Tag Archives: Tolleson

Tipping the Balance: Why Primary Elections Matter

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Arizona state Senate“We will remember in November,” say activists vowing to effect change at the polls. General elections, held in November, are contests between the candidates nominated by their political parties and decided by voters. They are phenomenally important, as their outcomes determine who our presidents, senators, representatives, and other legislators will be.

Not all Democratic candidates support reproductive rights, so check our list of endorsed candidates before voting a Democratic ballot!

What rhymes with August? “You’ll eat sawdust in August”? “We want laws just in August”? I’ll work on that, but for now you should know that the primary elections will be held in Arizona on August 26, and many important races will be decided in August rather than November. How is that possible? Sometimes, only one political party has candidates running for an office, meaning that whoever wins their party’s nomination in the primary election won’t face opposition in November.

In three such races, all featuring Democrats running for the state Senate, reproductive rights are at stake. So, in case you were wondering why voting in the primary elections is so important, read on to learn about these crucial races! And tell your friends in these Phoenix-area legislative districts that the decisions they make at the polls have the potential to bring balance to our state legislature in terms of reproductive health care access. Continue reading →

Meet Our Candidates: Angela Cotera for State Senator, LD 19

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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!

[D]r. Angela Cotera has experience living and working in multiple areas of Arizona. A graduate of Flagstaff High School, she worked on post-doctoral research at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory in Tucson. Dr. Cotera now lives in Avondale, where she seeks to represent Legislative District 19 in the Arizona State Senate. In addition to reproductive health care access, Dr. Cotera has made stronger schools and secure jobs key issues in her campaign.

She took the time for this interview on July 26, 2014.

“Our mothers fought for us and thought they had won, but it now it seems we have to fight yet again, this time for our daughters.”

Tell us a little about your background.

Arizona has been my home for 47 years, although I spent time in Texas and California while earning two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Texas and a doctorate in applied physics from Stanford.

I learned about the importance of Planned Parenthood from the stories my mother told me of the 11 children and one back-alley abortion that my grandmother endured in the 1930s. Planned Parenthood was also a part of my early-married life, helping me to achieve my twin goals of building both a loving marriage and a successful career.

You are an alumna of Emerge Arizona, an organization whose goal is to increase the number of Democratic women in public office. How did this program impact you, and why do you believe it’s important that these voices be heard and represented in the government?

Emerge Arizona literally changed my life. I had always been interested in running for office, but as a research astrophysicist, I really did not know how; thanks to Emerge, now I know. As you may imagine, coming from a field where only 12 percent are women, I am used to fighting for women to be recognized and given equal treatment. I know that we bring equal talent and abilities to the table, but often a different perspective. That perspective must be well represented within our government.

Your Democratic opponent in the LD 19 Senate race is Lupe Contreras, who signed the Center for Arizona Policy’s statement denouncing Roe v. Wade. How do your views on reproductive health care differ from those of your opponent? Why is it important to protect the gains set forth by Roe v. Wade?

The “Pro-Life Proclamation” that he signed called for all Arizona legislators to make sure that full citizenship rights begin the moment an egg is fertilized. This basically would mean that women have no more rights than an incubator, which is outrageous. I believe that all women have sovereignty over their own bodies, and no one has a right to tell a woman what she can or cannot do within her own body.  Continue reading →

Meet Our Candidates: Lorenzo Sierra for State Representative, LD 19

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The Arizona primary election will be held on August 28, 2012. With so many recent legislative challenges to reproductive health care access, both nationally and statewide, the importance of this election year can’t be overstated. To help voters, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who have shown strong commitment to reproductive health and freedom. Along with those endorsements, we are running a series called “Meet Our Candidates,” spotlighting each Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona-endorsed candidate. To vote in the primaries, you must register to vote by midnight today (July 30) — and you can even register online. Make your voice heard in 2012!

[L]orenzo Sierra is one of four Democratic candidates running in the primary in Legislative District 19, which covers the West Valley, Tolleson, and Avondale. Of these four Democrats, Sierra is one of only two, along with Mark Cardenas, to be endorsed by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona because of his positive positions on women’s health and choice issues.

“Planned Parenthood is just one organization that has been unfairly misrepresented by the current legislature.”

Sierra is an accredited business communicator and an experienced community leader who has served on several boards that have had positive impacts on the women and families of Arizona. One of the boards, Parenting Arizona, has worked to increase funding to parenting resources that strengthen home environments for children. Another, Xico, promotes indigenous arts and culture through community-based arts programs.

In July 2012, Sierra shared his views on women’s health and comprehensive sex education in this exclusive interview.

Tell us a little about your background.

I am an Arizona native who grew up in Tucson. I was the first person in my extended family to attend college. I even worked five part-time jobs my senior year at Arizona State University in 1992. I went on to have a successful marketing career with a few Fortune 500 companies. While working for those companies, I was able to serve on several statewide boards, including the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Governor’s Commission on Service and Volunteerism, Chicanos por la Causa’s Parenting Arizona, and Xico. I live in Avondale with my wife Rhonda. My son Adam is a freshman at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. My son Roman is an eighth grader in the Gilbert School District. And my stepdaughter Megan is a double major junior at ASU. Continue reading →