2022 General Election Voter Guide

About General Election Endorsements

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

In races in which we are making endorsements, those endorsements are made on a non-partisan basis, considering HVA legislative reports and candidate surveys. Please note that we only have legislative reports for incumbents and former legislators, and we only have surveys for candidates who have responded to our request. You can read the 2022 candidate survey responses here. Voting records, when available, are always given more weight than survey responses. While most survey responses are accurate, there have been a few legislators whose votes did not reflect their survey answers. Endorsements for incumbents are based largely on our 2021 and 2022 legislative reports. Endorsements for former legislators are based on previous reports.

The HVA bipartisan board and team 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 (LD). Some endorsed candidates might 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 our website.

“Single-Shot” Voting”: In Arizona House of Representative 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 the Humane Society Legislative Fund. You can also find federal and some local endorsements in the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Voter Guide. 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 us at info@humanevoters.org

Legislative Endorsements for 2022 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 races where there are no HVA endorsements, please refer to legislative reports (for incumbents and former legislators) and candidate survey responses.

Statewide Candidate Recommendations

Arizona Governor

Katie Hobbs

Why it matters: Electing a governor that supports animal protection is crucial to getting beneficial bills signed into law and damaging measures vetoed. The governor also appoints leaders of state agencies and members of commissions including Arizona Game & Fish. These appointments can have a significant effect on animals throughout Arizona.

Katie Hobbs has proven to be a dedicated advocate for animals. She has a 100% voting record on animal and initiative rights issues over her eight years serving in the Legislature. Read Katie Hobbs’ legislative record.

Arizona Secretary of State

Adrian Fontes

Why it matters: Arizona’s citizen initiative and referendum process is our most powerful tool for protecting animals. Thanks to citizen initiatives, Arizona voters banned traps and poisons on public lands; cockfighting; and inhumane confinement of farm animals. It is important to elect a Secretary of State that supports the right for citizens to place a measure on the ballot.

In his HVA survey response, Adrian Fontes expressed his strong commitment to protect and strengthen Arizona’s citizen initiative process. He states: “Right now many roadblocks un-democratically hold people down in Arizona and make it too difficult to establish policy initiatives at the grassroots level. Changing that is one of my key focuses.”

His opponent Mark Finchem, a former Arizona legislator, has been a staunch opponent of citizen initiative rights and voted against most animal protection bills. In 2020 he sponsored a bill that, if passed by voters, would have made it virtually impossible for citizens to place a measure on the ballot. In 2015 he sponsored legislation to revive the Constitutional Right to Hunt referendum which was defeated by voters in 2010. Read Mark Finchem’s legislative record.

Animal Advocate Candidates in Other Elections

HVA generally does not make endorsements on all races. However, we believe it is important for voters to learn about the position of candidates on animal protection. 

Lauren Kuby, candidate for Arizona Corporation Commission, is the former Vice Mayor and City Councilmember of Tempe. She is a strong advocate for animals who led the campaign for the Tempe ordinance that permitted pet stores to sell only rescue and shelter dogs and cats (the law was later repealed by the Legislature). She also worked to expand Tempe’s cat Trap, Neuter, & Return program. And Kuby established the Office of Animal Welfare for the City of Tempe, which is the nation’s second city to have a dedicated office for animal welfare.

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

Kelli Butler, candidate for Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board, is a former legislator with an excellent voting record on animal protection.

Ballot Measure Recommendations

Arizona’s citizen initiative process, given to us by our founders at statehood, is the single most important tool for protecting animals. Thanks to grassroots citizen ballot measures, Arizona voters banned leghold traps, snares, and poisons on public lands, cockfighting, and the inhumane confinement of animals in industrial agricultural operations. In order to protect Arizona’s animals, it is crucial that we continue to protect our right for citizens to place a measure on the ballot.

NO on Prop 128: a proposed constitutional amendment referred to the ballot by the Legislature. If passed, it would allow the Legislature to amend, supersede or defund an initiative passed by voters if any section is found to contain any unlawful language. This would enable the Legislature to throw out an entire measure, even if only a small section was successfully challenged. This would be detrimental to both our citizen initiative process and the Voter Protection Act. 

NO on Prop 129: a proposed constitutional amendment referred to the ballot by the Legislature.  If passed, it would require citizen initiatives to conform to a single subject. It voids any subject included in an initiative that is not expressed in the title of the measure. This would ensure that only the narrowest of subjects could be placed on the ballot. Prop 129 could enable a single judge to remove an initiative from the ballot, even if hundreds of thousands of voters had already submitted supporting signatures.  

NO on Prop 132: a proposed constitutional amendment referred to the ballot by the Legislature. If passed, it would increase the percentage of votes required for an initiative that includes a tax from a simple majority to a 60% supermajority. This would create an extremely difficult threshold for specific citizen initiatives to pass, including measures to protect our state’s wildlife and habitat.

YES on Prop 211: The Dark Money citizen initiative requires disclosure of the source of large campaign donations over $5,000 if the statewide campaign has spent $50,000 or more, or for other campaigns of $25,000 or more. This is a bipartisan measure that will bring much-needed transparency to elections. It would have been helpful to have this law in place when we ran grassroots citizen initiative campaigns or opposed legislative referendums like the Right to Hunt in 2010. It’s extremely difficult to fight disingenuous opponents when voters are blocked from knowing who is backing their campaigns.

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