Arizona’s New Legislative District 18 Promises a Healthy and Positive Competition in the Coming AZLeg Primaries

I attended an LD18 meet and greet on April 3rd in Ft. Lowell Park. I am now in LD20 (full disclosure: I have been elected by the PCs of LD20 as the Second Vice-Chair), but since LD9, which forms a major portion of the new LD18, is my previous home district – and the WHOLE of the Pima and Arizona Democratic Parties are my home – I attended to reconnect with old friends and meet some new ones.

The first and most notable fact was the tremendous and enthusiastic turnout; I estimated a crowd of well over 100 at the peak of the event – party faithful were spilling out of the ramada and into the surrounding park. The size of the gathering was easily equal to the regular monthly all-PC meetings of LDs 9 or 10. LD18 is going to be a beehive of activist and PC activity in the coming months.

The second notable fact was the attendance at the event by the abundance of friendly competitors for nominations to the LD18 AZLeg offices. We have, at the current count, at least 5 candidates seeking the 2 nominations for House and 2 candidates for the nomination to the Senate. And what a tremendously diverse and talented bunch they are. I believe they have all dropped nominating petitions and secured places on the ballot at this point.

Look at these lovely folks:

One thing I have no concern about is that LD18 will have a deep and talented bench of aspiring public servants for years to come. You can meet or watch all these candidates at TheDGT.org. We recently hosted Kat (video pending), and Nathan and Chris joined us when the appointment to replace Randall Friese was pending, and both Chris and Nathan both joined me for in-depth interviews. Priya will be speaking at DGT on April 18th, Morgan on April 11th, Nancy will be appearing at DGT on a date TBD (she also sat for an in-depth interview with me, and shorter one with BfAZ’s David Gordon), and Charlie will appear on May 16th, and Chris (again), and Nathan (again) as soon as possible before the August primary.

I have met them all and found them all to be thoughtful, intelligent, and dedicated people. Most impressive was the wonderful camaraderie and goodwill among them. Not one of them has a bad word about any of the others. The voters of LD18 are going to be like kids in a candy store come August.