Nancy Gutierrez has a fire in her gut.
It is the fire to serve the community in the new Tucson based Legislative District (LD) 18 as a member of the Arizona State House.
A teacher at Tucson High School for almost ten years, Ms. Gutierrez wants to defend the people’s interests and rights by working to:
- Fully fund and support public education.
- Support women and LGBTQ civil rights, including the rights for women to choose.
- Protect the state’s water supply.
- Promote common sense gun control legislation.
Ms. Gutierrez graciously took the time to respond to questions about her candidacy for the new LD 18 seat in the Arizona State House.
The questions and her responses are below.
- What are at least two reasons you want to run for a term for the, in the Arizona state legislature in the new and the new Legislative District 18?
“My first reason is that I’ve been a public high school teacher here in Arizona for the past nine years at Tucson high, but I started my teaching career in the Scottsdale school district in 1994.
Between that time and now, things have gone from bad to worse. I’ve tried to do as much work as I can on the inside, but change is needed in the Legislature. I marched with Red for Ed, I was a department chair, served on committees and that didn’t fix the major issues. The people in power have been systematically dismantling public education since the nineties, really since the eighties and they’re close to doing that.
I knew that if I wanted to create real change, I would need to be in the House or the Senate because that’s who makes the laws about education. And I truly believe that all of our Arizona students deserve an equitable and quality education.
Privatizing education will fail many of our students. Charter schools are getting our public money and they don’t have any of the regulations that we do in public school. They don’t have to take anybody they don’t want to take. And it leaves kids who are poor kids who are of color kids who have special needs out completely.
Education is my passion and that’s my number one reason for running, because I can make a positive change and bring a teacher’s voice to the legislature.
I am running because I believe in a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body. I have two daughters who are 18 and 21, and I want them to be able to make decisions about their bodies without the government interfering. I was a volunteer with the Tucson Chapter of the National Organization for Women, and became the chapter President in 2018. People who become pregnant should have choices based on what they want and not based on what Arizona lawmakers choose for them. Our LGBTQ community is also at risk with current legislation. I have friends and family and students who are in the LGBTQ community, and they have a right to live their lives as they see fit. It shouldn’t be up to lawmakers to tell parents that they can’t help their teen get gender affirming medication or surgery.
The gun legislation that we’re seeing in our state House and Senate is atrocious and very dangerous. I am a gun sense candidate with Moms Demand Action, and I will work for sensible gun laws. Right now there is a bill that would allow loaded weapons on a school campus. Just this semester we had a lockdown because there was a drive by shooting in front of Tucson High.
Luckily none of our students were involved. None of them were harmed. But when I was talking to my students about it and how they felt about the lockdown, they said, “yeah, I heard I heard the shots, but I just thought, well, it’s Tucson” and that broke my heart. Running for this seat is my moral responsibility because if we don’t create more sensible gun laws in Arizona, like taking a class to get a concealed weapons permit or like not having guns anywhere on school campus, or not lowering the age that people can have guns to 18, we’re in big trouble.
The last reason is kind of different. It’s the timing of it all. My youngest daughter is about to graduate high school and my oldest just graduated from the University of Arizona in December. I will turn 50 in April and we have two seats open. So, the seed that was planted of running for office while I was working with the Tucson Chapter of NOW, and been growing ever since. All the change happening in my life has led me to know that the time is now. It’s just the right time for me to step up and help my students in a different way than I have.”
- What are at least two reasons voters should elect you over any opponent in the legislative race?
“Well, I am a strong candidate, regardless of who else is running because since my passion is education and I am a current teacher, who’s taught through the pandemic, I think have a great perspective on what exactly is happening in schools right now and what we’re dealing with for the future.
I have been a teacher or volunteer in schools since 1994. I’ve led organizations like NOW and I was President of Manzanita Elementary School FFO, which is like a parent teacher organization. I have been a leader. I’ve been a military spouse. When my husband and I were first married, he was in the Army. This gave me great perspective on what it’s like for military families. I’m a mom, which is an important perspective to bring to the Legislature. I’m also someone who has spent their life learning. I’m a yoga teacher. I have a 500-hour certification and I bring that perspective to the legislature, which might not be there. I am a good listener and I’ve so enjoyed listening to the people of our district as I’ve been knocking on so many doors getting my signatures that I turned in last week.
I want to stand up and fight for what my community members need and I’m good at that. I enjoy standing up for what’s right. Not just shouting about it, but actually getting things done. I’m also a part of the teacher’s union. I will support unions and workers in our community. Arizona being a Right to Work state, workers’ rights are not always respected.
- If elected, what are at least four issues you will focus on in the legislature?
“Number one is education. I truly think that every single other issue circles back to education because when we don’t educate our young people, how do we expect to have a strong economy? How do we expect to have people know what their rights are and demand them?
Next, I would say gun sense legislation because we’re all at risk when people are carrying guns into public areas. We are not safe when there are people carrying guns on their hip or hidden on them with no license, no training, and able to just go to a gun show and get a gun without any wait time.
Another one is women’s rights. I firmly solidly believe in a pregnant woman’s right to choose. We must protect our LGBTQ communities rights because when one group is underserved, we’re all at a disadvantage.
We have to protect our water. I’ve been watching Pamela Powers Hannley making videos and podcasts about Governor Ducey wanting to privatize our water, which basically means steal from indigenous communities and poor communities to give to the more wealthy areas in our state. And that’s just wrong. We can’t allow corporations to come into our state, take all the water they want and not be taxed. Then we are left with, with no water for communities. We must protect this precious resource. I’m certainly not a water expert, but I do know that we need to rely on the water experts.
Do you support Universal Pre-K?
“I absolutely support universal Pre-K. We need to expand the programs that we have now so that every child in Arizona can go to school at three or at least four.”
Do you support expanding KidsCare?
“Yes, we have plenty of money in our budget right now to fully fund KidsCare. This should be a no-brainer, but it hasn’t been but yet. Our kids need to be able to go to the doctor. Parents should not worry that they can’t pay their electric bill because their child went to the doctor that month.”
Do you support funding the police?
“Yes, we need to fund the police. We need a police department, but some of the funding needs to go into more training so that when they show up to situations, they’re much better equipped to handle without escalation, especially mental health situations. Some of the police budget also needs to be funneled into more mental health care.
In some states, response teams that respond to non violent situations that are not police. They’re actually mental health workers that can diffuse situations. I think that that is a much smarter way to go than just constantly pouring money into our police budget. I also believe that more effort should be put into recruiting police who live in the neighborhood that they patrol.”
Do you support securing the border coupled with Immigration Reform?
“I absolutely think that we should streamline the process for becoming a citizen. It shouldn’t cost $20,000 to become a citizen. People are leaving Southern border communities because they’re in danger. They come here and work hard so that their families can be safe.
They’re trying to make a better life for their families. I’ve had these families at Tucson High. I’ve had Dreamers in my class. I’ve had kids who are afraid to tell me who their parents are, where they work for real, because they’re afraid they’re going to be deported. That’s unacceptable.
So yes, we need to streamline citizenship and yes, we should have secure borders. Absolutely. 100%. However, I don’t think we should be taking our surplus budget and putting it into a wall that does nothing to protect our borders. The wall that was built is falling down. It’s a total waste of money. It’s disrupting all of the wildlife and the ecosystems that are there. I believe in secure borders, but I don’t believe in using drones to hunt people down who are just trying to survive.”
- Is there anything not covering the first three questions that you would like to readers to know about you or for your candidacy?
“I want voters to know that I don’t go into this lightly. This is something that my family and I have discussed at length. It’s something that I’m working really hard to be the best candidate I can be, which means learning from great people who have come before me. I know that I can do a good job for our community. I know that I can be someone who our community feels like they are well represented by and who listens to their concerns.
I can make change. I’m also a person who can listen. If I can get 15 year old students who didn’t sign up for my yoga class at Tucson High to take off their socks and do crazy things with their bodies and then actually enjoy it, I can work with people in the legislature who don’t think that they want to talk to a Democrat or a new Legislator or a teacher, because that’s what I do every day.
I will take all of my teacher experience, leadership experience, care and determination and put it into this job. It will be a great honor to serve my community in this way.”
Please click on the below social media sites for more information on Nancy Gutierrez and her campaign for the Arizona State House in the new Legislative District 18.
https://twitter.com/nancygforAZ
https://www.facebook.com/nancyforaz/
Email: NancyforAZ@gmail.com
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