“Remember the Ladies”- What the rise of women and POC politicians means for Arizona
“We have gone through a lot,” said Democratic candidate Raquel Terán for State House, in a statement to NBC News on May 10th. “The infrastructure is there now, we’ve been working for this moment for many years.”
By ‘we’, she is referring to women of color, particularly Latina organizers, and their rise to prominence in Arizona politics over the last couple of years.
There have been record numbers of women, specifically women of color running and winning seats in local Arizona legislatures and statewide races, including Hiral Tiperneni and Anita Malik for US Congress, January Contreras for Attorney General, Sandra Kennedy and Kiana Maria Sears for Corporation Commission, and so much more!
The sheer surge of women and minorities seeking elected office is to some extent, an unintended side effect of President Donald Trump’s presidency, said Sharmin Dharas, executive director of Emerge Arizona said in an interview with the AZ Capitol Times. Emerge Arizona is a branch of Emerge America, a nonprofit devoted to preparing more Democratic women to run for office.
“We’ve always had diversity in our candidates, but it’s showing more now because we’re having more women run for office because of the group that’s currently in the White House,” she said.
Additionally, Dharas says that “Seeing another woman that is capable of running for higher office enlightens other women and even women of color to want to run. Now, you’re creating a pipeline for other women to take over.”
Groups like Run for Something, Move On, and Arizona List actively seek out and endorse women and minority candidates to find inspirational women make these women want their voices to be heard.
This stimulus of women and minorities across the country running for office has inspired this wave in Arizona as well. Candidates are often inspired by other candidates- such as how Deedra Abboud ran in the primary for US Senate after seeing Kyrsten Sinema talk about pursuing this seat.
Another reason so many minority groups are running for office is because issues of race, gender, social issues, and economic issues are so inextricably tied.
For example, Sonoran News Service writes how African Americans make up 33 percent of the Phoenix state prison and 17 percent of the Tucson state prison. Neither city has African-Americans in its city council. These types of patterns have inspired African-American candidates like Sandra Kennedy to run for statewide office.
Another example comes from Kiana Marie Sears, who expressed that her first goal in her campaign was lowering energy rates for Arizona families, especially for low-income and POC communities, who struggle to cover the cost of particularly high energy bills.
In an interview with PBS, Sears said also supports more reliance on renewable energies, particularly solar power, which she called cheaper and cleaner than coal and fossil fuels.
Issues of environmental protection are also tied in with racial and socioeconomic background. That’s why Democrats from diverse backgrounds who don’t have their hands deep in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry are seeking office.
These diverse and progressive candidates brought forth historic, record-breaking voter turnout that more closely resembled a presidential election than a midterm. The AZ Mirror writes that more ballots were returned during the early vote period than during the entirety of Arizona’s 2014 election. There are still ballots left to be counted, but we could be looking at 2.4 million ballots cast, which would be the highest turnout in a midterm election in state history. It could also nearly top the all-time turnout for a midterm election in Arizona, which was 65.1 percent in 1982.
Additionally, according to NextGen America, voter turnout in Arizona among Latinos was up 43% at the end of early voting, turnout among African Americans was up 53%, and turnout among Asian-Americans was up 74% — outpacing increases among white voters.
These numbers illustrate that when empowered women and minorities run for office, it motivates POC to vote and energizes youth to get involved in politics. The last few years have been full of efforts to register young voters and engage them in our political system, and this is what has led to Arizona’s historic voter turnout.
This outcome would not have been possible without years of hard work to register and engage young people and people of color.
Volunteers and interns mobilized this year across the Valley. Knocking on doors in South Phoenix and calling voters in places like Tucson reaches crucial demographics and reaches out to people who do not typically vote.
This action has been inspired by the rise of women and minority politicians and has also led to their successes in Arizona and across the country. While all of these women may not have won their races, they have made districts that were deeply red much more Democratic, registered new voters, and promoted civic engagement in their communities.
This pattern must be echoed in future elections and local proposition votes if Democrats and minorities are to be successful.
“She The People” founder Aimee Allison said in an interview with KQED that “In places like Florida, Georgia, Texas and Arizona, these are places Trump won, when women of color are empowered, both as candidates, but as strategists and organizers, which is a key part of this, we can win.” This type of positive thinking and definitive action behind trustworthy candidates is what can move this country forward, and is crucial to petitioning, marching, and fighting for the rights of all Arizonans.
