The contest for three seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission may be an overlooked race on the long-running 2024 election ballot, but it has significant economic implications for Arizonans and even the state’s LGBTQ+ community. Democratic candidates in the race said they would.
Five people will be elected to serve on the commission that oversees utility rates and business licensing. This year, three seats are up for grabs among the Republicans, who currently hold a supermajority (there is currently only one Democrat).
Two of the six candidates running, Rachel Walden and Rene Lopez, have a history of anti-LGBTQ+ platforms and rhetoric. Walden tried to sue Mesa Unified School District for its trans-affirming policies, but Lopez says he opposes statewide LGBTQ+ protections. .
Other candidates said these past statements and actions provide insight into how decisions could be made about regulating LGBTQ+ businesses and raising prices for a population that already has high poverty rates.
“The ACC affects everyone in Arizona,” said candidate Ylenia Aguilar, who is running to increase renewable energy and protect consumers in the state. “Everyone is affected: Democrats, Republicans, independents, Latinos, Blacks, LGBTQ people.”
Perhaps the commission’s most important responsibility is determining water, electricity, and gas prices for homes and businesses across the state.
Aguilar said the current ACC has allowed significant rate increases and approved harmful laws that are hurting Arizona’s economy and residents who have no say in utility prices.
Those living in poverty are the most affected.
Nationally, LGBTQ+ people experience living in poverty more than straight people. A study conducted by UCLA’s Williams Institute found that 36% of LGBTQ+ families were living in poverty in 2021. Single queer people experienced poverty five points more than straight people.
It is unclear whether a similar study has been conducted on Arizonans.
“The people cannot accept the massive increases that the current committee, which has been under Republican leadership for more than 20 years, continues to approve,” Aguilar said.
But Aguilar said the problem goes beyond just high interest rates because the current board doesn’t represent Arizonans.
In 2023, Walden, a former Mesa Public Schools board member, filed a lawsuit against Mesa Public Schools over the district’s guidelines for supporting transgender students. The lawsuit was sponsored by a legal group founded by Stephen Miller, a former adviser to President Trump.
The lawsuit states that the district’s policy to support and encourage trans students was a “remarkable and once unthinkable situation.”
The district and Superintendent Andy Foulis assured that guidelines for supporting transgender and gender nonconforming students “are intended to ensure schools have a safe learning environment free of discrimination and harassment.”
Two months before filing the lawsuit, Walden posted transphobic comments on her Twitter account.
The other candidate, Rene Lopez, has included race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry classes protected by anti-discrimination laws, according to the nonpartisan group Arizona Voter Guide. ” is opposed to the addition. The guide was created by the conservative, anti-LGBTQ+ lobbying group Center for Arizona Policy.
Lopez is also an alt-right social media account that has made inflammatory and violent claims against LGBTQ+ people, and has become a source for conspiracy theorists who believe schools are making children “transgender.” He shares a ribbed TikTok post on his X account, which is not true. Happening.
To be clear, the ACC cannot change the law regarding LGBTQ+ rights. But the commission is supposed to represent those who have “no voice,” Aguilar said.
“If they’re anti-LGBTQ, they’re anti-immigrant, they’re anti-Muslim, they’re anti-everything,” she said.
Neither Walden nor Aguilar responded to requests for comment.
But Joshua Polachek, another commission candidate, said the ACC has additional responsibilities that could hurt LGBTQ+ businesses: registering and approving businesses. .
Because the ACC is responsible for licensing and approving corporations and limited liability companies, Polachek said the agency could begin to force out companies with environmental, social and governance policies. ESG policies can include LGBTQ+-affirming policies for staff and their families.
“They’re talking about banning companies that currently have or have had ESG policies in place,” Polachek said. “The economic implications are very worrying, even if it only wins political points.”
Earlier this year, the ACC voted in favor of a draft rule that would remove existing rules and obligations regarding renewable energy, limiting companies’ efforts to meet ESG goals.
Polachek, who has received support from the political action committee LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, said there is a need for elected officials, especially if they work in a lesser-known part of government, such as the ACC. He said he has a responsibility to represent all the people. Polachek said Walden’s lawsuit and Lopez’s stance toward the LGBTQ+ community are “un-American.”
“That’s wrong, and to do it in a way that has nothing to do with the office you’re running for is to normalize it as a way to grab power,” Polachek said. “In some ways, it’s even worse.”
Polachek also said that once someone is elected to a position of power at the ACC or local level, they may be elected to a position of more prominent power, where they may gain the power to directly impact marginalized communities. He said that there is a sex.
But despite the likely low understanding of the commission among Arizonans, the ACC seat is not a powerless position, Polachek said. He said it’s important to understand how the ACC will impact Arizona communities, especially marginalized communities.
“If you’re dissatisfied with your electricity bill or your Southwest Gas bill… the utilities understand the (Republican) majority on the Corporation Commission and can basically ask for a 10% increase in your rates every year forever.” Mr. Polachek said. “So imagine it to fit your household budget.”
