By Gloria Rebecca Gomez | AZ Mirror
When voters in north Phoenix open their doors to find Rep. Judy Schwiebert standing on their porch, the conversation about whether to elect her to the state Senate begins with education.
“The Arizona Legislature has put our state 51st in the nation when it comes to funding and teacher salaries — and that’s a disaster not just for our state, but for our whole economy,” goes the Democrat’s preferred icebreaker.
A former public school teacher who moved from the classroom to the political arena after seeing a struggling colleague double her salary out of state, Schwiebert is running to represent a district that will help define which party takes control of the state legislature in November.
Legislative District 2 is one of only five districts considered highly competitive by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. While registered Republicans narrowly outnumber Democrats in the district, politically unaffiliated voters nearly equal Republicans — 46,830 to 48,211 — making the district one of the most competitive in Arizona.
And with Democrats making their most intense push ever to win control of the legislature since Republicans assumed control in the mid-1960s, Schwiebert is among a handful of Democrats whose victories could change the power balance at the state Capitol, where Republicans currently hold one-seat majorities in each chamber.
