Congressional District Five Democratic Nominee Joan Greene
At the same Sozo coffee shop in Chandler where we met before the primaries, Arizona Congressional District Five Democratic Nominee Joan Greene, along with her campaign advisor Ryan Winkle, eagerly communicated that the district is not the “red-headed stepchild that pundits have made it out to be” and the prospects for victory at the representative and local level is real. During our conversation, she relayed how she would campaign to victory over incumbent ultra conservative Andy Biggs and what she would do as the new Arizona Congressional Five House Representative starting in January 2019.
On Friday, September 7, 2018, the Clean Elections Commission sponsored a debate between the Republican and Democratic nominees for State House and State Senate in LD 18. The appropriately named Republican Nominee Frank Schmuck chose not to debate his Democratic opponent, incumbent State Senator Sean Bowie.
Congressional District Five Democratic House Candidate Jose Torres
This election year, two Democrats are vying for an opportunity to defeat incumbent Andy Biggs. One is Joan Greene and the other is the subject of this interview, Jose Torres.
Below are Torres’ responses to a series of questions regarding the issues facing the people in the district and how he would act as the district’s next Representative.
Arizona Congressional District Five contains all or parts of Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek, and Chandler. The district has been solidly Republican since 2012. Incumbent Andy Biggs is a former State Senator and current Freedom Caucus Member. This “public servant” has distinguished himself by supporting and fighting for policies that do not benefit the public. On issues ranging from Children’s Health Care to a woman’s right to choose to Medicaid Expansion to tax cuts for the rich, Biggs has continually embraced the causes championed by Dark Money special interests and reactionary conservatives who want to destroy the government they were elected to serve in.
Congressional District 5 Democratic Candidate Joan Greene
Andy Biggs is a special kind of crony, incompetent and corrupt public servant. Being a member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus (a group of elected officials whose sole mission is to demean, degrade, and reduce to rubble the government they have been elected to serve in while glorifying the free market and all things conservative), the current incumbent in Congressional District Five favors policies that hurt the common person but help the affluent and Dark Money Interests. As a state and federal legislator, he has opposed and attempted to stymie measures to improve and expand Kids Care, Medicaid, a woman’s right to choose, and LGBTQ rights. Such a “public servant” is not the optimal choice to lead the Congressional Five House District forward in Arizona.
The current territorial composition of Arizona Congressional District Five contains all or parts of Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek, and Chandler. The district in its current form has been solidly in Republican hands since 2012. This year two Democrats are vying for an opportunity to defeat Mr. Biggs. One is Jose Torres and the other; the subject of this interview is Joan Greene. Below are Ms. Greene’s responses to a series of questions, some answered at SoZo Coffeehouse in Chandler and others through written responses, regarding the issues facing the people in the district and how she would act as the districts next Representative.
The competition for Worst GOP Arizona Legislator Ever is stiff these days, given Rep. David Gowan’s not-smart snit toward reporters having the temerity to *gasp* report on things he’s doing. That’s pretty bad but, purely on the basis of shocking callousness, I’m going to have to go with Senate President Andy Biggs (pictured), who is currently running for Congress, while refusing to consider a bill that would provide health care to 30,000 Arizona children from low income families.
Since the beginning of the legislative session Senate President Andy Biggs — who won a $10 million Publishers Clearing House prize a few years back – has refused to give Arizona’s hard-luck poor kids the health care they deserve.
