Tag Archives: 2014 Primary Election

Meet Our Candidates: Stefanie Mach for State Representative, LD 10

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The Arizona primary election will be held on August 26, 2014, with early voting beginning on July 31. Reproductive health care access has been under attack, both nationally and statewide, but Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who have shown strong commitment to reproductive justice. To acquaint you with our endorsed candidates, we are running a series called “Meet Our Candidates.” Make your voice heard in 2014!

Stefanie_Mach_Headshot[S]tefanie Mach is the incumbent for Legislative District 10 state representative and running for re-election. Considered a swing district, LD 10 comprises the east side of the Tucson metropolitan area. It encompasses neighborhoods from Campbell Avenue to Tanque Verde Ranch and the Catalina Mountains to Valencia Road.

On July 14, 2014, Mach spoke via telephone with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, and emphasized the need for accessible education programs and health care, including comprehensive sex education, to help ensure that everyone has access to both information and choices that promote quality of life.

“Making abortion illegal … does not … eliminate abortions. It just eliminates safe abortions.”

Tell us a little about your background.

I grew up as a military kid. My dad was in the Air Force until I was in high school, and he retired to his home state of Wisconsin. Then I ended up settling there for a while. I went to undergrad. I was the first in my family to get a college degree from a four-year university, and then I went on to get a master’s degree in public policy after working in nonprofits for several years.

So, I think I just kind of talked about why I was involved in service. I ended up, after undergrad, going into AmeriCorps. I served a year as a volunteer with them, and I was just involved in service.

And I think the other thing that played a part in developing who I was as a person – I had an accident when I was 17 where I was severely burned over 55 percent of my body. I had a lot of extensive hospital care, and so health care issues are pretty important to me because of it. And education is also personally important because of my own personal experiences. Continue reading →

Meet Our Candidates: Richard Andrade for State Representative, LD 29

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The Arizona primary election will be held on August 26, 2014. Reproductive health care access has been under attack, both nationally and statewide, but Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who have shown strong commitment to reproductive justice. To acquaint you with our endorsed candidates, we are running a series called “Meet Our Candidates.” In order to vote in the primaries, you must register to vote by July 28 — and can even register online. Make your voice heard in 2014!

Rich Andrade[A] competitive House race is underway in Legislative District 29, a West Valley district that includes Glendale and West Phoenix. Four Democratic candidates are competing in next month’s primary election, and the two winners will go on to face Republican challenger Aaron Borders in the November general election. Mr. Borders proudly touts his opposition to abortion rights, so it will be important to support our endorsed candidates in November.

The Democratic candidates are preparing for the primary election, which will be held on August 26. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed three candidates running for House in LD 29: Richard Andrade, Denice Garcia, and Ceci Velasquez. Below is an interview with Richard Andrade — watch this blog for interviews with Ms. Garcia and Ms. Velasquez, both of whom we hope to feature in the Meet Our Candidates series!

Mr. Andrade took the time for an interview on July 16, 2014.

“Our government has no business interfering in a person’s health care decision.”

Tell us a little about your background.

I am a native of Arizona, an Air Force veteran, proud union member with SMART, a certified locomotive engineer. The reason I am running for state representative in LD 29 is I believe we need better paying jobs with benefits and health care. We need to take care of working families, who are struggling every day to make a living. They need the tax breaks, not big corporations and big businesses. Our education is near the bottom and we need to invest more into our education to prepare our children for the 21st century, which was evident in the recent court ruling on Prop 301, where the state has to pay back education in the sum of $316 million to start. Another deciding factor to run for office, legislation that gets introduced, which targets certain groups of people and our rights.

Earlier this year, the state legislature passed HB 2284, the warrantless inspection bill, which permits the health department to inspect abortion clinics without a warrant. What do you think about the need for heightened privacy and safety for patients seeking reproductive health services?

Once again our rights are being targeted. The need for heightened privacy and safety for patients is needed due to HB 2284. Legislation will have to be introduced in order to keep a patient seeking reproductive health services private and safe. Continue reading →

Meet Our Candidates: Martín Quezada for State Senator, LD 29

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The Arizona primary election will be held on August 26, 2014. Reproductive health care access has been under attack, both nationally and statewide, but Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who have shown strong commitment to reproductive justice. To acquaint you with our endorsed candidates, we are running a series called “Meet Our Candidates.” In order to vote in the primaries, you must register to vote by July 28 — and can even register online. Make your voice heard in 2014!

The 29th legislative district’s current state senator, Steve Gallardo, is not seeking reelection, and now Martín Quezada and Lydia Hernández are vying for the open seat in the Democratic primary election. Martín Quezada has deep roots in Legislative District 29, a West Valley district that includes Glendale and West Phoenix. He has used his background in law and passion for public service to represent the interests of his constituents, standing strong against bad bills that have been introduced over the past several years.

In so doing, he’s stood up for reproductive-health patients’ right to privacy, fought for the dignity of the LGBTQ community, protected the right to receive an abortion after 20 weeks, and fought to keep state funding for preventive health-care services provided through Planned Parenthood Arizona.

Mr. Quezada and Ms. Hernández have served alongside one another as seatmates representing LD 29 in the House; however, when it comes to reproductive rights, they could not be more different. This race could very well be decided in the primary election, highlighting why it’s so very important to vote in every election — including the primaries!

Mr. Quezada generously took the time to answer our questions on July 19, 2014.

“My opponent differs from me in several areas, but women’s rights and women’s health choices is one of the clearest distinctions.”

It’s great to talk to you again! How has your commitment to serving Arizona grown over the past two years? On the policy level, what has happened during that time to give you hope, and what has happened to strengthen your convictions?

My commitment to serving Arizona has grown tremendously over the past two years since I’ve gained a deeper understanding of how to be an effective legislator. During my first full term, as a “rookie,” I’ve used this time to learn as much as possible and improve my skills as a legislator. I’ve been hugely successful in that regard and my performance reflects that. Through that learning process, my appreciation and love for public service has only deepened.

On the policy level, we saw Democrats make significant achievements with the help of a few moderate Republicans to pass significant legislation that would benefit the entire state. Those achievements, though politically difficult, gave me hope that more successes and better policy could be enacted in the future.

Yet, my convictions were strengthened because of some of the extreme and hyper-partisan bills pushed by the Republican Party. Some bills this past year that were extremely homophobic or blatantly discriminatory in nature reminded me that despite our advancements, that type of hatred is still alive and well, and we need to be vigilant in our efforts to defeat those efforts. Continue reading →

Meet Our Candidates: Victoria Steele for State Representative, LD 9

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The Arizona primary election will be held on August 26, 2014. Reproductive health care access has been under attack, both nationally and statewide, but Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who have shown strong commitment to reproductive justice. To acquaint you with our endorsed candidates, we are running a series called “Meet Our Candidates.” In order to vote in the primaries, you must register to vote by July 28 — and can even register online. Make your voice heard in 2014!

Victoria Steele has represented Tucson’s Legislative District 9 in the Arizona House of Representatives since 2012, and is now running for reelection. To get an idea of why we’re so excited to support her, check out her recent op-ed in the Arizona Daily Star, in which she discusses how last month’s Supreme Court decisions might embolden foes of reproductive justice here in Arizona. We’re also proud to introduce you to her here!

We had a wonderful conversation on July 10 at Raging Sage in Tucson, where Ms. Steele talked to us about her accomplishments and goals; her commitment to abortion access and comprehensive sexuality education; and her Republican opponent, Ethan Orr, whose voting record on reproductive health is out of step with the views held by the majority of his constituency. While you can hope that Ethan Orr will vote in favor of women’s health, you can know that Victoria Steele and her fellow Democratic candidate Dr. Randall Friese will do so!

Read on to get to know Ms. Steele even better!

“It’ll be even harder to get our rights back if we’ve lost them all, so let’s not let that happen.”

Interviewer: I’m glad we get to meet in person this time! How has your commitment to serving Arizona grown over the past two years? On the policy level, what has happened during that time to give you hope?

Representative Steele: I was really excited to see that we were able to finally defeat SB 1062 [a bill that would have allowed discrimination on religious grounds, for example against LGBTQ people]. That gives me a lot of hope. The only reason that happened is because the community got mad. The governor’s veto came way too late as far as I’m concerned.

That was a very hopeful thing, because it showed what I really suspected was true, that a majority of the people do not feel that we have the right to discriminate. There is a very vocal minority that feels otherwise. To me, that is hopeful.

A poll of Arizona Republicans showed they were in favor of vetoing SB 1062. It just shows how quickly the tide is turning, which is pretty exciting to me.

It is. Continue reading →