Around the Districts Podcast

The powerful use hopelessness as a tool for control. They want silence. We refuse. In this episode, we prove the tide can turn. We look at promising data. From the Salt River Project election to national flips in red districts across the nation, the working class is waking up.

Voters in Arizona stood in line for four hours to protect their power. The costs of survival continue to rise while the market shrivels in the face of global instability. These are facts that cannot be ignored. Democracy requires action. It requires you.

Check us out on Substack: https://aroundthedistricts.substack.com/p/hope-dont-give-up

On March 28, 2026, the United States saw the largest single-day protest in its history. "No Kings 3" drew an estimated 8 million participants nationwide, including over 101,000 in Arizona alone. In this episode, we sit down with AJ Kurdoglu, co-leader of Chandler Gilbert Indivisible, to talk about the tactical shift of moving the protest into the conservative stronghold of Gilbert.

We discuss the reality of the 2026 Iran war, the open corruption of the current administration, and why 2,500 people showed up on a Saturday morning in Gilbert to demand change. Resistance is a neighbor-to-neighbor movement for survival.

Check us out on Substack: https://aroundthedistricts.substack.com/p/no-kings-3-aj-kurdoglu

== Learn more about Chandler Gilbert Indivisible ==

Website: https://chandlergilbertindivisible.com/

Affordability is the primary concern for voters. That’s true everywhere, but certainly in LD25. Arizona healthcare systems face a crisis as insurance companies overrule doctors and deny claims. Families pay the price at the pump, the pharmacy, and the hospital. In this episode, AZ State Senate candidate Laura Huber explains the systemic pressure on our medical and housing markets, and how a fresh perspective is worth considering.

Topics covered in this conversation:

Check us out on Substack: https://aroundthedistricts.substack.com/p/therapists-perspective-part-2-laura-huber

== Donate $5 to Laura’s Clean Election Campaign ==

== Learn more about Laura Huber ==

Survival is not a policy.

In the second part of our conversation, Bobby Nichols breaks down the brutal economics of affordability in Tempe. Bobby serves as an Assistant Attorney General. He brings a unique legal lens to the fight for working-class stability. This race is not about personality. This race is a tactical intervention to shift the Overton window.

We explore the "Housing First" model as a necessary barrier against the deaths of despair that plague our community. Bobby shares the personal cost of systemic neglect following the loss of his sister, Madison. Her legacy drives his mission to ensure every neighbor can thrive, not just survive.

From union building to the fight against ICE surveillance, the movement remains. Time is of the essence.

Read the full analytical breakdown on our blog:

This is part two of a two-part interview.

Check us out on Substack: https://aroundthedistricts.substack.com/p/affordability-movement-part-2-bobby-nichols

== Learn more about Bobby Nichols ==

Website: https://bobby4tempe.com/

From the suburban sprawl of Surprise to the essential agricultural fields of Yuma (winter lettuce capital of North America), Legislative District 25 is facing significant pressures. On this episode, we sit down with Laura Huber, a clinical counselor with seventeen years of experience and a deep legacy in Arizona farming, to discuss the consequential shifts threatening her community.

Failure is not inevitable. It is a choice. Watch to learn how Laura Huber plans to lead with active listening and grit instead of political righteousness.

Check us out on Substack: https://aroundthedistricts.substack.com/p/affordability-water-part-1-laura-huber

== Learn more about Laura Huber ==

In this episode, we sit down with Bobby Nichols an Assistant Attorney General and candidate for Tempe City Council, to discuss the brutal reality of the local housing market. With renters making up 60% of our city, the lack of protection and stability has reached a breaking point.

Bobby breaks down his consequential plan to fight back, including a rental stabilization board and a vision for the city to act as its own developer on public land. We also dive into the fragile state of civic engagement in Tempe, the 7-0 voting patterns that silence community voices, and the personal tragedies that drive Bobby’s mission to ensure time is of the essence.

This is part one of a two-part interview.

Check us out on Substack: https://aroundthedistricts.substack.com/p/clock-is-ticking-part-1-bobby-nichols

== Learn more about Bobby Nichols ==

Website: https://bobby4tempe.com/

The 2026 election cycle is here, and the "sticker shock" of the 2024 results proved one thing: money alone doesn't buy movements. In the final part of our series with Unity Rising founder Jacob George, we expose the failure of "AstroTurf" organizing and the urgent need for a relational comeback in Arizona.

We dive into the max exodus of men from the Democratic party, the populist pipeline from Bernie to Trump, and how Project 2025 is designed to turn the next generation into worker bees instead of critical thinkers. Education and mentorship are the only barriers left against systemic failure.

Listen to learn how Unity Rising is building a succession plan to reclaim the future.

Check us out on Substack: https://aroundthedistricts.substack.com/p/jacob-george-unity-rising-part3

== Learn more about Unity Rising USA ==

The culture war is loud. Rent is louder.

In Part 2 with Jacob George, we talk about the messaging gap that’s bleeding young voters: national politics as a donation machine vs. local life as a cost-of-living emergency.

We get into:

Check us out on Substack: https://aroundthedistricts.substack.com/p/jacob-george-unity-rising-part2

== Learn more about Unity Rising USA ==

Arizona’s youth vote can decide elections—and it can disappear.

In Part 1 of our conversation, Jacob George (founder + executive director of Unity Rising USA) lays out what he’s building: a student-led chapter model designed to counter Turning Point USA’s campus pipeline, cut through the jargon, and connect politics back to working-class survival.

We get into:

Check us out on Substack: https://aroundthedistricts.substack.com/p/jacob-george-unity-rising-part1

== Learn more about Unity Rising USA ==

This episode closes our conversation with Francesca Martin, Deputy Director of the Keep Arizona Blue Student Coalition. Part 1 covered tactics, how she started organizing at 16, and how her team confronts voter apathy on campus.

Part 2 goes deeper: motive, mentorship, and the pipeline Arizona needs if democracy is going to hold. Francesca explains why the word “politics” repels so many young voters (they hear D.C. gridlock and shouting), and why “community” brings them in. Community speaks the language of rent hikes, housing costs, wages, and the right to stay in the place that raised you.

Francesca breaks down what real inclusion looks like for young leaders: not a pat on the head, but trust, autonomy, and serious responsibility because democracy needs succession. If the pipeline stalls, the whole system weakens.

Check us out on Substack: https://aroundthedistricts.substack.com/p/part-2-francesca-martin

== Connect with Keep Arizona Blue ==