by Carolyn Classen, blogger

Legislative Update with the LD18 Delegation

Saturday, March 16, 2024, 10:00am to 11:30 a.m.

Zoom link (no registration required): https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86860213566…

“Note that this meeting has been moved from the second Saturday of March to the third Saturday in order to avoid a conflict with the Tucson Festival of Books.

The LD18 Legislators will be providing a legislative update on all that is happening at the State Legislature. Join us and hear the latest information regarding the attacks on voter’s rights, teachers, our trans students, and citizen’s initiatives.

We will also hear from LD17 State Senate candidate John McLean, who recently decided to run after Jane Fry withdrew from the race.

LD 18 delegation bios:

Priya Sundaresan

Senator Priya Sundareshan was elected to the State Senate in 2022. She was born and raised in LD18. Senator Sundareshan had the opportunity for an excellent public education and exploring the outdoors living right here in Tucson. In addition to her serving in the Legislature, she teaches natural resources law at the University of Arizona, and previously advocated for sustainable resource management with the Environmental Defense Fund. Senator Sundareshan studied engineering at MIT and law and natural resource economics at the U of A.

Nancy Gutierrez

Representative Nancy Gutierrez was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2022. Rep.Gutierrez currently teaches at Tucson High Magnet School but has taught in other Arizona school districts. She attended public schools in Tucson from Kindergarten to college at NAU. Rep. Gutierrez has a degree in elementary education with an emphasis in Math.

She served on the Board of the National Organization for Women and also served as the President of NOW.

Rep. Gutierrez is a member of the Arizona Education Association and is part of the Educators Caucus at the Legislature. She has been doing an amazing job representing southern Arizona.

Chris Mathis

Representative Mathis was appointed to the Arizona House of Representatives in December 2021. He then was elected for a full term in 2022. Rep. Mathis teaches health care law at the U of A and lives with his wife, Colleen, in Tucson.

Chris practices elder law, helping older Tucsonans and their families resolve issues related to long-term care, public benefits, senior housing and estate planning. He is a Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law and Arizona Education Association member, Chris teaches classes on Health Care Law & Policy and Aging. He formerly served as Director of Policy & Communications at the Healthcare Markets & Regulation (HMR) Lab at Harvard Medical School.

John McLean (LD 17)

John is a long time Pima County resident, and third generation Arizonan, who retired as CEO of Areté Associates, a science and engineering company here in Tucson. John gives back to the community through volunteer service, advocacy, and philanthropy in education, environmental sustainability, animal welfare, and quality of life in our community. He is the treasurer of Friends of Pima Animal Care Center and the secretary of Native Seeds Search.

Please show your support for our Democratic candidates by signing their nomination petitions online at E-Qual: https://apps.azsos.gov/apps/election/eps/op/

The Tanque Verde Valley Democratic Club presents speakers of interest to Democratic voters on the second Saturday of every month.

Sign up for our mailing list to receive meeting announcements: http://eepurl.com/gpRv1j

To join the Tanque Verde Valley Democratic Club please email your name, address, telephone number and email address to Beth Isabelle (bethisabelle@gmail.com)“

Carolyn’s note: LD 18 Delegation is State Senator Priya Sundareshan, House Rep. Chris Mathis and Nancy Gutierrez. Mathis was appointed to LD 9 House in Dec. 2021, then was elected to LD 18 House in Nov. 2022. Priya & Nancy were both elected for first time in Nov. 2022. LD 17 candidate John McLean is a political newcomer.