PHOENIX — Democrats are on track to flip the Arizona Legislature – and it means the next four years could look very different from Gov. Katie Hobbs’ first term.
For the first time in six decades, Democrats are expected to have a majority in both the Arizona House and Senate, giving the party a state government trifecta.
“I want you to understand what that means to me,” Hobbs told supporters at a victory rally Wednesday night. “When I got to the Legislature in 2011, there were so few Democrats in the Senate that we joked the caucus could share one pizza.”
In a split government with Republican majorities in both chambers, Hobbs vetoed a whopping 451 bills. And her proposals for the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts school voucher program, groundwater management and a public-private partnership for childcare, among other policies, couldn’t get traction because of Republican opposition.
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Things should be different now that the Democratic caucus will need a lot more than one pizza.
“Our priorities were held back by Republican control of the Legislature, and what we're seeing is the voters are saying we need a change,” Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan told ABC15 on Election Night.
She said the Republican-led Legislature refused to put guardrails on ESAs and did not protect the state’s water. Sundareshan also said legislative Republicans didn’t act to hold corporations accountable to price hikes to utilities, groceries and health care.
“I think it's up to us now as Democrats to deliver what voters are asking for,” she said.
‘We need relief now’
Activate 48, a coalition of progressive groups, say voters have given Democrats a mandate for fundamental change.
“Arizonans are desperate for a different type of politics because they are living through one crisis after another,” said Alejandra Gomez, LUCHA executive director. “They cannot afford groceries, health care, premiums, rent or homes. They are working harder and wondering why they keep falling further behind.”
Reginald Bolding, Activate 48’s coalition director and a former Democratic state lawmaker, said the Legislature flipped after years of organizing.
“This isn't a blue wave,” he said. “This is the people's wave.”
The group has spent the last two years developing a policy agenda with proposals addressing high utility rates, paid family medical leave, childcare assistance and affordable housing.
“It is top of mind, the crisis right now, for our communities, that they can't, one, pay for groceries – they're too expensive, and gas and rent and utilities,” she said. ‘So we need relief now for our communities.”
Less than two weeks before the election, Activate 48 organized a convention in downtown Phoenix where more than 1,000 people from across Arizona put together a governing agenda for 2027.
“Lawmakers have been incredibly receptive,” Gomez said. “They, too, have been hearing that our communities have been talking about affordability.”
And groups like LUCHA and Our Voice, Our Vote Arizona say they will hold lawmakers accountable, vowing to have their members at the Capitol “every single day” of the legislative session to make sure lawmakers deliver.
“We are expecting to see lawmakers fight,” Gomez said. “We now have delivered a majority, a resounding majority. Voters have said this is what we need.”
An appeal to Republican voters
Hobbs made affordability the centerpiece of her campaign.
“In my second term, we'll keep building on our progress and make Arizona the affordable state it was when I was growing up,” she said at her Wednesday night rally, vowing to cut red tape for starter homes and expand access to apprenticeships.
She has criticized Republican lawmakers in Congress, saying their policies are making life more expensive for everyday Arizonans.
She also made an appeal to voters who backed her Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, saying she will work just as hard for them as she does for her supporters.
“I've worked the counter at Burger King, driven for Uber and lived through a foreclosure,” she said. “I know what it's like to lie awake worrying about the bills. That worry doesn't care whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, Independent or anything else.”
Hobbs said she’s hopeful Arizona’s best days are still ahead.
“The challenges we face weren't created overnight, and we knew we wouldn't solve them overnight,” she said. “There's so much more to do, and I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work.”
