“Come on Down” and Help Make Arizona LD Two All Blue in November

Arizona Legislative District (LD) Two could be potentially ground zero to determine which political party controls both houses of the Arizona State Legislature. 

A battleground LD, the Democrats have recruited dynamic educators and experienced public servants in State Representative Judy Schwiebert and School Board Member Stephanie Simacek to take the local senate and one of the two-house seats. 

If they prevail and help shift the State Legislature blue, they pledge to work with Governor Katie Hobbs and the new Democratic majority to:

• Fully fund public education.
• Bring greater accountability to the State Private School Voucher Program,
• Address housing affordability.
• Work on solving the state’s water crisis.

Ms. Schwiebert and Ms. Simacek graciously took the time together to respond to questions about their candidacies for the State Legislature. 

The questions and their responses are below.

• Please describe at least two reasons why your public policy goals as a State Legislator will move Arizona forward and lift Arizonans up. 

Stephanie Simacek: 

“Two policies that will help move Arizona forward are fully funding public education or at least moving towards that direction. Arizona public education has been underfunded for years and furthermore, we can see with the universal ESA, voucher program, money being drained from our state, tax payers money, to support the program without any accountability or transparency. In order for us to move forward and consider what we want to see for Arizona’s future, we must make sur all of our students, no matter what ZIP code they live in, have every single chance to thrive in their academic setting. At minimum for this to happen, we must require accountability and transparency from those who receive funds. I do feel that once this is put into place, the state will be able to cut back on the spending of universal vouchers because the flaws will be identified. What we see right now are people taking this money from the state and  using it to buy dune buggies, and espresso makers to have their child become a barista. We cannot allow this to continue. That money could be properly applied to fund public education, which 90% of Arizona families choose for their children.”

“The next issue that will move Arizona forward is securing reproductive freedom for all. We are seeing this across the country. 20 states so far have completely banned abortion without any consideration for rape and incest. It’s extremely important that women have a right to choose and that women have a voice for their own bodies and the government stays out of the exam room. We must support women who are able to make those decisions themselves because it is their bodies.” 

Judy Schwiebert: 

“Like Stephanie said, one of our primary goals is to make sure that we’re properly investing in our public schools from K-12 on up through community colleges, universities. and other job training programs. Public education is vital to ensuring we have a safe and thriving community. That means increasing educator salaries as well as funding for resources, facilities, and other student needs.”

“Our lives together depend on ensuring that people have the skills, training, education and sense of purpose to contribute to our community. Great public schools and teachers are central to that.”

“I also share our constituents’ concerns about the increased cost of living, especially around housing. Rents in Arizona increased by 72% over the past decade, and home prices increased by 57% between just 2019 and 2023. “

“Young people can’t afford to move out of their parents’ homes. Older people on fixed incomes who have worked their entire lives are the fastest growing segment of people experiencing homelessness.”

“That’s why I spent much of my time this past session working on bills to help reduce the cost of housing, but we have much work left to do.””

One thing we should emphasize is giving more control back to our cities and counties, the ones who are closest to the problem. For example, we’ve seen an explosion in the number of homes being used as short-term rentals, many of which are owned by Wall Street investors.  Those investors can afford to slap down cash for houses at a price that everyday Arizonans can’t afford. That drives up prices, and as a result, people who live in Arizona can no longer afford to live in the community where they work. We need to make sure that we are not having to compete with Wall Street investors who are driving up the cost of housing and years ago. Governor Ducey made sure that cities had no control over that. We need to restore local control to short-term rentals and more housing issues.”

“The legislature should be working to ensure we have an economy where everyone can thrive, not just people at the top.”

• Please describe at least two reasons why your opponent’s public policy goals as a state legislator will move, Arizona, backward and pull Arizonans down.

Judy Schwiebert:

“Rather than dwell specifically on our opponents’ policies I would like to focus instead on what the one seat Republican majority has brought us to. Let’s talk about the cost to Arizonans of keeping that same majority in place.”

“This is the majority that passed tax cuts where the wealthiest Arizonans get enough money to buy a Porsche. Everybody else gets enough money to buy a pizza. The current majority has given so many tax loopholes to corporations, that many pay only the $50 minimum in their annual state tax. We need to stop giving every benefit to the wealthiest Arizonans and making the middle class bear the cost of educating our children, maintaining our streets and roads, caring for our environment, making sure that we have a water supply, and all of the things that we depend on our government to ensure.” 

“We’ve also seen that the Republican one seat majority has blocked us from increasing funding of our public schools and teachers. Instad, we are constantly battling against bills to ban books and attack some of our most vulnerable people in our state including our young people.”

“The current majority also continues to attack our fundamental freedoms from voting rights to making our own reproductive healthcare decisions.  That’s what we see are the priorities of a continuing Republican majority.”

“Stephanie and I offer a new majority in a State Legislature that will have the power to fight for everyday citizens, for the people who are paying taxes, sending their kids to school, trying to get ahead or trying to retire with dignity. Stephanie and I are committed to working for by reducing the cost of living, increasing teacher salaries, protecting our personal freedoms, and keeping our community safe.” 

Stephanie Simacek:

“I strongly agree with what Judy said. That one seat majority has really focused on cultural war issues, rather than focusing on what the people of Arizona truly need. We need affordable housing. We need properly funded public education. We also hear a lot where there might be a term used to promote and to make it sound like somebody is pro something for and in reality, they are really supporting something else. Instead, for example, Arizona parents have for a long time have had the freedom to choose any school district, any charter school, home school, or private school. When we see our opponents advertising that they agree with school choice, I want to make it very clear that Judy and I both strongly agree and clear that parents have a choice in educating their child. What we are saying is that people need to be held accountable for their spending. We need to make sure that the 90% of families that choose public education are getting their kids’ needs met. The original intent of vouchers was for special needs students to receive support for their needs that were not being met in a public school. We are now seeing that with money wastefully being thrown away and taken away from where it’s needed.”

“We talked about a lot of our one seat majority changing the subject and not necessarily addressing what the issues are for Arizonans. They instead focus on culture war topics, such as banning of books, picking apart curriculum, and putting our teachers down when they work so incredibly hard for our not only our district but for our state”

“We need to make sure that we are discussing facts rather than just talking about things that really don’t exist and making sure that we get that message out there that we can overturn this one seat majority so that we can start working for the people of Arizona because it’s long overdue.”

• Please comment on the current state of your ground game operations and putting voter turnout at the same level as the up-ballot races. 

Judy Schwiebert:

“We have been working since last year on a really extensive ground game. We have the best in the business in Mary Fortney, who is our district manager. We have staff that have been dedicated to helping us listen to the priorities of the people of our community. We’re knocking on thousands of doors because we want to make sure we’re listening to people. That’s also the way that we’re going to win elections. It’s certainly the way that I have won in this purple district in the last two cycles and we continue to have more and more volunteers showing up who are passionate about helping us win.  As a matter of fact, right after Kamala Harris accepted the nomination for the presidency, we saw a big rise in the number of volunteers who were showing up at our office.  People are getting the message “Do something.”  We’re going to help win from the bottom of the ticket all the way to the top.”

 Stephanie Simacek:

“It comes down to having conversations with constituents so we can equally share their concerns and our goals. This requires a significant amount of door knocking. We have a lot of literature going out to voters in the legislative district too, but it’s the conversations that get us votes. We are nearly equal in the number of Independents, Republicans and Democrats here in LD2. Our conversations help voters decide who they’re going to vote for. We also have a single shot strategy that we’re utilizing for the House seat, meaning when we are having conversations we talk to voters about supercharging their vote. They can do this by just voting for one candidate who they feel represents them. By all means, we encourage everybody to do their research on candidates. That’s a big part of the plan here for the House Seat. It is what worked for Judy in the last couple of cycles in our very purple district. Our hope is that we will flip the one seat majority this year so that we can be the voice for all Arizonans.”

• Is there anything you would like to convey to the readers about your campaign for the Arizona State Legislature that wasn’t covered in the first three questions?  Please explain.

Judy Schwiebert:

“I will say come on down. This is an all-hands-on deck election. If you feel anxious about this election, come turn that anxiety into action by helping us knock on doors, write postcards, make phone calls, or donate to our campaign. So much is not only at stake not only in the Presidency, the Congress, and the Senate but right, here in our own State Legislature. These down ballot state legislative races actually elect people who have a greater impact on our daily lives than those in Washington DC. Here is where we decide things that will directly impact people’s daily lives like having good quality schools for our kids, making sure that we’re addressing the water, affordable housing, and medical expense crisis. So, yes, come on down.”

“I also want to pick up on what Stephanie said about reproductive freedom. Since Roe was overturned, it’s now up to the states to determine whether we’re going to protect our freedoms or not. We need to make sure we’re protecting our personal bodily freedom. We also need to make sure that we are protecting people’s freedom to vote by protecting our safe, secure, well-run elections. We should always be mindful of keeping our elections secure against new threats, but we need to protect our our sacred freedom to vote from election deniers who would deny citizens their fundamental right to vote by eliminating mail in ballots and other restrictions that would silence the voices of too many people in our democracy. “

Stephanie Simacek:

“We absolutely need all hands-on deck. You can visit our websites (judyforaz.com and simacekforaz.com.) Both sites have volunteer mobilize links where community members can find all of our events and opportunities.

“Getting out and doing something is a solution for any anxiety and stress one is feeling. There is an uncomfortableness going on right now and it surrounds us daily. What you can do is get out there. We know that our national elections are extremely important, but people underestimate that they really do have a say and they can have a strong voice. That strong voice comes out through involving yourself in local politics and electing local leaders. That’s where it starts. That’s where we make these small improvements with public education and grow from there. Your vote does matters, and it especially matters in local elections.”