In Arizona LD 27, Deborah Howard will Work to Protect Democracy, Promote Equal Opportunity, and Uphold Fairness in the State Senate

In the Central-West Phoenix Arizona Legislative District (LD) 27, Democratic State Senate Candidate Deborah Howard sees an opportunity. 

An opportunity to flip the Senate seat and potentially give the Democratic caucus control of that chamber when the State Legislature convenes in January 2025.

A former Republican and Independent Community activist and professional, Ms. Howard, a former Reagan appointee, is looking to run a campaign focusing on protecting reproductive freedom, upholding Democracy, increasing funding for public education, and affordable housing that appeals to Democrats, Independents, and Non-Maga Republicans. 

Her likely opponent, Kevin Payne is a staunch conservative who has actively supported measures designed to restrict reproductive freedom, stifle Democracy, and enable the outlandish 2020 Big Election Lies of Donald Trump.

If elected, Ms. Howard, unlike Mr. Payne, would promote an agenda that has the support of the majority of her district and most Arizonans.

Ms. Howard graciously took the time to interview and respond to questions about her candidacy for the State Senate.

The questions and her responses are below. 

• Please tell the readers at least two reasons you have decided to run for the State Legislature in LD 27 in 2024.

“I’m running for the LD 27 Senate seat because I believe the voters in this district and in all of Arizona deserve to be represented by people who respect them, our Democracy, and our freedoms. This district is currently represented by three election deniers, one of whom is also a fake elector and a January 6 participant. The other two are MAGA apologists and enablers. Honestly, I just was incensed that they were in office at all.”

“Arizonans also deserve representatives who will do everything possible so that we all have a fair and equitable opportunity to participate fully in the economic life of the state, to enjoy all the social and cultural riches of our state, and engage in the political life of the state. The current incumbents, in addition to their other failings, are working on policies that are 180 degrees opposite of this. They oppose abortion access when at least 80 percent of Arizonans support that. They pushed through universal voucher expansion even after Arizona voters twice at the ballot box told them they did not want universal voucher expansion. Then, they rewrote a tax code to evade a supplemental voter-approved tax to benefit public education simply because they didn’t want to do that.”

“These efforts to undermine the will of the voter over the past four years is just completely unacceptable in my mind.”

“I also believe their election denying makes them unqualified for office. They have fought for policies that are contradicted by the actual will of the voters. Both of those things together take up all their energy in the legislative space, and they are not actually addressing the real issues that Arizonans deserve to have addressed by their representatives.”

• What are at least three policy issues you will campaign on in 2024?

“I can absolutely guarantee that abortion and education are top of mind for me and for the voters. I think that Arizonans have to make explicit that the abortion rights we want for ourselves are included within our Constitution and therefore we have to pass the Arizona Abortion Access Initiative to secure those rights. Ultimately, women must have the power not only to decide when or if to grow their families, but when faced with that decision they are free to make the decision with those they choose to be a part of that decision and the medical team specific to that pregnancy without the restrictions of an ideological or cookie cutter approach. My opponent in this race has voted to expand abortion restrictions at least three times. I have always been pro-choice, even when I was a Republican. I aligned in that framework of safe, legal, and rare as the ideal policy and that’s completely consistent with women being able to make the decision that is right for them. This is just really important.”

“Education is next. We get all wrapped up in education with the voucher expansion and the use of public monies for private and religious schools. This is indeed outrageous and unacceptable. But the driving principle is that truly every child deserves a quality education. I love history but that’s because I had history teachers who shared with me that the outcome wasn’t preordained. Life, people, and experience matter.  

School teaches children many things – the love of learning is one of the most important. Because once a child has that they have the keys to the universe to explore life through different prisms, to discover their own interests and talents and how they fit into the world. Ultimately they learn the tools to make their own lives – to earn a living, to contribute to their communities. 

I think we must recognize that education is also the fundamental building block of “American exceptionalism.” Namely, our heritage of self-governance is based on our Constitution and the Bill of Rights, not passed down through heredity, ethnicity, or wealth. This is why the decades-long underfunding of public education now coupled with the overt transfer of public education funding in favor of private and religious institutions is so outrageous. It is quite literally undermining democracy. 

“As to other issues, obviously affordable housing is a big issue. Workforce housing. Student housing. Transitional housing. I used to think that part of becoming an adult was buying a house that cost more than $100,000. But that’s not possible anymore. A really small house in this district can cost over $300-$400,000. That’s not an achievable goal for too many so we have to figure that out.”

“Finally, and this goes to the unsuitability of the current district incumbents is that I really value voting rights and I think we should be doing everything possible to expand the franchise and expand the engagement in Democracy. Voting is an act done in the community. Sure, every single person’s vote matters individually but it is in the community that we get the answers about where we want to go as a society. This is absolutely something that drives me to want to run for office and do everything that we can; so that we have representatives who are working to expand Democracy and not constrict it.”

• Why should voters in your district choose you over your opponent in the 2024 election cycle? Please explain. 

“I have been in public policy and public affairs for more than four decades and I am smart enough to know that the issues we face are complicated and thorny that do not have simple solutions. These require us to negotiate and compromise. I don’t think my opponent, Kevin Payne, does that. I’ve walked into project meetings where every team member came in with conflicting opinions and ideas. At some point in the process, we became a team. We were committed to the same goals and we wanted to support each other to achieve them. I think it would be really great if we could have that same experience at the Arizona State Legislature. I don’t see my opponent working that way at all. I am not fighting an ideological battle for out-of-state or ideological interests. I really want to work on the issues that face Arizonans in their daily lives. The incumbents are playing to their ideological base and not paying attention to what really matters and in many cases, they’re making things worse.”

“There’s a little bit of personal growth in becoming a candidate. I recently sat on a panel with elected legislators and to the question, ‘What will be different if Democrats have a majority’, the answer that really resonated with me was we will have to spend time untangling the knots that the Republicans have put in place. They have been in control so long, we have to undo what they have done before we can make progress to make things better. I’ll work to make real and immediate improvements in the lives of Arizonans. That’s why I think I’m the better candidate.”

• Please explain how your campaign will persuade Democrats, Independents, and like-minded Republicans to support you in 2024. 

“I don’t think there’s a magic to this. I am going to reach out to voters the same way we persuade anybody to support anything. We get to know them. We learn what’s important to them and we find places where our values align. We move forward from there. We want the same things. We want to live with our families in strong communities. We want our children to go to good schools. We want good and growing job opportunities and we want affordable housing. We want to live in inclusive communities with opportunities for all of us. Those are not controversial positions.”

“I think when people meet me when I take my case to them, I think there is an opportunity to gain their support.”

Would it be fair to say that the road to victory is through Independents and Like-Minded Republicans in this district?

“Absolutely. One of the interesting things about this district is that there are 51 precincts and not one of them has a Democratic majority in voter registration. It is sometimes hard for people to want to align with the Democratic Party when for years and years, to be elected as a Democrat, you had to say you really weren’t one of ‘those – scary quotes’ Democrats.”

“I’m running as a proud Democrat and I’m also running as someone who used to be a Republican, and who for many years was a no-party preference voter as well.”

“Independents absolutely have a preference for either Democrats or Republicans. Maybe not in every race or every office but they clearly have a preference. They just don’t want you to know what that is. I think of them as cloaked partisans.”

• Is there anything not covered in the first four questions that you would like the voters to know about you and your candidacy for the State Legislature? Please explain. 

“I would like to emphasize that LD 27 is flippable. It’s over here in the West Valley and it would be the first district in the West Valley to flip. Adrian Fontes carried this district in 2022. Mark Kelly lost it by fewer than 400 votes. Governor Hobbs, Attorney General Mayes, and Superintendent Hoffman all lost it by less than three percent. It is not as red as the extremist incumbents might need it to be.”

“The district is also changing. The ASU West Campus is in our district and two Glendale Community College campuses are just outside the district. We have a ton of students in this district and they’re not locked to what the voter registration of a 9 percent Republican lean looks like. There’s absolutely an opportunity to flip this district. I was willing and ready to run not knowing that. This just makes me more determined to do everything possible to win.”

“Representative Judy Schwiebert in LD 2 is now running for State Senate. She was the highest vote-getter in that district when she flipped LD20 in 2020 and she was the highest vote-getter in her re-election in 2022 in LD 2 after redistricting when it was even slightly more Republican. I have every confidence Judy is going to flip that Senate seat. That will tie the State Senate. Then when I flip this Senate seat, that’s the plus-one Democratic majority and that changes everything. It will allow us to legislate and govern in alignment with the values of the majority of Arizonans. And that’s what we want to do. A Democratic majority can change everything for the better. It means Governor Hobbs won’t have to wear out her veto pen and we can do more than block bad legislation.”

Please click on the below social media sites to find out more about Deborah Howard and her candidacy for the State Senate in Arizona Legislative District 27. 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DHowardLD27

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552165616905

Website: https://www.deborahhowardaz.com/