by admin | Nov 26, 2024 | Elections, News and Updates
Since the results of the 2024 election came in, much of the focus has been on President-elect Donald Trump’s historic win—and rightfully so. Trump won every single swing state in a massive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, and he beat her in the popular vote too.
But Kamala Harris wasn’t the only significant loser to come out of November’s election.
Here in Arizona, teachers’ unions and other anti-school choice groups, like Save Our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ), made the 2024 election a referendum on school choice. And they lost big!
Much of their work began earlier this year, when Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs came into legislative session (just like she did in 2023) with her top priority being to regulate the wildly popular Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program out of existence. But it didn’t work. Despite the noise from Hobbs, legislative Democrats, the legacy media, the teachers’ unions, and other anti-school choice groups, only minor changes were made to the ESA program through the budget, with most of it remaining untouched.
This failure fell on the heels of other similar failures.
In 2023, Attorney General Kris Mayes went after the ESA program at the Department of Education. In a public tirade, she falsely claimed that the budget agreement that protected universal school choice would bankrupt the state, despite the expenditure data showing that the ESA program actually saves the state money. But her tirade didn’t stop the Republican budget bill from being signed by Hobbs the same year in another failure to place any limitations on the ESA program.
And let’s not forget what happened in 2022. After then-Governor Ducey signed universal school choice into law in Arizona, the teachers’ unions and groups like SOSAZ threw a hissy fit and immediately began working to stop the new law by gathering signatures for a ballot initiative aimed at overturning ESAs. But they were met every step of the way by an organic movement of parents, teachers, and community members who informed people with the truth and convinced them that it was ok to decline to sign.
Despite this, SOSAZ claimed to have 141,714 signatures, which would have been enough to put the anti-school choice initiative on the ballot. But the group was left with egg on its face when the final signature count revealed that they were actually more than 52,000 signatures short in another failed attempt to overturn ESAs.
You would think that after all these failures, the far-left education community would have learned its lesson. But that’s asking too much.
As we approached the 2024 election, Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign raised millions to flip the Arizona legislature blue. And the teachers’ unions, combined with anti-school choice groups like SOSAZ, followed in her footsteps. They made it no secret that their top priority was to roll back and eliminate the ESA program—along with other popular school choice programs. That’s why they spent millions to push candidates with a long track record of being anti-school choice like: Christine Marsh, Kelli Butler, and Karen Gresham in Legislative District 4; Judy Schwiebert in Legislative District 2; and Keith Seaman in Legislative District 16—to name a few.
Voters heard the message loud and clear. And how did they respond? By doing the exact opposite.
With the 2024 election now complete, Republicans expanded their majorities in both the Arizona House and Senate. That means school choice is here to stay in our state, and it’s time that the far-left education community comes to grips with this fact.
The reality is that more and more families are recognizing the tremendous benefits of school choice. Over 83,000 students are now enrolled in the ESA program. This has not only saved taxpayers money, but it has strengthened all schools because competition delivers the best product—leading to better students, families, and communities.
If teachers’ unions truly cared about students, they would be on board for this. But instead, groups like the Arizona Education Association responded to the election results by promising “to be the union thugs we were meant to be.” That’s right. After 2 ½ years and multiple failures trying to overturn school choice, they’d rather double down on militant left craziness than learn a lesson.
That’s fine with us. We’ll just keep fighting back with a winning message—that every student throughout our state deserves the best education possible and the funding to make it happen.
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by admin | Nov 22, 2024 | Elections, News and Updates
Though most attention was directed at the top of the ticket in the 2024 election, many groups on the Left waged high stakes on flipping Arizona’s barely Republican-controlled legislature.
In the two years since the 2022 election, when Republicans dwindled to 31 members of the 60-member House and 16 members in the 30-member Senate, Democrats have been busily planning and building their election takeover. After sweeping the top 3 statewide offices, including the Governorship, 2024 was the inflection point in the story of how Arizona went from red – to purple – to blue.
But that didn’t happen.
Under the leadership of Governor Hobbs and an orbit of well-funded organizations that raised upwards of $10 million to target key swing districts in Arizona, the Left failed to secure their legislative victories. Instead, the Republican-controlled Arizona House and Senate, in fact, expanded their majorities. Despite being outspent in every single race, Republicans now hold 33 members in the House and 17 members in the Senate, a small but meaningful gain. It’s a disaster for Katie Hobbs, who is already fighting low favorability and criticism by her own party for her inability to best Republican legislative leadership and rack up any wins for the Left’s agenda.
But Hobbs’ rivals certainly can’t blame only Hobbs for their election woes. Issues of public safety, the crisis at the border, and unaffordability and inflation consistently ranked at the top as concerns for voters. And at the end of the day, voters believed Republicans have more grown up and responsible solutions to these problems. In stark contrast is what Democrats were offering: ideas Arizonans have watched ruin our neighbors to the West.
Efforts to educate Arizonans about the real looming threats of allowing the state to fall prey to California policies have made their impact. When Arizonans learn how for years Democrats in the state have pushed to make Arizona a “sanctuary state,” to hand out benefits and driver’s licenses to illegals, to legalize squatting and homeless, to make it impossible to lower taxes, to eliminate school choice, and to create a slew of “climate crimes,” it is no wonder why they would make their bet on a generic Republican lawmaker. The legislative victories in 2024 make it clear that Arizona does NOT want to be California, and Democrats offer only Californication.
This shift to the Right in down ticket races is undergirded by a reddening of the state in general in the last two years, as Republicans have grown their state-wide registration advantage to 8.8%, the largest margin since 2012. These trends are not easily reversed and present an even bigger challenge ahead for the Left, who will need to devote ample resources to securing the Governor’s office in 2026 on top of their legislative ambitions.
Meanwhile, Republicans have mostly resolved their interparty squabbles for now, united under the Trump-mandate, and bolstered by the voter affirmation of their ideas on the economy, the border, and a saner culture.
The new majorities should keep these lessons in mind as they continue to hold the line against the advancement of the Hobbs Agenda and continue to ride the red wave into 2026.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
by admin | Nov 14, 2024 | Elections, News and Updates
How do you waste $15 million? Just ask the folks over at the Make Elections Fair Committee. Last week, their insane attempt to force a California-style elections system of ranked choice voting and jungle primaries went down in flames. Prop 140 failed miserably with nearly 60 percent of the electorate voting “No.” And it wasn’t for lack of funding.
With a huge amount of money coming from the pockets of out-of-state billionaires, the Make Elections Fair Committee spent at least $15 million—giving them a 20:1 spending advantage. That’s right. For every $1 spent trying to defeat the initiative, the Prop 140 committee spent $20 trying to pass it! And they still lost by a wide margin!
That’s legendary. If any business idea ever failed that badly, it would be banished and never spoken of again. And that’s exactly what should happen with ranked choice voting and its ugly cousin jungle primaries (which was already overwhelmingly rejected by Arizona voters back in 2012).
Prop 140 was one of the worst ideas ever to be proposed in our great state, and it is fitting that it met its demise from a vast majority of Arizonans. Radical leftists, out-of-state billionaires, and scheming consultants tried to hoodwink voters into adopting this failed system. They spent millions. They potentially misused taxpayer dollars to support the initiative. And they even had to resort to duplicating signatures to qualify for the ballot in the first place.
But voters did their homework. They saw through the misleading and manipulative ads pushing Prop 140. And they said “hell no” to this failed power grab. In fact, our efforts to dismantle Prop 140 were so effective that the Make Elections Fair Committee actually sent an email earlier this week admitting as much. This is a testament to over a year of hard work educating voters on ranked choice voting and why these radical schemes must be defeated.
But it wasn’t just Arizona that rejected this nonsense. Our state joined several other states throughout the country in overwhelmingly rejecting both ranked choice voting and jungle primaries:
On top of this, Measure 2 in Alaska, which repeals the state’s ranked choice voting system, appears to be headed toward passage. And in Missouri, Amendment 7, which proactively prohibits ranked choice voting, passed with almost 70 percent of the vote.
So, how much did all this losing cost? Nationally, groups pushing ranked choice voting spent over $100 million in seven states—only to see it fail in every single one. Could you imagine spending over $100 million without even seeing a hint of a victory?
Clearly, the people have spoken. Ranked choice voting and jungle primaries would be a disastrous transformation of our elections system. Nobody wants it. Now, it’s time for California to keep its destructive policies and systems on their side of the state line.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
by admin | Nov 6, 2024 | Elections, News and Updates
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Last night, Proposition 140 was soundly defeated by Arizona voters, rendering a complete rejection of out-of-state billionaires’ attempts to force a California-style elections system of ranked choice voting and jungle primaries. Nearly 60% of the Arizona electorate voted ‘no’ on Prop 140.
“Prop 140 was one of the worst ideas to ever be proposed in our great state, and it is fitting that it met its demise from a vast majority of Arizonans,” said Scott Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. “Radical leftists, out-of-state billionaires, and scheming consultants tried to hoodwink voters into adopting this failed system, spending millions of dollars and duplicating signatures to qualify for the ballot. We are so pleased that millions of Arizonans did their homework and said ‘hell no’ to, what would have been, a disastrous transformation of our elections system. California can keep their destructive policies and systems on their side of the state line.”
Ranked choice voting suffered losses in every state it was on the ballot this November General Election:
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- Colorado: Proposition 131 was defeated with almost 55% of the vote
- Idaho: Proposition 1 was defeated with almost 70% of the vote
- Montana: Both CI-126 & 127 were defeated
- Oregon: Measure 117 was defeated with almost 60% of the vote
- South Dakota: Amendment H was defeated with more than 65% of the vote
- Nevada: Question 3 was defeated with almost 54% of the vote
- Alaska: Measure 2, which repeals the state’s ranked choice voting system, appears headed toward passage
In Missouri, Amendment 7, which proactively prohibited ranked choice voting, passed with almost 70% of the vote.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
by admin | Nov 4, 2024 | Elections, News and Updates
Tomorrow, November 5th, is Election Day! If you haven’t voted, make sure to visit a polling place. If you live in Maricopa County, find a polling place here. If you live in Pima County, find a polling place here. If you live outside of Maricopa and Pima County, find a polling place at my.arizona.vote.
If you cannot wait in line to vote and have your early ballot, at the very least make sure to complete it and drop it off at one of these locations by election day.
For a full description of all the measures and a list of all candidates endorsed by the Freedom Club PAC, visit www.AZBallot.org, where you can also print off all of our recommendations.
Below are some short descriptions of many of the 13 important ballot measures.
Proposition 133 – Preserves our fair primary system by guaranteeing that every qualified party has a right to have representation on the general election ballot. Vote YES!
Proposition 134 – Guarantees our ballot initiative process is fair and balanced by requiring signatures to be collected in every county, preventing out-of-state special interests from parking circulators in just Phoenix and Tucson, ignoring rural Arizona entirely. Votes YES!
Proposition 135 – Similar to what several states have already adopted, this measure protects against the abuse of emergency powers by automatically terminating emergency declarations after 30 days, unless extended by the legislature, and empowers the legislature to call a special session, as soon as day one, with just one third of the members in each chamber. Vote YES!
Proposition 136 – Prevents unconstitutional ballot measures by allowing a person to challenge a measure and if the Arizona Supreme Court decides it is unconstitutional, it would not appear on the ballot. Vote YES!
Proposition 140 – A sprawling measure adding 15 separate amendments to the constitution to enact California-style election schemes in Arizona like jungle primaries and ranked-choice voting that confuse and disenfranchise voters. Vote NO!
Proposition 312 – Defends property owners from out-of-control homelessness by allowing them to be reimbursed for expenses they incurred after repeated failures of the city or county to enforce ordinances against public nuisances. Vote YES!
Proposition 314 – Secures the border, empowering local law enforcement to apprehend illegals who cross into Arizona outside of a port of entry, leading to jail or voluntary deportation. Vote YES!
Remember, make sure to visit AZBallot.org to download a flyer of all recommendations from the Freedom Club PAC.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
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