Rep. Lorena Austin, D-Mesa, knocks on a door in a West Mesa neighborhood aiming to hand out campaign literature and meet with LD9 voters. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
The western Mesa legislative district that Democratic Rep. Lorena Austin represents holds a lot of meaning.
Austin, along with the other Democratic candidates on the ticket, are hoping to hold on to the seats they’ve gained in the competitive district as Democrats in the state are attempting to flip the statehouse blue.
“For me, it is really personal,” Austin says while writing their personal phone number on a pamphlet to put on a door. “I don’t look at these neighborhoods like I’m just getting your votes.”
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Austin is the state’s first non-binary lawmaker, and along with Democratic Rep. Seth Blattman, they flipped Legislative District 9 in 2022 by about 2,000 votes. Republicans hold a narrow one-vote majority in the state House of Representatives and Democrats are spending big money to flip the GOP-controlled legislature that has been fighting with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs since she took office.
Meanwhile, Republicans are aiming to regain seats they lost, like the ones in LD9.
The district, which was drawn in 2021 by the Arizona Independent Redistricting committee and labeled “highly competitive,” is predominantly lower income, though it includes some wealthy neighborhoods, echoing the city’s past with racial segregation.
On this particular Saturday morning, Austin is knocking doors in a neighborhood they were told is more than likely voting blue. But for Austin, it is about showing up in communities that are not used to seeing their local elected officials.
As they are checking the list of doors they need to knock, a chicken crossing the road is almost hit by an old, small pickup truck that pulls up to Austin.
“Qué está pasando?” the older man asks, pointing at the pamphlets in Austin’s hand.
Austin quickly responds in Spanish, alleviating concerns the man had about the intentions of the group walking around the neighborhood passing out pamphlets. Austin gives the man their number and, shortly after he drives off, he calls, ensuring the number was real.
“All those conversations I had are the exact reason I do this,” Austin said, noting that the man who had lived in the neighborhood for 40 years had never met his own state representative, a theme with the people they spoke with.
The district is younger, more Latino and poorer than the state of Arizona is generally. In recent polling by UnidosUs of Arizona Latino voters, many found that they likely aligned more with Democratic politicians but overall felt that neither party truly cared about them as a constituency. The polling also found that 19% of Latinos in Arizona will be voting for the first time in 2024 and 33% of Arizona’s Latino voters are new since 2016.
Democrats and Republicans have been pushing for efforts to bring in the Latino vote, a key demographic that helped deliver a narrow victory for President Joe Biden in the state in 2020. Republicans have opened up new campaign offices, while Democrats have touted their existing offices in places like the majority Hispanic neighborhood of Maryvale.
This weekend, Harris surrogates will be launching a “Hombres con Harris” event which aims to try to shore up support among Latinos in Southern Arizona.
“That is where my family was allowed to live,” Austin said of the area they door-knocked.
West Mesa used to be a racially segregated area. The former “sundown town” to this day continues to have issues with disparity of housing and poverty.
“We are trying to re-instill voter trust,” Austin said. “You are worth my time, and one day you may need my help and I may be able to assist you, no matter what letter is next to your name.”
Campaign signs cover a portion of the wall at the LD9 Democratic Party Office in West Mesa. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
Austin and Blattman’s Republican counterparts either did not respond to the Arizona Mirror’s request for similar access or denied the Mirror’s request. Likewise, GOP hopefuls Kylie Barber and Mary Ann Mendoza declined or ignored requests for interviews.
Neither of the Republicans are newcomers to the political scene.
Mendoza lost to Austin and Blattman in 2022 and has been outspoken on issues of illegal immigration after her son was killed in a car crash with an undocumented immigrant. She has also faced controversy for making anti-semitic remarks and appearing in blackface.
Barber, meanwhile, worked for several years lobbying state lawmakers as the policy director for Children’s Action Alliance, a role that also saw her lobbying in Washington D.C. for policies to help children with rare diseases. Mendoza has accused Barber of being a “Democratic plant.”
While rallying other canvassers, Blattman hit on the shifting extreme political ideology that has made itself mainstream in parts of the Republican Party.
“The legislature has been taken over by MAGA extremists,” Blattman said, citing Arizona GOP policies on abortion and education as examples. Whether voters in LD9 will find that as scary as Austin and Blattman do is yet to be determined.
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