Ruben Gallego represents the bluest district in Arizona— by far. Biden beat Trump there 74.5% to 23.9%. The PVI is D+24. The partisan lean is D+44. So… with Gallego running for the U.S., some Democrat has a fantastic opportunity. Unfortunately, most of the candidates lining up for the job are conservatives. But let’s start with the two progressives likely to jump into the race-- Phoenix City Council member and vice mayor Yassamin Ansari and state Senator Raquel Terán-- and work our way down to the garbage.
The top line on Ansari is that she’s the brilliant daughter of Iranian immigrants, a Stanford graduate with a masters from Cambridge, a climate activist, and the youngest woman ever elected to the Phoenix City Council. The official Phoenix government website notes that “Since elected, she has enacted policies around transportation electrification, led the charge to pass Phoenix’s first Climate Action Plan, secured over $100 million in new investments to combat homelessness and passed a Roadway Safety Action Plan with a vision towards zero traffic-related deaths. She is hyper focused on building a more sustainable and equitable city where everyone can afford to live and thrive. Prior to serving in elected office, Ansari worked as a senior policy advisor on the climate action teams of both U.N. Secretaries General Ban Ki-Moon and Antonio Guterres, as well as principal advisor to former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres at Mission 2020.”
Sounds great, right? So does Terán, who started as an organizer for People First Future and fighting Arizona’s notorious anti-immigrant legislation (SB1070). In 2018 she was elected to the state legislature and in 2021 she was elected Arizona’s Democratic Party chair. The party censured Kyrsten Sinema under her leadership.
OK, it’s all downhill from here. I’ll save the worst for last though. Laura Pastor is also on the Phoenix City Council, but she’s best known for being the daughter of longtime Congressman Ed Pastor. She’s nepotism embodied and a real slimy character— more like Sinema than anyone else who might run. She worked with Republicans to gerrymander Arizona in a way that would help them in their effort to win more congressional seats… and to help herself as well.
Reginald Bolding is a garden variety, high-achieving, somewhat shady, young Democratic centrist politician who served as the House minority leader and ran for Secretary of State, losing the primary to current Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. He’s viewed as someone who’s going places; hopefully not Congress.
Former state Rep. César Chávez lost a state Senate primary last year and doesn’t have a job. He’s a worthless conservative and would make an awful member of Congress whose attitude (and actions) towards renewable energy is pretty much identical to that of Republicans.
And speaking of worthless conservatives, Corporation Commissioner Anna Tovar was a state senator long ago, and is most remembered for voting with the Republicans against women’s choice. So… is there really someone worse than her considering running? Just wait a minute.
Luis Heredia used to work on Gallego's staff and now works for Senator Mark Kelly as district director. Everyone tells me he’s just another ambitious centrist and that he's probably going to run.
And now the worst of the worst: state Senator Catherine Miranda, a Republican who— for whatever reason— pretends to be a Democrat, but a very conservative one, anti-Choice and publicly homophobic as well. She endorses Republican candidates and is generally considered even worse than Sinema, if you can fathom that. She ran for this seat before, in 2018— running against Gallego in a primary. He crushed her in a massive landslide.
And the worst of the lot - Miranda? Pastor? - is no doubt who the DCCC will be backing.
so... which of the bottom several will the PARTY decide is the right one for PHX and for the party? And will the PARTY be able to cajole the voting troglodytes in PHX to actually vote for him/her? yeah... prolly.
I ask the voters of PHX to think. who is the PARTY sliming and who are they promoting. where is the party money going, both to smear and to lie (promote).
typically best advice: if the party is smearing someone, that one is prolly the best.
that said, impressive CV. Stanford (as long as it isn't law or poli-sci) and Cambridge. excellent. The climate advisor to the UN is sketchy only because the UN hasn't done shit about climate …