People who live on Tucson’s west side and south side, all the way down to Nogales, go to the mailbox with trepidation these days.
All month, outside groups have been bombarding them with slick election mailers purchased with hard-to-trace money.
As of Tuesday, total outside spending in Legislative District 2 on the south side and Legislative District 3 on the west side totaled $354,990, largely traceable to wealthy individuals and business interests. It’s a previously unheard of amount in these districts, considered safe for Democrats.
The outside spending has animated antagonism toward the siblings who hold two of the four House seats in those districts, Rep. Daniel Hernandez of District 2 and Rep. Alma Hernandez of District 3. That’s because the Hernandez siblings have been the beneficiaries of all but $28,000 of the spending — 79% of it.
“For it to cost $400,000 to win a legislative seat, that’s nonsense to me,” said state Rep. Andrés Cano, who is running for reelection in Legislative District 3.
Cano was rounding up, but by the time all the money is counted, it may not be by much. His seatmate Alma Hernandez has raised $116,579 on her own. Outside groups have spent $177,836 supporting her candidacy and $5,730 against Cano. That’s a total of $300,145 so far.
Cano and Alma Hernandez were fellow legislative rookies who started their careers in the 2019 session, but they have grown apart. Another Democratic candidate, Javier Soto, is also is running in the district. Cano says their differences are about policy, such as a vote on a bill that preempted cities from passing new energy regulations.
Cano voted against it; both Hernandez siblings voted for it.
“I don’t support members in safe Democratic districts voting with the (Republican) majority on key pieces of legislation, much less one that is anti-environment,” Cano said.
“It is not the individual that we are criticizing — it is the amount of money, the industries, the voting records.”
I spoke with Alma and Daniel Hernandez in a three-way phone call Tuesday morning, and they said they have no knowledge of the groups spending outside money in support of them. They’re not supposed to — coordinating with outside groups is illegal.
The two of them have been successful fundraisers on their own. Beyond Alma’s haul, Daniel has raised $105,948 for his own campaign. That’s big money for a Southern Arizona legislative campaign and far more than their opponents have raised.
“We’ve built a lot of friendships and relationships with people who see us as being willing to do whatever it takes to work with people to find common ground and to get stuff done, including sometimes disagreeing with members of our own party,” Daniel Hernandez said.
The Hernandez siblings see a rival force behind the people criticizing them for their fundraising success and the outside support: Rep. Raúl Grijalva and his allies.
“You have people in power for almost 40 years concerned that new people are coming up,” Daniel Hernandez said.
Alma Hernandez added: “We never asked anyone for permission to run.”
Hernandez noted that Rep. Grijalva has sent out fliers, using his own congressional campaign money, in which he endorses seven candidates including Cano and two of her brother’s opponents: Billy Peard and Luis Parra. Former state Sen. Andrea Dalessandro is also running for the House in Legislative District 2.
Peard says it appears the business interests boosting the Hernandez siblings are hedging their bets in case Democrats win the House majority in 2020. Republicans had just a 31-29 majority after the 2018 election and Democrats could take over this year.
“They’re concerned what it means for Democrats to control a chamber when it comes to business regulation, environmental issues and taxes,” he said.
“From my perspective, if voters want a moderate business-friendly Democrat in office, that’s great,” Peard said, referring to Daniel Hernandez. “I believe I offer a fresh perspective on these more economic and environmental issues we’re talking about.”
One of the outside groups that has spent the most on supporting the Hernandez siblings — $49,192 supporting Daniel, $48,756 supporting Alma — is called Better Leaders, Better Arizona. It is funded by a group called Unite Arizona, which is funded by a group called Unite America.
Wealthy donors founded Unite America to reduce polarization by introducing electoral reforms such as ranked-choice voting and independent redistricting. The top donor by far is Kathryn Murdoch, the daughter-in-law of Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch.
However, Kathryn Murdoch, who has donated at least $9 million to Unite America, is not a strident conservative like Rupert Murdoch — she supports anti-climate change action.
The other major outside spender has been an entity called Arizona Integrity PAC. It’s spent $68,440 supporting Alma Hernandez and $40,655 supporting Daniel. Arizona Integrity PAC is funded by Responsible Leadership for AZ and GPL Committee for Arizona Leadership. Those two are funded by the Realtors of AZ PAC, and Greater Phoenix Leadership, a group of CEOs in the Phoenix area.
Clearly, these business interests want the Hernandez siblings to win, but both of them told me that’s no concern of theirs. They are just being themselves.
Besides, they said, they are both supporters of Outlaw Dirty Money initiative. That would give Arizona voters the right to know the name and address of any individual who puts at least $5,000 into influencing the outcome of an election.
In other words, the individuals who want to support them secretly would be exposed to scrutiny.
