Legislative District 2 encompasses part of Tucson, along with Green Valley, the suburban town of Sahuarita, large stretches of sparsely populated rural areas to the west and south, and the border community of Nogales.
Itโs a district with high-poverty regions as well as wealthier retirement and master-planned communities.
Itโs an eclectic district, and effective representatives must be well-versed in everything from water to education to rural transportation.
For this reason and for their record of service, the Star endorses Andrea Dalessandro for state Senate and Rosanna Gabaldon and Chris Ackerley for the House.
All three are incumbents.
Dalessandro, a Democrat, is being challenged by Republican business owner Shelley Kais; Ackerly is a Republican and Gabaldon is a Democrat, and theyโre facing Daniel Hernandez, a Democrat now on the board of the Sunnyside Unified School District.
Gabaldon said her top priority is water sustainability, an issue that requires a deep dedication to master because itโs vitally important but not as flashy as other needs.
She co-chairs the Southeast Arizona Citizen Advisory Council of the U.S. International Boundary Water Commission. Sheโs keyed in on the infrastructure needs at the border to help the economically essential trade that comes through Nogales.
Ackerley has been a high school physics and math teacher for 17 years and teaches in the Amphitheater Public Schools district. He said that heโs โnot only seen, but feltโ the effects of shrinking per-pupil funding at the hands of the Republican majority.
He broke with his party over education funding, specifically for the Joint Technical Education District and all-day kindergarten.
He speaks with personal experience from within the classroom and, we believe, can be effective in conveying to his caucus the effects political decisions have on students and schools.
Dalessandro focused on education and identified funding inequities as a top priority.
She advocates closing the numerous narrow tax breaks that are targeted at specific industries as a way to generate more money for public education at all levels.
She also wants to stem the tide of money being diverted for private and religious school tuition through generous tax credits โ it takes money out of the public school system and, she said, it doesnโt specifically benefit low-income students who would otherwise be going to poor-quality neighborhood schools.
Residents of LD2 would be well-served by returning Andrea Dalessandro, Chris Ackerley and Rosanna Gabaldon to the state Legislature.
