A radical Democrat state representative is attempting to return to her middle-of-the-road legislative district for a new term in office.
State Representative Lorena Austin is running for reelection in Arizona Legislative District 9, which covers the city of Mesa. According to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, the district is likely one of the most competitive in the state, with a 2.6% vote spread in the Commission’s nine focus elections. Democrats are slightly favored in the district, having won in five of those nine focus elections.
Despite her district being more moderate in its political makeup, Austin has demonstrated a propensity to become one of the most extreme leftist members of the Arizona Legislature on almost every issue.
In a struggling state and national economy, where many families are struggling to get by in life, keep their jobs, and save for their children’s futures, Austin showed no mercy with her votes. This year, she was one of a handful of members to vote against HCR 2002, which stated that the legislature recognizes, encourages, and continues to support Arizona’s beef producing farmers, ranchers, and families. Last year (2023), she voted no on SB 1131, which would have prohibited a county, city, or town from levying a tax on rental property.
Austin is also opposed to individual property rights, as her votes have indicated. In 2023, she was one of 14 members to vote against final passage of a bill prohibiting protestors from targeting people in their own homes by protesting on their residential property (SB 1023).
This latest legislative session (2024), Austin voted no on SB 1129, which would have allowed a property owner or the owners’ agent to request from law enforcement the immediate removal of a person who is unlawfully occupying a residential dwelling. She also opposed SB 1073, which would have established a new form of the existing offense of obstructing a highway or other public thoroughfare and classified this new form of the offense as a class 6 felony (which was introduced in response to protestors blocking traffic).
Austin’s legislative record extends, too, into bouts of radical socialism. In 2023, she co-sponsored HB 2610, which would have created a state-owned bank. Additionally, she co-sponsored HB 2653, which would have established that “restaurants and other food service establishments in this state may only serve water and disposable straws to customers on request.” Earlier this year, Austin voted no on HB 2629, which would have established November 7 of each year as Victims of Communism Day and required the State Board of Education to create a list of recommended resources for mandatory instruction on the topic in certain public school courses.
The Democrat lawmaker has refused to support solutions to help her state end the border crisis affecting almost every community in Arizona – not to mention elsewhere in the nation. In 2023, Austin co-sponsored HB 2604, which would have permitted the Arizona Department of Transportation to issue a driver’s license or nonoperating ID to a person without legal status in the United States. And in this most recent legislative session, she voted no on HB 2621, which would have deemed that the trafficking of fentanyl across Arizona’s border is a public health crisis and directed the Arizona Department of Health Services to do everything within its power to address the crisis. She also opposed SCR 1042, which proclaimed the legislature’s support for the people and government of the state of Texas in its efforts to secure our nation’s southern border.
Austin has an awful record in office on crimes against children. In 2023, she voted against SB 1028, which would have prohibited a person or business from engaging in an adult cabaret performance on public property or in a location where the performance could be viewed by a minor. She also voted no on SB 1583, which would have mandated that a level one sex offender who commits specified sexual offenses is required to register on the internet sex offender website if the offender was sentenced for a dangerous crime against children.
This most recent legislative session (2024), Austin continued her spree of opposing legislation that would have protected more Arizona children from horrific crimes committed against them. She voted no on SB 1236, which would have specified that any offender who was convicted of or adjudicated guilty except insane for sexual crimes against children, whether completed or preparatory, and was 18 years of age or older at the time of the offense, must be included on the internet sex offender website. She also opposed HB 2835, which would have established knowingly observing a nude minor for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct for a person’s sexual gratification as a form of criminal sexual exploitation of a minor. And Austin voted no on a ballot referral (SCR 1021), which would statutorily require an adult who is convicted of a class 2 felony for any child sex trafficking offense to be sentenced to natural life imprisonment.
As with many of her fellow Democrats running for the state legislature, Austin promotes endorsements from left-leaning organizations for her campaign for the Arizona House of Representatives, including Moms Demand Action, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, Save Our Schools Arizona, Progressive Turnout Project, HRC in Arizona, AEA Fund for Public Education, NARAL Pro-Choice Arizona, Stonewall Democrats of Arizona, Arizona Education Association, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Emily’s List, and Human Rights Campaign PAC.
There is one endorsement for Austin that appears to be absent from her website, from the Jane Fonda Climate PAC. Austin’s support from this PAC may be one of the most concerning for voters researching her record and determining which direction they want to see for their district. This PAC asserts that “major solutions are stopped cold: the Green New Deal, Build Back Better, clean energy investments, ending billions in tax subsidies to the fossil fuel industry – all because of politicians backed by Big Oil.”
The Green New Deal pushed by the Jane Fonda Climate PAC is the same championed by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is one of the most progressive lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The district is currently represented by two Democrats in the state House of Representatives. Austin and her fellow Democrat incumbent, Seth Blattman, ran unopposed in the recent primary election. Austin received 10,353 votes, and Blattman obtained 8,741 votes. They will face off against Republicans Mary Ann Mendoza and Kylie Barber, who also ran unopposed in the primary election. Mendoza garnered 10,429 votes, and Barber received 10,136 votes.
November’s General Election will be the second time that Mendoza has been pitted against Austin and Blattman. In 2022, Austin and Blattman defeated Mendoza and her running mate, Kathy Pearce, to assume their offices for the 2023 Arizona legislative session.
Correction: A previous version of this article listed the incorrect vote totals for the candidates. The totals have now been updated with the latest results from the Arizona Secretary of State website.
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Wednesday evening in Scottsdale, the America First Policy Institute’s (AFPI) America First Women’s Agenda hosted a Border Safety Town Hall with community leaders and experts on the border to explore and discuss the implications of border security on Arizona and “the rising violence against women both near the border and across the country.”
Ashley Hayek, AFPI Chief Engagement Officer, and Executive Director of America First Works spoke, joined by Art Del Cueto, Executive Board Member of the National Border Patrol Council, Rob Law, the AFPI Director of the Center for Homeland Security and Immigration, Kimmie Dillon, the America First Works Coordinator for Maricopa County, and Arizona State Senator Janae Shamp (R-AZ29).
In a post to X, the AFPI shared images and video of the townhall calling the evening, “A successful night in Scottsdale, AZ, focusing on border safety.” They added, “We deeply appreciate the families who shared their stories of losing loved ones to fentanyl and the experts who provided insights on the border crisis and how we can protect our communities. This is a fight we can’t stop fighting.”
A successful night in Scottsdale, AZ, focusing on border safety. We deeply appreciate the families who shared their stories of losing loved ones to fentanyl and the experts who provided insights on the border crisis and how we can protect our communities. This is a fight we can’t… pic.twitter.com/ENWIGQQmXX
— America First Policy Institute (@A1Policy) August 22, 2024
Sen. Shamp shared the post writing, “God bless every family who has lost a loved one to this deadly crisis created by the Harris Administration. #everystateisaborderstate #border911 #SaveAmerica #TrumpVance2024”
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protections’s Criminal Noncitizen Statistics, convictions of non-citizens has increased year-over-year since 2021 and are projected to outpace 2023 metrics.
By criminal type, convictions for assault, battery, and domestic violence have consistently increased over the same period alongside driving under the influence, drug possession and trafficking. Sexual offenses have decreased slightly after spiking in 2021.
In a thread to X on August 20, Law prefaced the townhall writing about the recent report from the DHS Inspector General that stated over 320,000 illegal immigrant children were released into the U.S. to unvetted adults, and over 32,000 are confirmed to be unaccounted for.
“The day after the DNC endorsed amnesty for human traffickers, the DHS Inspector General confirms that Biden-Harris handed over ~320k unaccompanied alien children back to the traffickers. This is FAR WORSE than the 85k lost UAC previously reported by NYT.
The Inspector General confirms that these migrant children Biden-Harris facilitated being trafficked to the US are now trapped in sex trafficking & forced labor. There is NO plan to locate them & return to home country.
A Saturday night announcement from Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes confirmed that the radical-left, “Eco-Socialist” Green Party’s eight candidates will be moving ahead with a write-in strategy for the November general election.
According to its website the Green Party advocates for “a just transition to a democratically controlled eco-socialist economy through a Green New Deal,” as well as “’Degrowth’ policies to reduce overproduction, overconsumption, and waste,” and espouses “Social Justice & Equality For All,” as well as “Feminism And Gender Equity.”
As reported by the Arizona Daily Independent, the write-in candidates were not included in the official Arizona primary canvass owing to a clerical error, citing an Aug. 17th press release from the Secretary of State’s office.
“A write-in candidate for a newly recognized political party must receive a plurality of the votes of the party for the office for which the candidate is competing for,” reads the press release. “A party with continued representation requires at least as many votes as they would have had petition signatures. The winning candidates in the Primary all receive certificates of nomination in the days after the canvass and these Green candidates who won their party nomination are included.”
Secretary Fontes also ran afoul of the Green Party earlier this month when he declared the wrong Green Party winner in the U.S. Senate primary as reported by KJZZ.
🚨 BREAKING: The AZ Secretary of State's is doing anything but restoring confidence in our elections!🚨
Adrian Fontes ADMITTED to declaring the WRONG Green Party winner in the U.S. Senate primary?
Green Party write-in candidate Eduardo Quintana said at the time, “We’re supposed to be able to run for office when we disagree on certain policies, and the public compares our opinions and decides who to vote for, and we’re elected in a Democratic way.”
The Green Party at present has just 100 elected officials in office nationwide, and Arizona has never had a Green Party candidate win an election for state or federal office.
Green party write-in candidates moving on to general election:
Eduardo Quintana, U.S. Senate – Eduardo Quitaro is running for the Arizona U.S. Senator open seat against Republican Kari Lake and Democrat Ruben Gallego. According to Quintana’s campaign website, he is running with the Arizona Green Party to “offer a political choice outside our failed two-party system careening towards nuclear war and environmental catastrophe.” Quintana’s priorities include ending the Israeli/Palestinian war, phasing out the burning of fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy sources, and transitioning to an eco-socialist economy, among others.
Vincent Beck-Jones, Congressional District 4 U.S. Representative – Vincent Beck-Jones will be running for Congressional District 4 U.S. Representative. He will face incumbent Democrat Greg Stanton and Republican Kelly Cooper. According to Cooper’s campaign website, he is firmly standing on a Green Party platform. “Our country was once based on ideals of freedom and choice,” reads his website. “But, for 237 years we have been held to an Us vs Them system. A duopoly of politics where the two parties are merely just opposite sides of a single coin. We are left choosing which option seems less detrimental to us. This isn’t a real choice. Without choice we have no freedom.”
Athena Eastwood, Congressional District 6 U.S. Representative – Write-in Green Party Candidate Athena Eastwood will be moving on to the general election running for U.S. representative for Congressional District 6. She will go up against Republican Juan Ciscomani and Democrat Kirsten Engel.
Tre Rook, Legislative District 8 State Representative – Tre Rook is running as a write-in Green Party candidate in the general election. Two candidates will be elected for each legislative district and Rook will be going up against Republican Caden Darrow and Democrats Brian Garcia and Janeen Connolly in the general election.
Cody Hannah, Legislative District 3 State Representative – Cody Hannah, a student and activist, is one of the youngest people running for a legislative office in Arizona. He is running on the Green Party platform and will be moving on to the general election where he will be running against Republican Jeff Weninger and Democrat Brandy Reese. “Cody is a committed advocate for people, planet, and peace, and he is ready to both work with and stand against the Democrats and Republicans in the AZ Legislature in order to fight for the needs of working class Arizonans and our environment,” reads Hannah’s campaign website.
Scott Menor, Legislative District 14 State Representative – Scott Menor, a write-in Green Party candidate, will be running against Republicans Laurin Hendrix and Khyl Powell in the general election. Menor said that by running for LD 14 state representative, he hopes to “break the duopoly. I can represent you and give you an outsized voice as a tipping-point-independent in the Arizona State House,” reads his campaign website. Menor’s other priorities include electoral reform, universal healthcare, education, basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing, housing, mobility and autonomy, and access to abortion.
Mike Cease & Nina Luxenberg, Corporation Commission – Mike Cease and Nina Luxenberg are the Green Party candidates running for one of the three open seats as Arizona corporation commissioner. The other candidates they will be running against include Republicans Rachel Walden, Rene Lopez, and Lea Marquez Peterson, and Democrats Ylenia Aguilar, Jonathan Hill, and Joshua Polacheck.
81 school board races were recommended for cancellation this year by the Maricopa County School Superintendent due to a lack of candidates.
35 districts were impacted. Maricopa County has 58 districts in total, meaning 60 percent of the districts either had no candidates or only one candidate running for a seat.
All but a handful of the races had one individual in the race poised for appointment by default. 72 of those seats were recommended to have the sole candidate appointed to them, with the remaining 9 seats declared vacant due to having no candidates at all.
💥 Not enough candidates stepped up for school boards – leaving voters without choices to help improve their school districts.
The following districts have races impacted by the lack of candidates:
Aguila Elementary School District: three appointments, two vacancies
Alhambra Elementary School District: three appointments
Arlington Elementary School District: three appointments
Avondale Elementary School District: one appointment
Balsz Elementary School District: one vacancy
Buckeye Elementary School District: two appointments, one vacancy
Cave Creek Unified School District: one appointment
East Valley Institute of Technology – 4: one vacancy
East Valley Institute of Technology – 6: one appointment
East Valley Institute of Technology – 8: one appointment
Fountain Hills Unified School District: one appointment
Gila Bend Unified School District: one appointment, one vacancy
Litchfield Elementary School District: three appointments
Littleton Elementary School District: three appointments
Madison Elementary School District: three appointments
Mobile Elementary School District: three appointments
Morristown Elementary School District: one appointment, one vacancy
Murphy Elementary School District: three appointments, one vacancy
Nadaburg Elementary School District: three appointments
Osborn Elementary School District: three appointments
Paloma Elementary School District: three appointments
Palo Verde Elementary School District: four appointments
Pendergast Elementary School District: three appointments
Phoenix Elementary School District: three appointments
Riverside Elementary School District: one appointment
Saddle Mountain Unified School District: three appointments
Sentinel Elementary School District: three appointments
Tempe Union High School District: three appointments
Union Elementary School District: two appointments, one vacancy
West MEC – 3: one appointment
West MEC – 4: one appointment
West MEC – 5: one appointment
West MEC – 6: one appointment
Wickenburg Unified School District: three appointments
Wilson Elementary School District: one appointment
Of the recommended appointments, 12 were write-in candidates: three for Aguila Elementary School District, three for Paloma Elementary School District, two for Union Elementary School District, one for Alhambra Elementary School District, one for East Valley Institute of Technology – 6, one for Gila Bend Unified School District, and one for Morristown Elementary School District.
The filing deadline for write-in candidates occurred at the end of July, with the filing period opening at the start of June.
State law authorizes the county school superintendent to either appoint a qualified elector or call a special election to fill the vacant seat.
As part of the former option consisting of an appointment process, the office of county superintendent receives up to three names from the relevant district governing board as well as a full list of candidates who applied with the district. Individuals not on those lists who are interested in being appointed may also apply directly to the office of county superintendent to be considered for appointment.
The office of county superintendent will then filter out applicants through interviews.
Only those who are registered voters in the state and residents of the school district for at least one year immediately preceding the day of the election are considered eligible to serve on a school governing board.
The county superintendent’s recommendations were submitted to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors for final approval.
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A new ad from incumbent Congressman Juan Ciscomani against Democratic opponent Kirsten Engel features clips of her denying the ongoing border crisis and issuing support for police defunding.
The ad featured several flashbacks from Engel on her positions ranging from her time as a state lawmaker through her first run for Congress against Ciscomani in 2022.
The former state lawmaker and University of Arizona law professor denied that Arizona had an immigration crisis during that first run for Congress. Engel said that physical barriers like walls weren’t a solution for her, and that the greater focus should be on providing greater aid to those arriving at our border rather than detainment.
“We do not need help at our border. We do need to secure the border. We have issues of drug trafficking and human smuggling that need to be addressed, but certainly not walls,” said Engel. “What we need from Washington is having an orderly asylum process. That’s national law, that’s international law. We need comprehensive immigration reform. We have to help our Dreamers.”
As a remedy to the border, Engel has advocated for border policy approaches favoring those who arrive in the nation outside the legal avenues for entry: an end to Title 42, legal pathways to citizenship, and deprioritizing illegal migration outside legal ports of entry.
Thank you so much to Sheriff Dannels and his team for the tour and sharing the daily challenges at our southern border. Our local law enforcement risk their lives every day – Congress needs to stop playing politics, reject inaction, and come together to address this crisis. pic.twitter.com/jyUCYtPtgh
Engel maintains these positions as defining her vision for securing the southern border. She has also criticized Ciscomani for not supporting a proposed bill to provide $20 billion for the border out of $118 billion in expenditures. That bill was mainly designed to ensure an additional provision of aid to Ukraine, $60 billion, and the remainder of the $38 billion given in aid to other foreign countries.
While Engel has been outspoken in recent years about border policy, she has distanced herself from conversations on policing since the BLM fallout after George Floyd’s death in 2020 and the conviction of responding officer Derek Chauvin less than a year later.
I hope this verdict is the start of our justice system finally turning the corner and holding law enforcement accountable for unjustified acts of violence against members of the black community. #BlackLivesMatter
Engel advocated for police defunding during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots, arguing that there needed to be less police available for responding to emergency calls and more alternatives.
“What we need to do is shift where the money [for police] is going,” said Engel. “Not every 911 call requires a police officer to show up at your door.”
In that same interview, Engel affirmed when she was asked whether she supported a reduction in police budgets.
“Yeah, the way you’ve asked that question, I agree with it,” said Engel.
Instead, Engel proposed that social workers should take over for police officers.
It was also during the peak point of BLM upheaval in the summer of 2020 that Engel publicly backed a claim by Tucson Councilwoman Lane Santa Cruz that Tucson police officers were to blame for the death of a man in their custody in April of that year.
Santa Cruz’s public accusations of wrongdoing prompted the officers to resign out of fear for their families’ safety.
The man, Carlos Ingram-Lopez, died from cardiac arrest due to acute levels of cocaine in his system and an enlarged heart.
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A Monday report revealed that at least three attorneys associated with the Republican party and identified by the Associated Press as Arizona’s Amanda Reeve and Brett Johnson of the law firm Snell & Wilmer, and Paul Hamrick an Alabama-based attorney, have been working hard to ensure independent presidential candidate Cornel West is placed on the ballot in Arizona.
According to the AP reporting, the two Arizona lawyers, Reeve and Johnson, were working with Hamrick to reach two of the alleged Electoral College electors for West after learning that they were no longer interested in serving as electors, in what the outlet described as a “barrage” of text messages and phone calls culminating in visits to their homes.
Under Arizona election law, independent candidates for president must present a slate of electors committed to casting Electoral College votes for them. Without these electors, the effort to put West on the ballot was doomed to fail.
In text messages obtained by the reporters, one of the electors, Jerry Judie, 62, of Phoenix, told an operative working for the campaign via text, “I am officially no longer interested in being elector.” The unnamed operative had been trying to convince him to meet and sign documentation.
Judie had reportedly been an avid West supporter for at least three decades and was excited to be a part of the campaign, but when President Joe Biden stepped aside, it “changed the game.”
He told the AP, “When she was in the driver’s seat, that changed the game. That changed everything for me, my family, and the people that I know. It was like magic.”
In a voicemail to Judie given to the AP, Alabama attorney Paul Hamrick is heard to say, “I am sorry … we have been calling the crap out of you, the reason we have been trying to get in touch with you is we found out in the last 24 hours we have got to have everybody sign a letter that Dr. West has also signed.” The outlet noted that Hamrick stated he knew that Judie was no longer interested in being an elector. Hamrick is reported to have asked “Is there anything you can tell me about that or has anyone encouraged you not to be?”
Judie later told the reporters that two people came to his home looking for him after the voicemail. A person who knows Judie spoke to them on his behalf, and they identified themselves as Reeve and Johnson. Both work for Snell & Wilmer, a firm known to represent the Republican National Committee as well as Republican candidates.
The second elector, Denisha Mitchell, was also contacted by phone by Reeve, according to the AP, after a story from the outlet broke Friday with Mitchell saying she signed an affidavit testifying she never agreed to be a West elector to begin with nor signed her name to a filing. She told the reporters that she “didn’t even know what an elector was,” and the filing was “forged,” and full of errors.
Reeve reportedly told Mitchell in a voicemail, “We need to get this information in as soon as possible.” He added that his firm is representing, “the Cornel West Campaign.”
Mitchell said that she missed a call but returned it and spoke with Hamrick. The Alabama attorney refuted this to the AP and refused to comment.
Speaking to reporters Judie reflected on the odd happenings of the week and said it left him uneasy. “They had only one reason they were doing it,” he said. “Just to get him on the ballot so some votes would go to him and not go to other people.”
West for his part seemed ambivalent to the situation in Arizona. He told the AP, “So much of American politics is highly gangster-like activity. I have no knowledge of who they are or anything — none whatsoever. We just want to get on that ballot. And that’s the difficult thing.”
Per the outlet, the Arizona Secretary of State’s office said that the West campaign did not file the paperwork necessary to get on the ballot by Saturday’s deadline.
