Maricopans who are not voting early by mail will cast their votes for Arizona District 16 Senate and House candidates in the general election Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Candidates vying to represent the district (listed alphabetically by office) are Democrat Taylor Kerby and Republican incumbent TJ Shope for one seat in the Senate; and Republican Rob Hudelson, Republican incumbent Teresa Martinez and Democrat Keith Seaman for two seats in the House.
With the election just days away and early voting well underway, we wanted to know the top priorities of each candidate. We asked them to list them in order of importance, without limit, emphasizing their impact on the district’s largest city, Maricopa.
Shope, Martinez and Seaman responded to our inquiries. Kerby and Hudelson did not respond to multiple attempts to participate in this story. For candidates who did not respond, we list priorities as they appear on their campaign websites.
SENATE
Taylor Kerby (D)
Kerby’s website says the issues his campaign prioritizes are:
- Public education.
- The economy and the housing crisis.
- The climate crisis.
- Voter protection.
The site shows endorsements of Kerby from AFL/CIO; Save Our Schools Arizona; the National Organization for Women; Planned Parenthood; Arizona Education Association Fund for Public Education; Stand for Children Arizona; Sierra Club; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; and Our Voice, Our Vote.
TJ Shope (R)
“From my perspective, I feel like a broken record: The first priority is Highway 347. As far as something that would have real-world, tangible impact on Maricopa, there is nothing bigger than improving that highway.
“I was with Gov. (Stephen) Lewis of Gila River Indian Community at a water conference, and we had a lot of great conversations about how we can work together to make 347 happen and benefit everyone. I’m really pleased with how we’ve worked together on the Interstate 10 project and how Gila River wants to be a partner on 347 like they are on the 10.
“Since the highway does cut through their community, we need their approval, and we need them walking with us every step of the way.
“So long as the money is there, we’re going to fight like hell to make sure that (improving SR 347) happens.
“Water has become one of the top issues in the state, whether you’re talking about agriculture with Pinal losing its CAP allocation or groundwater issues. It’s important that we keep investing and doing things, like contributing to the state’s water-mitigation fund. Water is an issue that’s already impacting Pinal County in areas in and around Maricopa.
“There are several areas I’m working on with the health care folks and there are some real positives for Maricopa with the opening of the new hospital and the conversations we’re having with other health care entities.
“I also want to continue ensuring our K-12 education is funded. It’s important to me as a school board member for 12 years.
“Also, I want to think that we’re keeping an eye on economic development. Individual legislators can’t do it themselves but working together we can be very successful. I know the mayor and council have been working to try to ensure people can work in the community they actually reside in. Those are always going to be constants and have been in my 10 years in the Legislature.”
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rob Hudelson (R)
Hudelson’s website lists his campaign priorities as:
- Secure the border.
- Fight inflation.
- Secure high-wage jobs.
- Fund the police.
- Water, water, water.
- Roads and infrastructure.
- Protect agriculture/ranch jobs.
- Quality schools.
- Access to quality health care.
- End Critical Race Theory.
- Make it easy to vote, impossible to cheat.
- Pro-life.
- Religious freedoms.
- Parental rights.
- School choice.
- Free speech.
Teresa Martinez (R)
“347. That’s the number-one priority by a mile. I want that bad boy widened so badly I can taste it. I also want water, more jobs and education. Maricopa has done a great job of developing a community people want to come to and live in.
“The 347 is crucial. In my mind, it’s my number-one priority. We will fix Interstate 10 and that work is underway, but we have to widen 347 between Rancho El Dorado and Maricopa Road. I will be on ADOT in such a way that that they can’t move without me saying one thing or another to them about that highway.
“Water is very important throughout the entire district, especially water infrastructure and where we’ll get new sources of water.
“Education is also a key. We want to be sure our kids are educated well.
“I also want to do some things relative to housing.
“I have to work with the city on this, but I’d love to see more manufacturing jobs in Maricopa. I’m a partner in what the city wants to do. This is not the Teresa Martinez show, although that would be a great show on Netflix, but my view on legislating is working with the city on what is important to them. I can’t arbitrarily decide what they need, I need to work with them to help them get what they decide they need.”
Keith Seaman (D)
“As an educator for over 40 years, education is my first priority. That’s why I got into the race. I’m on the Coolidge School Board and I saw that we couldn’t hire or keep teachers because of the lack of funding, and I want to change that.
“We got more money this year and that is helpful, but it’s never enough. We need to increase the amount of money the state spends on education.
“My second priority is health care. My wife is a retired nurse for 30 years, she worked in rural Arizona hospitals. We still have people in Arizona who can’t get health care because they simply can’t afford it. I want to ensure that we maintain health care for seniors, keep drug prices down and provide great health care to our kids. I also want to turn around the lack of the ability for women to get an abortion, because abortion is health care.
“The voting issue is another major reason I got into the race. I sat back and saw how the Legislature is limiting and restricting our access to the polls. Passed over 100 bills to limit early voting. Eighty percent of voters in Arizona vote by mail, so early voting is important to a lot of people in our district.
“I want to be sure we have fair elections and maintain the ability for citizens to have access to the polls.
“My fourth priority is water. Everybody knows we’ve been in a drought for a long time, and it’s finally got us up against the wall. I’ve been attending as many educational seminars and informational meetings as I can, to learn more about the issue. We need to find ways to maintain the water we have, identify new sources, restrict surface water use and make sure we have adequate supplies for future growth.”
We all want 347 improved and the economy and education are priorities but I hope these candidates remember us in the rural areas that they also represent.