Turning Arizona Blue

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) is currently in business to redraw the Congressional, state legislative, county and even local government election lines. Deborah Howard, coordinator for Indivisible Arizona's redistricting team, provides us the background on the IRC process, the commissioners and encourages everyone to get involved.

But the partisanship for an "independent" body has already begun. Deborah takes us through political lines already being crossed and the hiring of a mapping consultant with a tainted history in Arizona and other states. Deborah's hope, that in our already divided and polarized political environment, the five IRC members will rise to the occasion with redistricting  lines that are fair and competitive.

Turning Arizona Blue is sponsored by Matters of State Strategies a top political consultancy for Democratic candidates and issue campaigns in need of an edge in competitive and changing Arizona districts in 2022. Contact them at [email protected].

Turning Arizona Blue the podcast is now partnering with The Mule News, an online news service dedicated to Maricopa County Democratic politics. Please subscribe and confirm your subscription at https://themulenews.com/.

Please subscribe to TAB where you get podcasts and follow Turning Arizona Blue on our Facebook page and on Twitter @TurningAz. Please reach us at [email protected] for financial and advertising support on our TAB and The Mule News platforms.

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Good friend Mark Heier is back -- by popular demand I should point out. Mark got some notice on our Facebook pages after our discussion following the 2020 elections. We talked then about the marijuana initiative passing. Mark labeled the now legal product "Jazz Cabbage" catching the attention of listeners.

Mark, retired from the video production business, quips again is this episode. Listen for it. We discuss the Maricopa County ballot recount, the AZ State Republican agenda in the legislature, Gov. Ducey, the Jan. 6th insurrection and lastly President Joe Biden.

Turning Arizona Blue is sponsored by Matters of State Strategies a top political consultancy for Democratic candidates and issue campaigns in need of an edge in competitive and changing Arizona districts in 2022. Contact them at [email protected].

Turning Arizona Blue the podcast is now partnering with The Mule News, an online news service dedicated to Maricopa County Democratic politics. Please subscribe and confirm your subscription at https://themulenews.com/.

Please subscribe to TAB where you get podcasts and follow Turning Arizona Blue on our Facebook page and on Twitter @TurningAz. Please reach us at [email protected] for financial and advertising support on our TAB and The Mule News platforms.

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Judy Stahl's campaign to unseat Congressman Paul Gosar is one of drawing clear distinctions of representation. Her vision is one of responding to the real needs of people with solutions for rural infrastructure, health care and a lack of jobs and housing for Veterns.

Gosar's values are based on fear. Creating divisions among us based on voter suppression, the Big Lie, rejecting Arizona's votes in a national election and supporting insurrection and white supremacy.

Stahl believes her values -- in this uphill battle -- and her decades as a Prescott small business owner and community activist, will make a difference in a district where more voters are rejecting the ultra right wing politics of fear.

Turning Arizona Blue is sponsored by Matters of State Strategies a top political consultancy for Democratic candidates and issue campaigns in need of an edge in competitive and changing Arizona districts in 2022. Contact them at [email protected].

Turning Arizona Blue the podcast is now partnering with The Mule News, an online news service dedicated to Maricopa County Democratic politics. Please subscribe and confirm your subscription at https://themulenews.com/.

Please subscribe to TAB where you get podcasts and follow Turning Arizona Blue on our Facebook page and on Twitter @TurningAz. Please reach us at [email protected] for financial and advertising support on our TAB and The Mule News platforms.

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As we political junkies know, it is a difficult journey to support and elect good, qualified candidates for political office. Well, it is even more difficult to remove politicians who have violated our trust with acts of insurrection and support for white nationalist and voter suppression efforts. Difficult but necessary.

In this episode, we're following two Arizona efforts to remove Republicans -- Congressman Paul Gosar and Arizona State Representative Mark Finchem from office.

Jay Ruby from Prescott, gathered voters from around CD4 and held a rally against Gosar as he was speaking in Payson, AZ. Ruby who played Abraham Lincoln – on stilts no less – organized a lively and entertaining demonstration. We’ll take you to the rally and you’ll hear from Ruby and others who support the effort to #RemovePaulGosar.

Chesney Richter is the manager of Rural Arizonans for Accountability, the group promoting the recall of Rep. Finchem in LD 11 which covers parts of Pinal and Pima Counties. Richter outlines the rationale for and the difficult process to remove Finchem from the State Legislature. In a narrow window of time, the RecallFinchem campaign hopes to gather enough petitions to have the Arizona Secretary of State order a recall election this November.

Turning Arizona Blue the podcast is now partnering with The Mule News, an online news service dedicated to Maricopa County Democratic politics. Subscribe at https://themulenews.com/.

Please subscribe to TAB where you get podcasts and follow Turning Arizona Blue on our Facebook page and on Twitter @TurningAz. Please reach us at [email protected] for financial and advertising support on our TAB and The Mule News platforms.

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The journey of Grant Woods goes from John McCain's staff, to Republican Attorney General of Arizona for two terms, to fighting the extreme right-wing takeover of the Republican Party, to supporting national and state Democrats in the Trump era and finally registering as a Democratic voter. His journey is filled with his own character defining qualities that he praised John McCain having -- principles above party, integrity before political expedience and empathy first.

In this episode, Grant Woods talks about the Trump takeover of his former party, the Arizona Republican Party's shameful voter suppression efforts, the potential of the Biden administration, and his working and personal relationship with John McCain his mentor and friend. 

Turning Arizona Blue the podcast is now partnering with The Mule News, an online news service dedicated to Maricopa County Democratic politics. Subscribe at https://themulenews.com/.

Please subscribe where you get podcasts and follow Turning Arizona Blue on our Facebook page and on Twitter @TurningAz. Please reach us at [email protected] for financial and advertising support on our TAB and The Mule News platforms.

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Many Arizona voters are talking about Adrian Fontes and his future in Arizona politics. And he is listening, really listening.

In this episode, the former Maricopa County Recorder (2016-2020) talks about the attempts at voter suppression by Republicans in the current Arizona legislative session. Rightly so, for under Andrian's watch, voter registration and voter participation in elections was the highest ever. Accountability and transparency in his office was increased and election integrity and accuracy were secured -- and proven in the courts.

Adrian also talks about the impact the November election's "Big Lie" and the January 6th insurrection in Washington, DC on our Democracy, and his re-engagement into Arizona politics  as an activist and/or an elected official.

The Turning Arizona Blue podcast is now partnering with The Mule News an online news service dedicated to Maricopa County Democratic politics. Go to https://wwwthemulenewscom.godaddysites.com/the-mule-news-front-page and subscribe.

Please also subscribe to Turning Arizona Blue where you get podcasts; leave a review at our Facebook page Turning Arizona Blue; follow us on Twitter @TurningAZ; and email us at [email protected]. For contributions and advertising to support TAB and The Mule News go to http://paypal.me/turningazblue.

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One new announcement for 2021; and the first episode in season two of Turning Arizona Blue (TAB) the podcast is here.

 First, on this episode of Turning Arizona Blue, Dr. Shad Marvasti (Dr. Shad to almost everyone), provides a comprehensive perspective on the COVID-19 crisis here in AZ. Dr. Shad serves as Director of Public Health, Prevention and Health Promotion at the U of A College of Medicine in Phoenix. 

 Dr. Shad addresses: AZ’s status as the world’s worst for infections; Gov. Ducey’s lack of critical mitigation after August, 2020; vaccinations will not address the short-term crisis; damage from Trump’s lack of national leadership; our national treasure Dr. Fauci is free and in charge; and systemic structural racism is causing health disparities in America. 

 Second, TAB is now partnering with a new, online news service dedicated to Maricopa County Democratic politics. Soon, The Mule News will be available. No, not the traditional donkey of Democratic politics, we need a stronger, bolder symbol in prospecting for votes and victories all up and down the ballot in Maricopa County. Be on the lookout for The Mule News.

 Please subscribe to and like Turning Arizona Blue where you get podcasts; leave a review at our Facebook page Turning Arizona Blue; follow us on Twitter @TurningAZ; and email us at [email protected]. For contributions and advertising to support TAB go to http://paypal.me/turningazblue.

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Arizona voters gave teachers, parents and students an overdue and much warranted funding mechanism to raise our schools out of the bottom in US rankings. Our collective voter shame finally overcame decades of drastic cuts by Arizona Republican Governors and Legislators — more than in any other state.

In this episode, David Lujan, Director of the Arizona Center for Economic Progress and a former AZ State Representative and Senator, and a spokesperson for the coalition that supported "Yes on 208," talks about the win last month and the decades fight against anti-progress politicians and private special interests to elevate public education in Arizona.   

John Little, former City Manager for Scottsdale and a 50-year career public servant, provides perspective on how local jurisdictions have not expanded support for public education because the state has not mandated an “education” component in their general planning or master plans. This lack of inclusion, fails to promote the importance of public education funding for quality schools to a communities’ economic development. Little says there is a “tangible . . . provable . . . relationship” between high preforming schools and increased property values and economic process.

Jennifer McDowell, with children in public schools and seven years on school boards in the Scottsdale Unified School District, relates the devastating impact of these past decades on teachers in terms of their careers and love of teaching and motivating students. And now, the emotional distress of teaching in a pandemic environment on their health, being caught in political wars with some parents, and the constant changing of health requirements from state officials. 

Please subscribe to and like Turning Arizona Blue where you get podcasts; leave a review at our Facebook page Turning Arizona Blue; follow us on Twitter @TurningAZ; and email us at [email protected]. For contributions and advertising to support TAB go to http://paypal.me/turningazblue.

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Every election has its successes and lessons to be learned by the candidates, party officials, volunteers and voters. Steven Slugocki, Chair, Maricopa County Democratic Party, talks about those two sides of the 2020 election and how they are to be expanded and applied in the next Arizona statewide and local elections in 2022.

The upsides of: increased voter turnout from moderates, liberals, progressives and the Black and Hispanic communities; crossover votes from Republicans and Independents; and passage of school funding and marijuana initiatives -- all took hard work, long hours and commitment from all involved. The downside was some 100,000 voters who did not fill out their entire ballot for the local elections.

The keys to Turning Arizona Blue in the next election will be: 

• hold and improve those gains with impactful policies from the Biden Administration that improve our daily lives in the next two years
• translate those policies into votes for state, legislative and local races up and down the ballot in 2022, and
• reach deep into communities to educate voters on the importance of local races.

Please subscribe to and like Turning Arizona Blue where you get podcasts; leave a review at our Facebook page Turning Arizona Blue; follow us on Twitter @TurningAZ; and email us at [email protected]. For contributions and advertising to support TAB go to http://paypal.me/turningazblue.

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Turning Arizona Blue is back with Arizona wins thanks to Democratic GOTV efforts at the state, county and local levels from party organizations, district committees, volunteers and the voters. While we succeeded in the Biden/Harris and Mark Kelly  contests, and despite record turnout from Democrats, Independent and moderate/anti-Trump Republicans, it wasn't enough to overcome our traditional Red-state voters in the down ballot races.

My friend Mark Heier is back to celebrate the wins and discuss translating Biden policies in the next two years into Arizona Blue wins at the state, congressional, legislative and local levels. Two-years of positive and impactful policies at the national level will help hold those independent and moderate Republican voters as potential voters up and down the ballot in 2022.  And without Trump on the ballot, those Republican office holders will not have the political cover and turnout of the Trumpian voting cult.

In future podcasts, we'll analyze  the upsides and downsides of this election and turn to what we can all do on this journey of Turning Arizona Blue.

Please subscribe to and like Turning Arizona Blue where you get podcasts; leave a review at our Facebook page Turning Arizona Blue; follow us on Twitter @TurningAZ; and email us at [email protected]. For contributions and advertising to support TAB go to http://paypal.me/turningazblue.

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