that there is a candidate, Lauren Kuby running for Corporate Commission alongside Sandra Kennedy, and they strive to bring Phoenix and Arizona to 100% energy efficiency, which actually saves taxpayers money. If we just increase our energy efficiency, our prices would go down.
Finally, the other legislation that is very important to me is healthcare. Not only affordable healthcare, which I’ll speak to first because to me there should be a more consistent scale of services. Two doctors are providing the same service. They should be charging the same amount. There are reasonable and customary charges, but also there are the charges that a doctor’s office, a hospital, any facility, or any provider would charge for those with insurance and those without, based on contracted rates with insurance. So, healthcare and the affordability and consistency of the charges are something that I’m very passionate about. And then within healthcare, the big, hot-button topic would be reproductive rights. And this also, I would say sets me apart from my opponent in that I’m a woman, I’m a mother of three young boys and young enough to grow my family still further, should I choose to. So it affects me directly, especially in circumstances that I don’t have a choice over, particularly if I am being taken advantage of or assaulted. This is something that as a woman isn’t always avoidable.”
Do you support expanding Kids Care?
“Yes.”
Do you support fully funding public education?
“Yes.”
Do you support universal pre-K and full-day kindergarten?
“One hundred percent.
Let me tell you, I have a three-year-old so that would directly affect me. It is so difficult to find childcare. If I were to put all three of them into daycare, the cost of that daycare per month is more than my house payment and car payment, and insurance combined. It makes it almost negligent to work. So yes, I absolutely support that.”
Do you, support the attempt to repeal voucher expansion?
“Yes.”
Do you support protecting access to the ballot box?
“Yes, I support increased access to ballot boxes.”
Do you support funding the police?
“I support the fact that the police are already funded and should continue to be but I wouldn’t say that I support increased funding for the police.”
Do you support comprehensive immigration reform?
“Yes, I support a secure border combined with a strategy to provide a pathway to citizenship.”
3) Please describe your campaign strategy to reach voters in a new LD 27, including Independents and disaffected Republicans.
“This is something I feel very strongly about because again, this just speaks to the inclusivity that I’m trying to stand on. We and my team are working on reaching persuadable voters targeting not only Democrats, but left-leaning independents and moderate Republicans by influence canvasing, which is talking to people in the same house as non-voters or Republicans, or like I said, those other two: left-leaning independents and moderate Republicans.
Field canvasing, reaching out to those voters that can have an influence over the people in their own home or somebody who votes and lives with somebody who can vote, but doesn’t vote, you know, that’s somebody that I want to target. I know when I was canvassing in the primary when you get somebody who answers the door, I would speak to somebody who was excited to have a representative running that they could vote for and many times was told, “I’m telling everybody!” and that’s the kind of thing that we really want, to reach out to those kinds of voters that are going to influence other would be not voters, if that makes sense. So that includes canvasing and again, to the point that I don’t want to ostracize anyone, I call them disenfranchised Republicans, who might feel like they don’t necessarily have a tribe that they belong to anymore. I want to be inclusive of anyone that lives in my community. That is who I want to speak for and help support. That’s why I would like to reach persuadable voters and will be doing a lot of influence canvassing.”
4) Is there anything you would like the voters to know about you or your candidacy that was not covered in the first three questions. As a follow-up question, why are you running as a write-in candidate? Can you explain why you didn’t run in the primary process?
“I was a write-in candidate but I have passed the primary with enough write-in ballots, so I will be on the ballot and no longer need to be a write-in candidate. I have been officially certified as a candidate on the ballot.
I had expressed my interest in running for office and you know, this might have been about a year ago or more and it was just reaching the right set of people to help connect me to the process. I’m not a career politician. I’m a mom. I work. I just want to help my community.
They don’t make it easy to run for office on purpose. So, I was approached to be an official write-in candidate in the primary, rather than running as a write-in candidate in the general election. So, we overcame a big hurdle.
I just want to repeat again that inclusivity is the stepping stone of my campaign and the goal for me in my community is to help everyone who lives here to live a life where they’re thriving and not surviving. I’ve had to survive my life here in Phoenix, in spite of setbacks of colorful history, the background history of my family, those kinds of circumstances outside of my control and not being afforded every possible help that our government has the capacity to do or provide, but doesn’t offer. So, my number one goal, with any legislation passed or opposed, is to support the people of my community so they can thrive and not surviving their day to day. That’s, that’s the most important part for me and I can’t do that if I’m excluding or outcasting anybody. I just want to reach as many people as I possibly can to help them.”
Please click on the below social media sites to find out more about Brittani Barraza and her candidacy for the State Senate in the new LD 27.
