Arizona Legislative District (LD) 16, an area that covers parts of Tucson, and all of Casa Grande, Coolidge, Eloy, and the town of Maricopa, is one of several battleground districts Democrats are looking to both retain and improve on their numbers in the November 2024 elections.
In 2022, educator Keith Seaman won a single shot campaign to capture one of the LD’s House seats.
This election cycle, his daughter, fellow educator Stacey, is looking to join him in the State Legislature as a member of the Arizona Senate.
If successful, both Seamans pledge to listen to their constituents and work for their interests in the areas of:
- Public education.
- Affordable housing.
- Quality and affordable health care.
- Protecting reproductive freedom.
Ms. Seaman and Representative Seaman graciously took the time to respond to questions about their campaigns in LD 16.
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.
Stacey Seaman: “The public policy goals I have are all focused on the people in our district, the people in our state, and the welfare of those people. One of those goals is education and making sure that we can really build a strong educational system in Arizona and get away from being one of the bottom states in the country. Our kids deserve that. And quite frankly, that goal will also strengthen our businesses and economy because well-educated people create and can fill better jobs.”
“The other goal is health care and making sure that the people in our district and in our state have quality health care and to make sure that it’s affordable, especially for our elderly and our youth.”
“And also, mental health care, which is a big problem out at Central Arizona College. Where I work or any college campus, you’ve got students who are out on their own for the first time and they sometimes struggle, and we need to make sure we have resources available for them.”
Keith Seaman: “Well, since I’ve been in office for a couple years and the one of the reasons why I got into the legislature is education but specifically the ESAs. I’ve been through two budgets now and we as Democrats, as a minority caucus, couldn’t get many of our policies or bills passed because of the billion dollars that the ESAs or vouchers have taken. But not even that. We can live with that if we cut down a little bit, but the lack of restrictions, or the guard rails, on the ESAs is what concerns us. We recently learned that some parents aren’t using $360 million in ESA funding. I think that might be going to their kid’s college education. Well, that’s not right. This is public money. So one of my policy goals going forward is putting that guard rail on the ESAs so we could put it back in public education or put it elsewhere.”
“Another example of how the ESA funds hurt Arizonans: I have a road in Pinal County which is very important in Maricopa: 347. We tried to get some money. Just nine million dollars to fix it. But we couldn’t because there wasn’t enough money in the budget because of the billion dollars that the ESAs are taking. So, one of my policy goals with the Democrats is just let’s cut that down. Get some guard rails there. Then use that money for other vital areas.”
“The second thing is affordable housing. When I joined the caucus, I knew affordable housing was an issue. We’ve done several good things in the legislature to change things so that people can afford to get into a house or afford the rent. So if we can get some more resources or policies to allow people to afford housing for an apartment or for their first house, I think that’s going to bring Arizona forward.”
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?
Keith Seaman: “On reproductive rights, my opponents support the 1864 law that was so restrictive that women couldn’t even get an abortion after rape, for instance. That’s gone now but I understand that even with the recent 15-week abortion bill that has come up, the Republicans want no abortion whatsoever in our state. A woman and their family and doctor should be the ones who have a say about what a woman and their family should do. As we go door to door, I asked what is one of your top topics and they say abortion. I got into this race just when Roe v Wade was taken down from the Supreme Court and that made a lot of people who might not have supported Democrats concerned. They want to protect reproductive rights. They don’t want the government involved in that decision.”
“The second reason is their non-support of public education. I’ve been an educator in Arizona for 40 years from a teacher all the way up to the superintendent. The Republicans seems to be anti-public education. Not only has Stacey talked about it earlier and what I talked about – but lack of money. We have come down now to, I think, the 50th state that supports education funding. There’s also a lack of respect that I’m seeing in the legislature for teachers. That hurts my heart because as an educator, we were esteemed – and I’m not seeing that anymore. They act as if we are demons. That we the teachers are in there to change the kids. They’re voting to allow guns to come to the schools and things that educators shouldn’t have to worry about. They’re worried about what teachers teach, not just the history of all, but they’re worried about putting their own religion and philosophy into the public schools that, I think, is all going to is keep Arizona restrictive and backwards as well.”
Stacey Seaman: “Over the last 10 years, my opponent voted four times to restrict abortion rights.That in my opinion is taking Arizona backwards. It’s taking away the rights for women. But we need to continue to move forward.”
“The second way my opponent is taking us backward is his support for the tax breaks for the rich. I’m endorsed by unions because I really understand, like my Dad, working class issues. I lived most of my life on a teacher’s salary and I understand how important it is and how far we have to make every single dollar stretch. And when legislators vote for the flat tax for the rich, that just hurts everyone else. It hurts us twice because they’re not having to pay their fair share and then we don’t have enough tax revenue to help support the people and the causes in Arizona that really need it.”
Please comment on the current state of your ground game operations and your plans to motivate people to turn out and vote for you.
Stacey Seaman: “We are just out there canvassing. We’re making phone calls. We’ve got our organizers. We’ve got phone banks going on through the week and we are absolutely at the doors or on the phones with our flyers and our ads. The big thing we’re saying is we have to get people to turn out and those people who do turn out have to vote all the way down the ballot. That is the number one message.
Keith Seaman: “It’s exactly where we’re canvasing. Thousands of doors. Our district includes Maricopa City, Casa Grande, Coolidge, Eloy, and a lot of Tucson. We have called two or three times a day. Hundreds of calls that we make as well as other people’s house parties. We’ve got people working all over the streets in the district. We’re getting help from the education unions and Save our Schools. People have just come aboard recently, because of what’s going on with Harris. We had volunteers but we’ve got a lot more volunteers now. Now we can always use more. It’s door to door. It’s phone call to phone call. It’s talking to people. It’s going to meet and greets. It’s going to fundraisers. We’re doing everything we’re supposed to do. We send out flyers. We’re getting on TikTok. I knock on a door here and someone said I just saw you on television, so that makes us happy. People are getting the idea. So, it’s busy. We’re trying to contact as many voters as we can because it’s important.”
Stacey Seaman: “We are getting an incredible amount of support from other state legislators who are helping and sending resources from their districts from District 12, 17, 18, and 20. And I think everybody understands what a tossup race both my dad and I have here in this district and really close. It’s just been phenomenal to watch the groundswell of support as we’re trying to make it across the finish line.”
Is there anything you would like to convey to the readers about your campaign for the Arizona State Legislature that was not covered in the first three questions? Please explain.
Keith Seaman: “People might think you need to know that I’m the only Democrat among the three of us who are running. There are two Republicans and myself. It’s been a long time since we had a Democrat represent our Democrats and other views we call forward. We’re using a strategy called single shot. People can get two votes for two State Representatives. We’re telling them: they want me to be elected, only vote for me, only vote for the Democrat. That was a good strategy we used last time. So, if there’s anything else I can say about that, is that look at your ballot. Look down ballot and single shot me. That will make a big difference.”
Stacey Seaman: “I think the only thing I want people to know is that my dad and I are here in our community. I work here. We shop here. We go to church here and people of this District are our friends and our neighbors. We hear you and we see you. If you can come out and help us get elected, we’re going to represent you the best that we can and in a way that maybe hasn’t happened for a while for them.”
Keith Seaman: “I think the biggest thing too is we’re going to listen to you. I don’t know how many times I have had phone calls or people come to my door and say I’m so and so. I live in Eloy. I live in your District. I have an issue. We can’t ignore that and the big issues of the public education, affordable housing, and reproductive freedom. But it’s the thing that that person, his or her single issue is important, and I’ve been doing that all my time and we will continue to do that. Pick up the phone. I don’t mind a thousand emails. I’ve got as long as we have a representative that is concerned about everyone and will listen to them. Many times, I’ve spent with my constituents and said, ‘okay, I’ll find the resource to help you ma’am, to help you sir and that’s what people want us to do as legislators.” That’s what I’ve been doing and it’s the right thing to do to.”
Please click here to see Ms. Seaman’s Campaign Website.
Please click here to see Representative Seaman’s Campaign Website.
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