2020 General Election Voter Guide

About General Election Endorsements

Humane Voters of Arizona (HVA) is an all-volunteer, non-partisan organization that supports state legislative candidates who care about animals and animal protection.

In races in which HVA is making endorsements, those endorsements are made on a non-partisan basis, considering HVA legislative reports and questionnaires. Please note that we only have legislative reports for incumbents and former legislators, and we only have questionnaires for candidates who have responded to our request. Read 2020 candidate survey responses here. Voting records, when available, are always given more weight than questionnaire responses. Endorsements for incumbents are based on 2019 and 2020 legislative reports. Endorsements for former legislators are based on previous reports.

The HVA Board approves all endorsements, which are based primarily on analyses of actions that candidates have taken in the past with regard to animal protection issues and on their stated positions on these issues. For candidates who do not have a historical record and have not provided written position statements, HVA has made no endorsements.

When making endorsements, HVA may also consider other factors including opposing candidates, PAC funding, and the climate of the legislative district. Some endorsed candidates do not have excellent voting records but would likely be better lawmakers on animal protection issues than their opponents.

In legislative districts where there are no HVA endorsements, please refer to legislative reports (for incumbents and former legislators) and candidate survey responses, which are posted on the HVA website.

“Single-Shot” Voting”: In Arizona House races voters choose two representatives for each legislative district. In LDs where HVA has endorsed only one candidate, please consider casting a single vote for the endorsed candidate, which will maximize their odds against opponents where votes are split.

For federal election information and endorsements visit Animal Wellness Action or Humane Society Legislative Fund. You can also find federal and some local endorsements at Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter. For information on judges visit the Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review. For additional political resources click here.

Be a Voice for Arizona’s Animals by voting in the state general election. Please share this voter guide with other animal advocates and encourage them to vote.

Candidates who support animal protection need your help! Please consider pitching in to help HVA elect animal-friendly legislators and to volunteer on their campaigns! If you can help, please email info@humanevoters.org

Legislative Endorsements for 2020 General Election

Candidates for Arizona State House of Representatives

Candidates for Arizona State Senate

Key

LD = Legislative District
(i) = Incumbent
* = Responded to HVA Survey

Please Note: HVA has not endorsed candidates in all legislative districts. In legislative races where there are no HVA endorsements, please refer to legislative reports (for incumbents and former legislators) and candidate survey responses, which are posted here. If new relevant information is obtained, HVA may make endorsements for that district.

Information on Local Candidates

Maricopa County Attorney Candidate Survey Responses

HVA is primarily involved in state legislative races and we generally do not make endorsements on local races. However, the county attorney plays a key role in animal cruelty issues and we believe it is important for voters to learn about the position of candidates on animal protection. Below are survey responses from the two candidates for Maricopa County Attorney.

You can view the HVA survey for county attorney here.

Allister Adel survey response

Julie Gunnnigle survey response

Animal Advocate Candidates in Local Elections

Jevin Hodge, candidate for Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, specifically includes animal protection as a priority in his platform.

Becky Daggett, candidate for Flagstaff City Council, is a longtime volunteer in the animal protection community, and is a board member of High Country Humane and Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project.

Update on Maricopa County Sheriff Race

At the Oct 21st Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Meeting, the Board unanimously approved MCSO MASH returning $374,296.56 in grant funds to PetSmart Charities. In 2019, PetSmart Charities approved a $2 million grant to fund the new MASH facility. Board meeting minutes indicate that the money was returned because MASH did not meet funding requirements of the grant. We asked both candidates for their response, which are posted below.

Response from Jerry Sheridan, Candidate for MCSO Sheriff:

I have been very unhappy with the way Paul has handled the animal crimes issues and the MASH Unit since he took office. He disbanded the Animal Cruelty Unit detectives and left these important complex investigations up to detectives with no specialized training in the field or patrol deputies. MASH was ignored until I started to hammer him on Facebook last year about it.

The $2 million in grant money from PetSmart Charities should have been plenty to get a huge start on a very nice facility to relocate MASH. Penzone completely mismanaged and wasted about $1.5 million and has nothing to show for it. Nothing. Now I am worried because of his incompetence if a new building for MASH can ever be realized.

I have and have had rescue horses and dogs. I live with them. They are my family. I will not let this go if elected sheriff.

Response from Robyn Anderson, Special Assistant to Sheriff Paul Penzone:

I would be more than happy to hop on a call with you to further discuss the MASH project, my cell phone is listed below. PetSmart Charities original agreement was for $2million dollars paid out over a period of time based on fundraising deadlines. We received the first $1million dollars less a $75,000 consulting fee for their animal shelter consultants who helped with the overall plan for a total of $925,000. Of this $925,000 donation $550,704. has been spent on Project Manager fees, Architectural and Engineering fees and deposits to the construction firm. Additional fundraising had begun and a little over $500,000 had been raised in addition to the $925,000 from PetSmart Charities. In March of this year Sheriff Penzone made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend fundraising for the new facility. With the adverse economic impact COVID was having on our community members, it was not the time to be fundraising, our business community was furloughing employees, closing their doors, etc.  In doing so, we recognized our timeline and agreed upon markers would not be met.

We absolutely plan on resuming our fundraising, the project plans are complete and ready to go to the county for permitting once fundraising has a chance to catch up. Sheriff Penzone is 100% committed to this project and we will begin our fundraising efforts again shortly, we look forward to building this new facility for our animals.

Read more in this news article.

If you have questions or comments on this voter guide, please contact us at info@humanevoters.org