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• Name:ÌýKirsten Engel
• Office they are seeking:Ìý°ä´Ç²Ô²µ°ù±ð²õ²õ
• Age: 60
• City of residence:Ìý°Õ³Ü³¦²õ´Ç²Ô
• Occupation:Ìý°Õ±ð²¹³¦³ó±ð°ù
• Education:ÌýB.A. Brown University; J.D. Northwestern University School of Law
• Previous elected office: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ House of Representatives, District 10, 2017-2021, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ State Senate, District 10, 2021

• Other relevant qualifications: I am a mother of a high school student and an active member of the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ community, having served on a site council of a ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Unified School District elementary school and the board of a local city park organization. I am also an environmental and water attorney with experience on the national, state and local levels working on strategies to secure our water future, safeguard public health and transition to a clean energy economy, including as a member of the stakeholder-driven Climate Change Advisory Committee convened by former Governor Janet Napolitano.

1. What do you see as the most important issue to address and how would you address it?

The biggest issues facing our district are protecting reproductive choice, preserving our depleting water resources, and improving our economy.Ìý

In Congress I will work to ensure that the women in my district have access to safe and legal abortion and family planning options so that our fundamental freedom as women to make our own healthcare decisions is respected. As a woman and as a mom of a teenage daughter, I am frustrated that, due to the Supreme Court’s repeal of Roe v. Wade, young women today have fewer rights over their own bodies than I did, than even my own mother did. The decision whether to go forward with a risky or unwanted pregnancy is a deeply personal one. Such a decision should be left to a woman to decide, together with whom she chooses to confide – her family, her doctor or her religious advisor—and should not be mandated by politicians. Banning abortion with no exceptions even for rape or incest – as my opponent Republican Juan Ciscomani supports – harms not only women, but our entire region and economy.Ìý

On water resources and the economy, I will also work to ensure that all states that rely on the Colorado River do their fair share to conserve water and that we don’t allow foreign corporations to drain our groundwater. We must also invest in education and worker protections to provide opportunities for good-paying, 21st-century jobs for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ns.

2. Why should voters choose you, rather than other candidates?

I am running for Congress to protect a woman’s fundamental freedom to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions. My opponent Juan Ciscomani would let politicians outlaw abortion with no exceptions, even in the case of rape or incest - or pass bans that would lock up doctors, even trying them for murder. Mr. Ciscomani supports ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s draconian abortion ban, which provides no exceptions for rape or incest. Just like Blake Masters, Kari Lake and Mark Finchem, Ciscomani is simply too extreme for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

I love this State and as I often say, when my husband and I moved here many years ago with our infant daughter to take jobs in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, it felt like we had hit a home run.Ìý

But for so many families here in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, it seems like the rules of the game are rigged against them – they’re not getting ahead, politicians are taking away their most basic rights, and the environment – and their future – is quite literally drying up.

As a mom, a teacher, and as a former ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ legislator, I have deep roots in Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and the experience and track record to help ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ families.Ìý I know I can make a difference. I first ran for public office to seek funding for public education so kids and parents would have access to quality schools together with affordable and accessible higher education, including the training and retraining programs offered by our community colleges, universities and labor unions. Elected to three terms in the legislature, I worked across the aisle to increase funding for special education, enhance public safety and to secure our water future through better management of our Colorado River and groundwater supplies.Ìý

I am running to secure our water future by better managing our precious water resources, from the Colorado River to our groundwater.

I am running to renew the American Dream, so we provide economic opportunity to all.

This means educational opportunity for all, this means fulfilling ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s potential to be an economic powerhouse in clean energy, providing good-quality jobs across the state.Ìý

This means protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, so our seniors can enjoy their earned benefits and healthy and financially secure lives during their retirement.

This means respecting our men and women in uniform, protecting the mission of the military installations in the district, and caring for the needs of our veterans.Ìý

This means giving our engines of innovation, from our world-class universities, to our start-ups and small businesses, the freedom to solve our most pressing problems, from curing disease to reducing the cost of living for working families, to securing our water future.Ìý

My opponent, Juan Ciscomani, is not only extreme in wanting to take away women’s freedom to make their own healthcare decisions, but he has never held elected office and thus never had to be accountable to the people. His government experience is limited to serving as an aide to Governor Ducey who will soon leave office with our public schools ranked 48^th out of 50^th in the nation, the highest covid death rate in the nation, and hundreds of millions of dollars in misused federal relief funds.

If we want to renew the American Dream for the next generation, we need to go forwards, not back.Ìý And that is where I want to take us, working with the communities in this state, whether they lean Republican or Democrat, just like I did as a state legislator.Ìý

3. Could you please provide a list of the people and organizations that have endorsed you?

Elected OfficialsÌý

Ann Kirkpatrick,Ìý Congresswoman (AZ06)

Raúl M. Grijalva, Congressman (AZ-3)

Ron Barber, Former Congressman (AZ-2)

Regina Romero, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Mayor

Jonathan Rothschild, Former ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Mayor

David Bradley, Former ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Senate Minority Leader (LD-10)

Sharon Bronson, Pima County Supervisor

Kelli Butler, State Representative (LD-28)

Andrés Cano, State Representative (LD-3)

George Cunningham, Former State Senator

Paul Cunningham, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ City Council Member

Adelita Grijalva, Pima County Supervisor

Domingo DeGrazia, State Representative (LD-10)

Mitzi Epstein, State Representative (LD-18)

Rosanna Gabaldón, State Senator (LD-2)

Melody Hernandez, State Representative (LD-26)

Christine Marsh, State Senator (LD-28)

JoAnna Mendoza, USMC Gunnery Sergeant (Retired)

Natalie Luna Rose, TUSD Governing Board Member

Lisa Otondo, State Senator (LD-4)

Jamescita Peshlakai, Former State Senator (LD-7)

Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, State Senator (LD-10)

Betty Villegas, Former Pima County Supervisor

Organizations

EMILY’s List

National Organization for Women (N.O.W.)

Planned Parenthood Action Fund

Moms Demand Action

Brady PAC

League of Conservation Voters

Sierra Club

NewDems

Jewish Dems

Jewish Democratic Council of America

NARAL Pro-Choice America

Vote Mama

Her Time

Elect Democratic Women

Communication Workers of America

Southwest Carpenters

UFCW Local 99