The Young Democrats of Arizona are gearing up to engage all voters (especially the younger ones) in 2022.
Among the front line issues important to this organization (which has chapters at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, the University of Arizona, Maricopa County, and Pima County) is protecting the right to vote, ensuring election integrity, and helping to pass as much of the Build Back Better Plan as possible.
The group also hopes to expand its number of chapters to include offices in Pinal, Yuma, Yavapai, Santa Cruz, and Mohave Counties.
Payson Hudson, the newly elected Executive Vice President of the Young Democrats of Arizona, graciously took the time to discuss the goals her organization will be pursuing in 2022.
The questions and her responses are below.
1) Please tell the readers what are the Young Democrats of Arizona and what is their political mission?

“Young Democrats of Arizona are a youth led organization. We advocate for feminist legislation, worker’s legislation, and anti-racist legislation. Beyond legislation, we just advocate for those ideas in general. We are officially recognized as the youth branch of the Arizona Democratic Party representing all Democratic voters under the age of 35. Through community organizing, we help get Democrats elected in every level of government. We have people on our team who have worked for congressional campaigns, presidential campaigns, mayoral campaigns-Honestly every level of government we’ve been working in. We also host political education events to inform folks about legislative changes that are going to affect them.”
2) What are at least three goals the Young Democrats will be pursuing in 2022?
“The one thing I am particularly excited about is we are launching a rural engagement program. This program will increase youth voter engagement in rural places like Pinal County and Casa Grande. There’s a huge pool of Young Democrats in that area who we have been working with lately and it has been super exciting. We have tapped into that community and we are hoping to launch a Pinal Young Democrats Chapter by the end of the year. Our political team has been working hard to organize political events both virtually because of COVID and in person. These are events open for Democrats who want to meet like minded folks, sign petitions, and meet candidates. We plan on hosting a ton of events in the next few months…We will be hosting a State of the Union watch party on March 1 in Pinal County. We’ll be working with the Pinal County Democratic Party on that. More details will be published closer to the event such as speakers and location. We are super excited for this event. Folks from all over Arizona will be joining us to hear from our guest speakers and Biden’s first State of the Union Address.
3) Are there any other counties that your group will be targeting like Yavapai or the areas that will be the new Congressional District (CD) Six?
“We plan on hitting Mohave, Santa Cruz, Yavapai, and Yuma. We have inactive chapters in Yuma and Prescott which we hope to revive in the next year. COVID had previously impacted our ability to engage with young people in person, but we are looking forward to rallying our bases and getting those chapters in a place of operation in 2022.
4) What are the names of some candidates or offices the Young Democrats will campaign for in 2022? Please explain.
“We are actually going to wait a few more months before we begin our endorsement process. However we have members who are working on campaigns all over the state and the country. We have people working with Jevon and Berdetta Hodge. And with Casey Clowes. We have teams working with everyone but as far as official endorsements, we’re waiting to make that call. However, we do look forward to embracing candidates who share similar progressive ideals: voting rights, women’s rights, migrants rights, and climate change are at the forefront of our organizations aims and concerns. We hope to endorse candidates that reflect those values.
What is your organizations position on Senator Kirsten Sinema?
“We think that Senator Sinema is too neutral for our good. We would love for her to protect our democracy and to lower prescription drug prices as she promised- but it seems she may have other ideas. Her lack of support for the Build Back Better as well as her reluctance to abolish the filibuster is unforgivable. We wish that she was more attentive to the needs of her constituents. In the future, we would prefer to see her keep her campaign promises, rather than selling her power to the highest bidder. We had high hopes for Sinema, but quite frankly she has not met our expectations at all.
On Senator Mark Kelly?
“We are thrilled that Senator Kelly has been on board with the Build Back Better plan. Not only does he seem to be respected by his colleagues in the Senate, but he has earned the respect of young people as well. We appreciate his strong sense of values and willingness to cooperate across the aisle without jeopardizing his values. His campaign was bolstered by young people on our team, and he doesn’t seem to have forgotten that. The same integrity can not be said for Senator Sinema.
5) What are the names of at least three issues the Young Democrats will fight for in 2022? Please explain.
“The Build Back Better Plan. Even though a lot of people are saying that it’s dead, we will continue to fight for the core values of the plan. It was the largest effort to combat climate change in American History. The framework would have cut greenhouse gas emissions by well over one gigaton by 2030. It would have reduced consumer energy costs. It would have given us cleaner air and water and we believe in the Build Back Better Plan even though it is not in its strength right now, we believe in it fully.”
“We also support the Freedom to Vote Act, the bill that would protect our elections from voter suppression, sabotage, gerrymandering, and dark money. We support the John Lewis bill that would restore key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which was gutted by the Supreme Court. It would change the way federal courts handle election cases…”
“…Overall, we are advocating for progressive ideals. Any kind of legislation that comes through is either going to block voter access…that is the biggest thing we are hitting on with the people. We need to protect our right to vote while we still have it.”
“(Thanks to a donor,) We are launching a Rural Engagement texting program where we reach out to young voters in Pinal County. We want to organize these folks and get them engaged in local politics. We hope to organize a Pinal County Young Democrats Chapter in the near future and have been working closely with the Pinal County Democratic Party to reach that goal. As the official youth branch of the Democratic Party, we take a lot of strong stances on local and national policy. We have chapters all over the state that are heavily involved in local politics as well. As an organization, our strength comes from our members, who work tirelessly to organize Arizona communities.”
Please click on the below social media sites for more information on the Young Democrats of Arizona and their goals.
Website: https://www.ydaz.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YDArizona
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ydaz
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/azyoungdems/?hl=en
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Young Democrats are, obviously, the future of our party. We need to encourage them in every way we can. I plan to invite the to our February Democrats of Casa Grande meeting as a way to help get their message spread.