LD17 Dem Candidates Gain Momentum as Powerhouse LD18 Rallies in the Fight for Water, Schools and Affordability

At a joint LD17-LD18 rally in Tucson, incumbent Rep. Kevin Volk and candidates Holly Lyon and Edgar Soto showed they are part of a larger Democratic push for water management, K–12 school funding, and reducing the high cost of living.

Republicans have controlled both legislative chambers for 60 years. They hold a 17–13 Senate majority and a 33–27 House majority. This makes LD17 a key battleground in the statewide contest for legislative control.

The LD17 Democratic candidates are drawing strong support from neighboring LD18, including Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan and House Assistant Minority Leader Nancy Gutierrez.

The support is significant because LD18 has become a Democratic powerhouse in the Tucson area, while the sprawling LD17 includes communities from the mountain areas near Summerhaven, Picture Rocks, Marana and Vail. Volk said that the two neighboring districts are increasingly functioning as a political team, declaring, “It’s great to join forces, LD18 and LD17 together.”

Candidates at a glance Holly Lyon — LD17 House candidate Retired after more than 26 years in the U.S. Air Force, working in computer systems. Former seventh-grade math teacher. Retired from the Pentagon after negotiating a Microsoft contract that she said saved the Air Force $100 million. Campaign emphasis: water, K–12 funding, and lowering costs. Kevin Volk — LD17 incumbent House member Former fifth-grade teacher and small-business owner. Won his seat in 2024, an accomplishment Soto pointed to as proof that battleground LD17 can be competitive. Campaign emphasis: Water, education and affordability. Edgar Soto — LD17 Senate candidate Marine Corps veteran. Vice president at Pima Community College, where he has worked for 30 years. Oversees Pima’s Desert Vista Campus, including two childcare centers, and its Santa Cruz County campus. Campaign emphasis: rebuilding support for community colleges, expanding pathways to good jobs and supporting first-generation and low-income students.

Water, schools and affordability

Volk said when he returns to the Legislature, he’ll introduce bills on education funding, affordability and water management.

Volk said the Legislature’s lack of action on groundwater has left Arizona vulnerable to continuing water-crisis headlines. Lyon said water is among the top priorities she would tackle.

Once she’s in office, Lyon said, “we can go in there and start getting some of these things passed,” Lyon said, naming “the water, public schools, funding our schools, bringing costs down for everybody.”

On K–12 education, Volk focused on chronic underinvestment in public schools, citing the Legislature’s policies that have caused Arizona’s worst-in-the-nation standing, large class sizes and the lapse of school funding.

“Arizona is 49th or 50th in funding public education, has the highest class size in the country, and has let $300 million of funding that didn’t come from taxes lapse,” Volk said. “All we have to do is do a simple renewal, and yet we can’t.”

Volk was blunt: “We do not want to look back and say, ‘It’s going to be another two years of Arizona being 50th in public education,’” he said.

Affordability rounded out the candidates’ top-tier legislative message. Lyon said she would focus on bills to bring down costs of housing, groceries, utilities, and healthcare.

“People always say to me, ‘What can the state do about costs?’ There are a lot of things,” Lyon said, revealing that Democrats already have bills written for when they take office.

“People used to move to Arizona for the cost of living. Now, according to surveys, people are thinking of moving out,” Volk said. “Or kids are moving out so that they don’t have to deal with the cost of living that’s gotten so unbearable.”

Funding community colleges

Arizona has failed since 2015 to fund Pima and Maricopa community colleges — undermining two of the state’s most important workforce-training schools.

“Pima Community College and the Maricopa Community College system are the only two community college systems in the whole country that get no ongoing state funding,” Soto said

Soto said the loss is not abstract. “We’re a key economic driver at Pima Community College … and we’re tasked with creating a skilled workforce, but we’ve lost out on about $221 million in federal grants that we would’ve had,” he said.

He also highlighted the loss of five federal Upward Bound grants that had supported first-generation and low-income students. Soto said Pima operated 10 of the grants at its East and Desert Vista campuses, but lost half after Trump designated them as DEI-related.

“They’re first-generation college students and low-income. We lost five of those grants because the Trump administration said that they were DEI,” Soto said. “We actually sued the federal government, and we won, but we haven’t got those grants back yet.”

 “That impacts generations,” Soto said, recalling that former participants have described the programs as “the difference-maker” that created networks and opportunity.

Momentum and the road ahead

The candidates have demonstrated momentum through the joint LD17-LD18 event, active support from Sundareshan and Gutierrez, and canvassing across the large, politically mixed district.

Democrats need three Senate seats and four House seats to flip the Legislature. The current makeup—17 Republicans to 13 Democrats in the Senate and 33 Republicans to 27 Democrats in the House—matches that assessment. “We can get to work right away and get things done,” Soto said.