Latest news with #ArizonaDemocraticParty
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arizona Democratic Party ousts chairperson after short but tumultuous tenure
The Brief Arizona Democrats have removed state party chair Robert Branscomb from the post. The removal took place on July 16. A leadership election will reportedly take place in September. PHOENIX - Members of the Arizona Democratic Party have ousted their chairperson, just six months after he started in the position. What we know Per reports from the Associated Press, Robert Branscomb was removed from his now-former post as party chair on July 16, and the removal was supported by two-thirds of the Democratic Party activists who make up the state committee. The backstory Per a statement issued by the Arizona Democrats on January 21, Branscomb was elected on Jan. 18 as the 2025-2026 party chair. At the time, party officials said Branscomb, who served as a vice chair for the party during the 2023-2024 cycle and was a state party delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, "brings over three decades of experience in corporate management, small business ownership, and public service." Party officials also said at the time that Branscomb was the first African American to hold the post of state party chair in Arizona. Per AP's story on Branscomb's removal, Branscomb's election as party chair was considered an upset, and following his election, most of the senior staff was fired by Branscomb. The AP also reported that in April, Branscomb sent a letter to members of the state committee that criticized Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego. The letter, according to Utah-based news outlet Deseret News, alleged that the two senators "interfered with and intimidated the chairman over staffing decisions." Per the AP, both Kelly and Gallego, along with Gov. Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, and Attorney General Kris Mayes, responded with a letter that states they have lost trust in Branscomb. The other side Branscomb has reportedly suggested that racism played a role in his removal. What's next Per the AP, Kim Khoury will take over as party leader until a new chair is elected. In a post made to social media about Khoury's selection as interim leader, Maricopa County Democratic Party officials state that the leadership election will take place in September.
Politico
6 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
Arizona Dems oust their party chair
The chair, Eric Branscomb II, had been embroiled in intraparty drama. Attendees wait for election results during the Arizona Democratic Party's watch party at the Hilton Phoenix Resort on Nov. 5, 2024. | Rebecca Noble/AFP via Getty Images By Andrew Howard 07/17/2025 10:57 AM EDT Arizona Democrats voted late Wednesday to boot their embattled party chair, Robert E. Branscomb II, ending a brief tenure that was defined by infighting. Statewide officials had already redirected their campaign efforts through a county party amid the squabbling. The party voted 476-56 after hours of delays, clearing the required two-thirds threshold by eight votes. Branscomb defended himself until the very end, telling attendees on the call that the effort to remove him was 'rooted in misrepresentation, divisive tactics and does not reflect our democratic values.'
New York Post
04-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Dems plan for ‘Project 2029' met with skepticism as party continues to divide: Report
New York Times political correspondent Shane Goldmacher detailed the mixed opinions among political strategists on the Democratic Party's plan for Project 2029 — a ready-made agenda for the party's next presidential nominee. Goldmacher revealed on Monday that while many Democratic strategists are on board with the project's vision, some are skeptical that the agenda set forth could upset the left's 'interest-group Borg' and deepen the divide within the party. The creator of Project 2029, former Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party Andrei Cherny, is working on organizing Democratic thought leaders to ensure there is a set-in-stone agenda ready. 'The title is an unsubtle play on Project 2025, the independently produced right-wing agenda that Mr. Trump spent much of last year's campaign distancing himself from, and much of his first few months back in power executing,' Goldmacher noted in the piece. Cherny's plan takes more inspiration from the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 than just its name. Similar to Project 2025, the goal of Project 2029 is to turn Cherny's publication, 'Democracy: A Journal of Ideas,' into a book — and rally the party's presidential candidates behind those ideas during the 2028 primary election season. 3 CEO of Aspiration Andrei Cherny attends a special Washington, DC screening of 'An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power' at The Newseum on July 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. Getty Images for Paramount Pictures 'The undertaking, which has not previously been reported, strikes at the heart of a raging debate consuming Democratic lawmakers, strategists and policymakers: whether the root of the party's problems is its ideas or its difficulty in persuading people to embrace them,' Goldmacher stated. According to Celinda Lake, a prominent Democratic pollster quoted in the story, the party 'didn't lack policies,' but rather 'lacked a functioning narrative to communicate those policies.' She criticized the Democratic Party for offering voters 'agencies and acronyms and statistics' rather than presenting a clear story about 'what we're going to fight for.' On the other hand, some Democrats contend that the party has been faltering due to stale ideas that fail to inspire voters to get behind them. 3 Mallory McMorrow, Michigan State Senator, makes remarks on Project 2025 at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, USA, at the United Center on Monday, August 19, 2024. Ron Sachs – CNP for NY Post Neera Tanden, CEO of the Center for American Progress and advisor to Project 2029, argued that liberals 'underestimate the power of Trump's ideas' and that the focus has been his personality. 'We get wrapped up in his personality. But he puts forward an idea like 'No tax on tips,' and that's an important signifier that he is championing working-class people,' Tanden told the New York Times. Cherny's plan to assemble 'the Avengers of public policy' — a coalition of Democrats aiming to set the agenda for their party's next presidential candidate — did not sit well with some who believe that coalitions are to blame for the party's current predicament. 3 A scoreboard displays 'DNC 2024' ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center on August 16, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. The United Center will host the DNC, which is officially scheduled to kick off on Monday, August 19 and run through Thursday, August 22. Getty Images 'Developing policies by checking every coalitional box is how we got in this mess in the first place,' stated Adam Jentleson in the piece, the former chief of staff for Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. 'There is no way to propose the kind of policies the Democratic Party needs to adopt without pissing off some part of the interest-group Borg. And if you're too afraid to do that, you don't have what it takes to steer the party in the right direction.' Even though Democrats were successful in rallying their base against Project 2025, Michael Tomasky, editor of The New Republic, claimed that those efforts will not have a negative effect on Project 2029 because — unlike the Heritage Foundation — their 'ideas aren't radical or extreme.' Tomasky stated that he hoped the project would help rejuvenate the public's view of the Democratic Party among the less fortunate.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arizona Democrats will bypass struggling state party in midterms, with key races on ballot
PHOENIX (AP) — Top Arizona Democrats said Tuesday they will bypass the financially strained state party and its embattled new chairman in next year's midterms, as they looked to assure donors and activists that party dysfunction won't hamper their efforts to win in the battleground state. Gov. Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Attorney General Kris Mayes — who all are seeking second terms next year — said grassroots organizing will be outsourced to a small county organization rather than the Arizona Democratic Party. The workaround comes as party disarray threatens to complicate Democrats' efforts to hold on to a decade of successes in a state long dominated by Republicans. Arizona has no Senate contest next year but will have at least two battleground U.S. House races, and the campaigns for governor, other top state offices and legislature could dictate how Arizona handles the 2028 presidential election. National Democratic committees, including the Democratic Governors Association, signed on to the move. Conflict with Arizona Democratic state party Arizona Democrats unexpectedly ousted former Chair Yolanda Bejarano after the party's disastrous showing in the 2024 election, when Donald Trump won the state after losing it to Joe Biden in 2020. New Chairman Robert Branscomb promptly fired most of the senior staff. Behind-the-scenes tension exploded into public view in April. Branscromb sent a letter to members of the state Democratic committee blasting Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, a highly unusual move against the state's top Democrats. Kelly, Gallego, Hobbs, Fontes and Mayes responded with their own letter saying they'd lost trust in Branscomb. Last month, the party's treasurer warned that Branscomb was spending more money than he was raising and the party was on track to run out of money by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the party is operating without a budget approved by the executive committee. Allies of Branscomb, the party's first Black chair, have said the pressure on him is racially motivated. He faces a potential ouster later this month but has refused to step aside. After Tuesday's announcement, Branscomb projected a united front with the officials who spurned him, predicting the split would not hold back Democrats. 'I think the people are ready to solidify our democracy, and democrats are in a position to win up and down the ticket,' he said. 'Because we're focused on different areas doesn't mean we're not together.' Navajo County Democrats to run get-out-the-vote The Arizona Democratic Party has traditionally housed the coordinated get-out-the-vote campaign designed to turn out voters for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. Hobbs, Fontes and Mayes said Tuesday they'll run it instead through the Navajo County Democratic Party for 2026. Democrats are well-organized in Navajo County, which is small by population but large geographically in rural northeastern Arizona. The party has long invested in organizing there among Native American voters. The county party can do most everything the state party can do, with one major exception—only the state party can send mail at a discounted postal rate. Branscomb said that won't be an issue. 'We'll still cooperate and work together on this,' he said. 'We all have the same vision, we all have the same goal to get them all re-elected.' Running a statewide campaign through a county party is not without precedent. Former Sen. John McCain leaned on the Yuma County GOP in his 2010 re-election campaign after a faction hostile to him took control of the Arizona Republican Party. In Nevada, Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto ran her 2022 coordinated campaign through the Washoe County Democratic Party after progressives took control of the state party. In this case, the rupture between the officials and the party is not driven by ideology but by concerns of mismanagement and financial constraints. ___
Winnipeg Free Press
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Arizona Democrats will bypass struggling state party in midterms, with key races on ballot
PHOENIX (AP) — Top Arizona Democrats said Tuesday they will bypass the financially strained state party and its embattled new chairman in next year's midterms, as they looked to assure donors and activists that party dysfunction won't hamper their efforts to win in the battleground state. Gov. Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Attorney General Kris Mayes — who all are seeking second terms next year — said grassroots organizing will be outsourced to a small county organization rather than the Arizona Democratic Party. The workaround comes as party disarray threatens to complicate Democrats' efforts to hold on to a decade of successes in a state long dominated by Republicans. Arizona has no Senate contest next year but will have at least two battleground U.S. House races, and the campaigns for governor, other top state offices and legislature could dictate how Arizona handles the 2028 presidential election. National Democratic committees, including the Democratic Governors Association, signed on to the move. Conflict with Arizona Democratic state party Arizona Democrats unexpectedly ousted former Chair Yolanda Bejarano after the party's disastrous showing in the 2024 election, when Donald Trump won the state after losing it to Joe Biden in 2020. New Chairman Robert Branscomb promptly fired most of the senior staff. Behind-the-scenes tension exploded into public view in April. Branscromb sent a letter to members of the state Democratic committee blasting Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, a highly unusual move against the state's top Democrats. Kelly, Gallego, Hobbs, Fontes and Mayes responded with their own letter saying they'd lost trust in Branscomb. Last month, the party's treasurer warned that Branscomb was spending more money than he was raising and the party was on track to run out of money by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the party is operating without a budget approved by the executive committee. Allies of Branscomb, the party's first Black chair, have said the pressure on him is racially motivated. He faces a potential ouster later this month but has refused to step aside. After Tuesday's announcement, Branscomb projected a united front with the officials who spurned him, predicting the split would not hold back Democrats. 'I think the people are ready to solidify our democracy, and democrats are in a position to win up and down the ticket,' he said. 'Because we're focused on different areas doesn't mean we're not together.' Navajo County Democrats to run get-out-the-vote The Arizona Democratic Party has traditionally housed the coordinated get-out-the-vote campaign designed to turn out voters for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. Hobbs, Fontes and Mayes said Tuesday they'll run it instead through the Navajo County Democratic Party for 2026. Democrats are well-organized in Navajo County, which is small by population but large geographically in rural northeastern Arizona. The party has long invested in organizing there among Native American voters. The county party can do most everything the state party can do, with one major exception—only the state party can send mail at a discounted postal rate. Branscomb said that won't be an issue. 'We'll still cooperate and work together on this,' he said. 'We all have the same vision, we all have the same goal to get them all re-elected.' Running a statewide campaign through a county party is not without precedent. Former Sen. John McCain leaned on the Yuma County GOP in his 2010 re-election campaign after a faction hostile to him took control of the Arizona Republican Party. In Nevada, Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto ran her 2022 coordinated campaign through the Washoe County Democratic Party after progressives took control of the state party. In this case, the rupture between the officials and the party is not driven by ideology but by concerns of mismanagement and financial constraints. ___
