The Arizona Federation of Democratic Women (AFDW) held an event on March 8 to honor International Women’s Day.
The event, Women in Blue, was a luncheon that doubled as a “lobby day” for the AFDW, said Carol Comito, president of the Federation.
The Women in Blue event was designed to allow Democratic legislators to hear from AFDW members. The benefit of this is allowing members “to hear everything and ask questions of everybody,” said President Comito, as opposed to having individual conversations with a few representatives.
Comito explained that “a lot of organizations do a lobby day, but what they do is they actually go to the Capitol building and have some kind of meeting with the organization and then they meet with the individual legislators.”
What sets an AFDW’s lobby day apart is bringing the legislators to the Federation instead of the other way around.
“We started something a couple years ago where we have an event like this one,” said Comito.
Multiple Democratic female legislators came out to address the crowd of AFDW members and sponsors for the event.
Minority leader in the House of Representatives Charlene Fernandez recognized some of the women in attendance at the event. She listed off many of the women involved in the Arizona political process and described their work for the Democratic party.
Fernandez continued that these legislators want to hear from voters and constituents about how they feel about issues coming through the Capitol. She encouraged voters to reach out to their representatives.
“I hope that if anything,” said Fernandez, “you do understand that your voice is important. Write those letters, make those phone calls, make sure people know that your legislator, especially your female legislator, is doing the work that we need done.”
Fernandez also talked about the upcoming Presidential election.
“November 2020 is right around the corner and with your help, we are going to take over,” said Fernandez, “we are going to lead that House and we are right on the cusp with the Senate, too.”
The Democratic Party hopes to win the majority in the House and Senate in order to create more legislation that the party backs. Fernandez encourages voters to reach out to their legislators to give your perspective on the issues.
Lela Alston, Arizona District 24 Senator, agrees that it is important to be knowledgeable on the bills passing through the Capital and to form an opinion.
“One of the most important things that a citizen of this country can do, and particularly in Arizona, is let our elected officials know how they feel about what’s happening,” said Alston, “there’s all kinds of things, a lot of what we do actually, that support individual families and affects individual families that they never know about. We don’t have nearly enough visibility and interaction at the state level.”
Alston also said “being informed, being a registered voter, interacting with either your school board or with your elected officials at the legislature is key.”
The importance of voicing personal opinions to legislators was stressed throughout the speeches as well as from elected officials at the event.
The Women in Blue event was designed to allow Democratic legislators to hear from AFDW members. The benefit of this is allowing members “to hear everything and ask questions of everybody,” said President Comito, as opposed to having individual conversations with a few representatives.
Contact the reporter at kjgalla2@asu.edu.
