Arizona
Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) organizes working-class people of color to take action on the issues most important to them and to advance social and economic justice for all. Working from the belief that those who are closest to a problem are best equipped to solve it, LUCHA incorporates leadership development with grassroots, issue-based campaigns; advocacy; and civic engagement to create an Arizona in which every resident has an equal voice in determining policy and shaping the decision-making bodies that will govern communal life. For more information, see this in-depth account of LUCHA’s origins in The New York Times.
Recent Achievements
LUCHA’s work helped to achieve important wins in Arizona in 2024.
Election of Democratic U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego
Arizonans enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution, with nearly 61.6% of voters in favor of the proposition
Kept the Democratic margin of loss in the presidential election well below the national average (3.1% shift from 2020 compared to 6% nationally)
Held all three Democratic U.S. House seats despite the rightward shift in the state
LUCHA endorsed 15 candidates for state house and 5 candidates for state senate who won their races
In addition, LUCHA registered over 11,000 new voters and they were able to calculate that their work generated 14,000 additional votes in the state that would not otherwise have been cast. After conversations in which LUCHA asked voters how powerful they felt their vote was, they moved 40% of voters to shift their views, believing more strongly in the power of their vote. Overall, LUCHA engaged more than 15,000 community members, or about 2% of registered Arizona voters, in the 2024 election cycle.
What makes Arizona crucial this cycle
Two very competitive Republican-held seats are essential to flipping the U.S. House
Statewide races for Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State will determine control over electoral processes in this important battleground state
Both chambers of the state legislature, which has long been controlled by Republicans, are up for election and considered competitive
What Flip the Vote’s support means for 2025 and 2026
Flip the Vote’s donors will play a key role in LUCHA’s ability to expand engagement and turnout beginning with a new effort to recruit influential neighborhood leaders in key geographic areas to combat misinformation and disinformation and build trust for the Democratic party. LUCHA calls this program Guardians of Democracy.
LUCHA also has an ambitious goal to recruit over 150 new Volunteer Organizers, their most committed volunteer role, who will lead efforts to build their base of supporters and lead a diverse menu of programs, services, and opportunities for the community. These include Know Your Rights Trainings on immigration topics, trainings on digital organizing tactics and strategies and, ultimately, Festejando El Voto in 2026, which engages the community with candidates and issues on the ballot and how to vote early.
LUCHA will continue their multi-year plan to advance a People First Economy, involving significant legislative advocacy as well as development of a potential ballot measure for paid family leave. Their efforts in each step of qualifying this measure for the ballot will also help LUCHA build new and deeper relationships within communities, helping them to turn those same community members into critical voters in 2026.
“In less than a decade, many organizers who first cut their teeth fighting [the “show me your papers”] bill are now lawmakers, campaign managers and directors of civic engagement groups. While it’s easy to dismiss mass protests as short-lived eruptions of anger, Arizona offers a model for how this energy can become real electoral power: It happens when people learn to work with one another, build deep connections and create something bigger than themselves.”