Today we were joined at the PCDP office headquarters by more than 70 volunteers and staff from Pima County Democrats, Mission for Arizona, and the Arizona Democratic Party!
Thank you to all of our volunteers who helped us launch this event so successfully! A special shoutout to our Volunteer Team Leaders Mary Ellen “Emi” Martinez, Chris Criley, Kathleen Edelman, and Margaret Lacey!
At 9am, we heard from AZ Democratic Party Chair Raquel Terán, Pima County Party Chair Bonnie Heidler, and Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick on the critical role of volunteers to turn out the vote in November. Now it is important for us to lay the groundwork so that when the right time arrives our efforts will efficiently turn out voters.
Left to right: ADP Chair Raquel Terán, Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick (2011 CD2), and PCDP Chair Bonnie Heidler
After hearing from our speakers, more than 20 canvassers launched from the office to go out and talk to Democrats about the midterms!
PCDP Chair Bonnie Heidler, Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick (2011 CD2), ADP Chair Raquel Terán, and Mission for Arizona volunteers and staff right before the 9am canvass launch
Then at 12pm the Arizona Democratic Party’s hybrid State Committee Meeting commenced. There were watch party locations all over the state, including here at the office where Democrats were invited to watch and participate.
During the State Committee Meeting, we also heard from Senator Mark Kelly and Britney Fonteno, the president of Arizona Planned Parenthood. They reiterated the urgency of what is happening throughout the country; the stakes have never been higher!
Finally, our Communications Director Shelly moderated a virtual Discussion 4 Democrats forum with Superintendent Kathy Hoffman. Superintendent Hoffman discussed the future of Arizona educators and took questions from the audience. You can watch the entire forum on our Discussion 4 Democracy page here.
With less than six months until the November election, today’s events re-energized Democrats all over the state! We are ready to buckle down and do the work that is needed. We ask that all Democrats in Pima County take a moment to think about how they can best support us, whether financially or through volunteering. Your engagement will increase the number of conversations that we have with voters in Pima County!
The March Executive Committee meeting was held on March 7th, 2022. We went over several updates and passed a motion to draft a resolution.
First, we discussed the ongoing process of selling the building where our headquarters are currently located. We have several potential buyers who’ve looked at the space, and we are waiting to hear back from them.
We then talked about reorganization. Dates have been set for the LDs to hold meetingsgoing over their reorganization plans, more updates to come. We also learned that the Messaging Committee has changed its name to the Communications Committee.
A large portion of the meeting ended up being dedicated to discussion of a resolution regarding the behavior of Pima County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bronson, who in recent weeks has disrespected both Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, as well as Cázares-Kelly’s office staff, in both private and public meetings, and continues to bring Vote Centers back to the BoS agenda for reconsideration, sowing misinformation and distrust among Pima voters. Ultimately, we voted to draft a resolution to move against Chair Bronson’s behavior, and to voice support for ePoll Books and voting centers.
The officers, committee chairs, and LD chairs gave their reports, and we listened to a presentation on voters in our new districts by Barbara Tellman, who explained how we can use voter data and demographics to best target voters in our reorganized districts.
The Pima County Democratic Party held a County Committee Meeting on August 21, 2021. Due to increased COVID-19 cases the meeting was held virtually, yet again. Even though it was virtual there was a good turn out of attendees. Technical issues are now part of the virtual world we live in and unfortunately the meeting was not without issues, but everyone persevered to take care of business. Election Buddy was in full effect with the committee voting on proposed bylaws revisions, proposed platform revisions and for PCDP First Vice Chair, Treasurer and Corresponding Secretary. All of the proposed revisions to the bylaws and platform passed. Brian Bickel was elected as Treasurer, Zoey Fife was elected as First Vice Chair, and Maria Parsons was elected as Corresponding Secretary.
During a nine hour meeting on Saturday, Jan 21st, new officers were elected by Arizona’s State Committepeople.
Chair: Raquel Terán
First Vice-Chairperson: Paul Stapleton-Smith
Senior Vice-Chairperson: Ann Heitland
Vice-Chairpersons: Shanna Leonard, Lynsey Robinson, Alexandra Placenza, Ray Frey, Michael Slugocki, and Dan Toporek.
Party Secretary: Suzanne Hug
Party Treasurer: Rich McGuire
Party Education Coordinator: Brianna Westbrook
Affirmative Action Moderator: Xenia Orona
Democrats also passed four resolutions, one of which urged Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly to vote to convict former President Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection at the Senate’s upcoming impeachment trial. That resolution also urges the resignation of all four of Arizona’s Republican members of Congress, in part for challenging the results of the presidential election.
More information should be available on theADP website soon.
