Latest / Arizona Unscripted / Episode 23: 🌵 Arizona Unscripted - AZ House Candidate Alberto Flores!!
Transcript
- Arizona Unscripted: Welcome to Arizona Inscripted. I'm your host, Bart, alongside my wonderful co-hosts Catherine and Jim. From time to time, we'll be joined by special pop-in guests, additional co-hosts, of course, and from ⁓ people all across the Grand Canyon state. Arizona Inscripted is all about Arizona, its people, its places, its events, and the local issues that shape our everyday lives. From small towns to big cities, from hidden gems and great local food to history, culture, and the challenges facing our communities. We're here to have real conversations with real Arizonans. Our goal is simple, to celebrate what makes Arizona unique while bringing together voices from every corner of our state. So whether you're a lifelong resident, a newcomer, or just someone who loves Arizona, we hope you'll feel right here at home. So grab a cup of coffee or something cool. Sit back and join us as we explore the people, places, and stories that make Arizona one of the greatest states in America. Welcome to Arizona Inscripted. And with that I'm going to hand it over to my wonderful co-host Catherine. Hey Catherine. Hey Bart, how are you doing today? I'm doing good. Not bad at all. Thanks. Good, good, good. Enjoying that sunny, sunny weather. I'm I'm enjoying the rain today. Yeah, sunny and my up here in Colorado. It's nice and cool. And Jim, what's the weather like there? you're enjoying it, huh? I guess you have to. There's no choice, is there, Jim? No choice, no choice. Well, I'm so pleased to ⁓ introduce our guest today. Alberto Flores is running for State House in Legislative District 24. ⁓ I'm gonna let him tell us where that is. ⁓ so actually, Alberto, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself to folks and thank you so much for being here today? Yeah, thank you so much, all of you, for having me today. It's it's a pleasure. ⁓ my name is Alberto Flores. I am a born and raised ⁓ Phoenician. I was actually born in my legislative district, which encompasses ⁓ Maryville and South Glendale. So if you live anywhere northwest of 51st in McDowell, ⁓ all the way to 83rd in Peoria, there's a good chance you're in my district. And and more than anything, you know, ⁓ like to what Bart said, ⁓ you know, I'm proud of this state. I love this state. And so I hope to have the honor of serving the the people of my legislative district ⁓ at the state capitol. That's wonderful. Well, ⁓ I want to Congratulate you on win winning your primary. Looks like it ⁓ did checking out, you got I think you got the most votes of any candidate, right? Yeah, yeah. I was very honored, ⁓ first time candidate, but very honored to see that, you know, voters came out and yeah, my myself and my my running mate, we were the top two vote getters and and so we're just we're excited and we're definitely humbled by that. That's just been doing a lot of good work, huh? I hope so. Well, I would like to know. So I believe that you're a recent ASU graduate. Am I correct there? Yes, I actually just graduated last May, so it's barely been a year. Wow. And thank you. Congratulations. And I just absolutely love seeing a young person like you getting involved with ⁓ the government. And I would like to ask you, hey, I'm curious what your major was. And the other thing I'd like know is what motivated you to run? Yeah. So I studied political science at Arizona State. So go devils, go send devils. ⁓ yeah, go send devils. We love them too. We aren't biased at all, are we? No, not a bit. And and ⁓ honestly that that's always been my goal. So I, you know, as I mentioned, I was born and raised here. And when I was a kid, I I was twelve years old when when I learned certain things that I don't think a twelve year old should know. I learned what a speed ten seventy was. And I knew who Sheriff Joe Arpio was as a kid. I knew who Russell Pierce was, which for some of the listeners, he was one of the main bill authors of SB ten seventy, which, you know, essentially enabled local law enforcement to ⁓ pull over people on the basis of appearing to be undocumented or not. Right. And so since I was a child growing up in a working class family, growing up in a family where both my parents were undocumented at the time, I I made the decision to run. Since I was twelve years old, I've always wanted to run for the state legislature because I saw that's what was impacting my family firsthand. And then, you know, growing up in Phoenix on the west side of Phoenix, the majority of us that were a Hispanic majority district actually. So legislative district twenty-four is the most Hispanic majority district in the state. ⁓ my god. And and so growing up there, you know, I saw firsthand how our families were being impacted by this. And so I I'm a very stubborn person. So That's a good thing in politics. More than a situation later I was You gotta be stubborn and have a thick skin. ⁓ that's for sure. ⁓ I did see that you you did ⁓ have a few of the issues and and ⁓ you listened a little bit to our previous podcast that was was healthcare related. And healthcare is one of the issues and specifically reproductive freedom was one of the issues that you mentioned. So just kind of ⁓ first let me just say how fabulous. Somebody who wanted to run since they were twelve years old, that shows motivation to really change and really make things work for people, which I think is what people are looking for right now. So what what kind of things do you would what would you like to do? When you get elected. Well, I ⁓ first I want to say, you know, every issue does not exist in a vacuum, right? So, you know, I want to address something because I know that that will address other things down the line. And so for me, in my district, the number one thing that I heard from people out of, you know, knocking thousands and thousands of doors over the last six months is affordability. You know, people are tired of having to pay almost five dollars for gas, ⁓ the cost of groceries. And and the thing is is people in my district in Maryvale and Glendale. The majority of us were blue collar, pink collar workers. So we work, you know, with our body, whether it's in construction, whether it's in mechanic shops, or whether it's cleaning offices and schools and a number of things that really physically exhaust us. And so the thing is, is in my district, we're already working 60 hours a week. We're already working two to three jobs to make ends meet. And so for everybody, it's, you know, I can't do more and my money doesn't go far enough. And so for me, that's number one. I want to make sure that. I know the people in my district and more importantly, working families across Arizona, they're already working hard. I just want to make sure that they're getting what they deserve. So I plan to reinforce our rights as workers, as contributors to our local economy to make sure that we get what we're worth. So that that's number one for me. Advance your ⁓ right to join a union. That that helps the the ⁓ wages a lot when you can all band together and and get your ⁓ contracts signed, you know. Absolutely. The power of ⁓ groups and the power of collective bargaining. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of power in that. It sounds like a great platform, Alberto. Yes, I'm very excited. And and you know, obviously that's just number one. I want to make sure that kitchen table issues are first, and right and that and that is making sure that our bills are being paid. But more importantly, in in my district, we have a public school crisis. You know, we have schools that are being drained of their public dollars. We have you know, kids who who don't even have access to things like orchestra programs. There are school districts, ⁓ there are schools in my school district ⁓ that are closing down arts programs, music programs. And at the end of the day, you know, that's just impacting kids. And I I love to tell this story to everybody. I love to say that, you know, what when I was a kid, I I really wanted to be a musician. I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to try and fail at a bunch of different things. But growing up in West Phoenix, growing up in my family, we We're you know, we don't have the luxury of dreaming. And so seeing how public schools are closing down opportunities for kids to explore who they are, for kids to explore what they're passionate about, ⁓ i i it impacts me personally because one of the main reasons why I got involved in this is making more opportunities than what I had when I was a child. So affordability is number one, but now speaking about the future, it's making sure that kids aren't left behind. Opportunity for all. That's what that's what we're looking for. Everybody be able to do what they want to do, you know, without hesitation. And I think what you said, it just really kind of hit me when you said we didn't have the luxury of dreaming, you know? That is ⁓ it's horrendous to think that we have created a place where that the ability to dream and have a better future is not there for everybody. ⁓ that's really sad. My son wanted to be a musician. We spent ho tens of thousands of dollars getting him through school. He's got a PhD in music. He's a software engineer now. You know he know he doesn't do anything and he never made any money at music, you know. Well, it's probably not the highest earning potential unless you become a big megastare like Celine Dion or something like that. What what instrument do you play, Alberto? So I play guitar actually. ⁓ and I used to do I used to be a big musical theater ⁓ geek back in the day too. So same here. Guitar player guitar. You know, and and just more importantly, like I I say all this because I remember growing up as a kid, we weren't special, my family. You know, you looked around and so Personally, my my brothers and I, we worked in machine shops. We would rebuild engines. That's because that's what my dad did, that's what my uncles did. We have shops still in the valley, my uncles. ⁓ but I say all this because all the other kids next to me around my age. Their dad worked in a body shop, their mom cleaned offices, or their mom, you know, worked at a hair salon, their dad did this. And and I say all this because I am no different from anybody else in my district. And and that's why I'm so honored to be on the ballot and and honored to hopefully get the chance to represent them coming this January. You'd be a good representative, that's for sure. I think so too, Jim. I think I I I really like this young man. I think he would be super. So what have you been doing to you mentioned knocking on many, many, many doors, and I believe you have kind of a ⁓ coordinated campaign with ⁓ Annalise Ortiz and Lisbeth Arrescura Nega? I don't know. I'm not saying it right. No, believe me, it's it's a it's a tongue twister for for a lot of us. ⁓ yes, I have been so happy to run with State Senator Annalise Ortiz, who is running for re-election. She is a you know household name in Arizona politics or is quickly becoming one. And so to to run with her and her mentorship has been huge. And then obviously my my seat mate, ⁓ as a reminder to your listeners, you know, we each legislative district gets one state senator and two state ⁓ representatives. So my running mate was Lizbeth, is Lizbeth. Adres Kurenaga. ⁓ and so and all that to say, yeah, it's just been so humbling to serve to run with these people because ⁓ running a campaign is hard, especially as a first-time candidate. ⁓ I didn't come from a political family, I didn't come from a family with influence. So I was a you know complete newcomer. And so to have these two wonderful ladies come and support me and and to help each other out has been so wonderful. And and our reception not only to the to the people in our district, but To voters at in in the entire state have come up to us and in many events and said, it's inspiring to see three of you run together. It's inspiring to see such a collaboration. so so honestly, that has been the biggest motivation is is running with a team. I ⁓ recently met with somebody who's running with ⁓ for the Phoenix City Council. His name is Ed Hermes, and he said something that stuck with me. And he said this forever ago. He said, you know, politics is a team sport. And so we have to be there for each other. And and you know, I That really stayed with me, especially in a time where people say the opposite about politics. Politics is divisive. Politics, you know, divides families and breaks long-term relationships. But but I'm of the philosophy that it can be a place that can bring people together. And and honestly, that that's the biggest thing that motivates me. ⁓ I I'm going in there hoping to reach across the aisle at the end of the day, hoping to help Arizonans. You know, ⁓ I'm tired of being You know, as a constituent being used as a pawn in these political debates, and I want to change that. And I want to make sure people know that we're here looking out for them. You don't have them big billion-dollar corporations behind you, huh? Absolutely not. ⁓ I've I am honored to say that we have had almost 300 individual con contributors in my campaign alone. And the majority are people in my district, they're teachers. ⁓ technicians, they are stay-at-home parents. It it's it's been again gratifying because I see all this and and and that's a reminder that ⁓ we still have people to your point, Jim, who ⁓ are backed by corporate investors, who are backed by interests that aren't necessarily ⁓ you know centering our people's needs at the moment. And so I I know that that's a little bit of a contrast, especially to even those within my own party who continue to to quote unquote sell their votes for for larger interests. Yeah. They have the money, but we have the votes, and we just gotta get them out there. That's all it is to it, you know. Hundred percent. Hundred percent, which is why I'm proud to say that ⁓ we unseated a 20-year incumbent who outraged us. ⁓ but you know, as Catherine mentioned, it was due to our ground game. You know, we were knocking on doors every day. I you know, I don't have the exact number, but I think I clock I knocked close to 10,000 doors in in in six months. That's a lot of doors. That's a lot of walking. So your step meter was really at Up the chart teacher, imagine. ⁓ yes. That that's the way to win. No, that's way to win. And get healthy at the same time. Yeah, really. Really. Achieve more than one goal. Well well, that just sounds great. And and I tell you, I love your energy. I love your youth. I love the fact that this has been a longtime dream for you. And you've been thinking about it for a long time. So I think the other thing that this that impresses me is that your your goal is to do things to ⁓ raise people up and help people and not just out for personal gain. I'm I'm really tired of politicians out there for personal gain and I just don't get that from you at all. So thank you for that. Yeah, it's great to see young people out there trying to change things. They're the ones who get affected the most, you know. That's for sure. It's gonna be your world. ⁓ might as well make it the way you want it. Make it the exactly, make it your way. Right. And and and I'd love to share a quick story from from a voter that I heard recently. So th this voter that I met a few months ago, she is 30, 33, her partner is 37. They've they've been married, they have a kid. ⁓ they both work amazing jobs. Husband went to school, he's in technology. The wife, she does nails and is really, really good at her job. They they make over a hundred K combined in their household in Maryville. Despite all that, it is impossible for them to buy a home. You know, we have home prices that have just skyrocketed and it's not giving the opportunity for people like my age and people in my generation who, you know, we're trying to build families and we're trying to start, you know, our lives and build that generational wealth, but that's just been so difficult. And and I'm honored to say that I'm also running, you know. statewide with a number of other candidates that who are much younger than I am, which makes me feel better and gives me motivation as well. You know, we have ⁓ Jacob Martinez who's running for the state house in legislative district nine, which is Mesa. And and I bring that up because he he's fresh 25, ⁓ and it's a very important district that will determine the makeup of our state legislature. And so he's an example of somebody that, you know, I'm just excited to hopefully serve alongside with because I know that our priorities are going to be for working people. Right. Thank you for rec ⁓ mentioning Jacob's name because ⁓ he's going to be getting an ⁓ invitation to come on the podcast. So I just love the energy of the young people and we really need them and we need to turn things over to the young people so they can ⁓ do things ⁓ in a better way, hopefully, than what we've been seeing. Yeah. Well things haven't been working out too well lately. That's right. Definitely need a change, that's for sure. Yeah. Change in outlook. And there's still a number of things we have to do between now and November. You know, as a reminder to your listeners, aside from all the legislative candidates, statewide candidates that are gonna show up on their ballot, we have a number of propositions. ⁓ statewide propositions or ⁓ you know, whether they're School district overrides, there are a number of things that are going to show up on our ballot this November. And it's just so important that we maintain that momentum because ⁓ you know, again, highlighting something that's been central to to our conversation is is activating young people. ⁓ you know, we have one of the lowest turnouts, you know, ⁓ as an age demographic. And and in my district alone, so Maryvale and Glendale, we are actually one of the youngest districts as well. The median voting age is under 40. ⁓ which as a result. means we have some of the lowest turnout. And so it's it's been very inspiring to not only see other young candidates like myself, but but you can't beat that sort of interaction on the door. When I, you know, I'm 29, but when I knock on somebody's door and they're 20 or they're 18 and it's their first election, seeing me the candidate and me seeing them a first time voter, you know, that that's the sort of interaction that polling can't beat. That's the sort of interaction that a commercial can't buy. And that's building real voters, you know, the Something central to me is because I grew up with undocumented parents, we didn't grow up with the habit of voting. I didn't vote in my first few elections as a result because I didn't have that that muscle memory. And so a a big focus of mine, you know, since the beginning is making sure we can activate young people to build that tradition, build that culture, because our voice is so important in the ballot box and and with everything that's been going on, it's more important now than ever. It really is. It really is. Well, it sounds like you have found a way to activate young people. And could you please share that with everybody else all across the state and the nation? Let's let's get young people activated. ⁓ my grandson is ⁓ twenty six, I think, and when I texted him in twenty twenty four reminding him to go vote, he said, Well, I don't really like either candidate, so I am not going to vote. And I'll tell you, I gave him a lot a hard time about that because it's like the world is is gonna be here for you guys. Us older people are going to be gone. You talk about the demographics in Mojave County. Joan, do you know what the average age is or f of the I think it it's fifty something, I believe, isn't it? Jim, do you know? I don't know. I know in our area it's like seventy. Yeah. Yeah. We're I think it's like fifty three or something like that. Yeah. A lot of retired people. So well you're you're appealing to your demographic, which is what you need to do. And it's really what needs to happen everywhere. Yes, hundred percent. And W we're, you know, we represent a legislative district or hope to represent, you know, one out of thirty districts in the state, but we're expanding our efforts. You will most likely see us in Yuma between now and November. We will be in Goodyear. We will be in Mesa because this is bigger than us. This is bigger than my neighborhood, this is bigger than my my district. ⁓ you know, I want to make sure that Arizona writ large. sees this new momentum. And so, you know, just yesterday actually we were out knocking for a few school board candidates in our district. And and that's just the start. We're we expect to be everywhere around the state. because again it's a team sport. And and I just want to make sure that we don't lose hope and and that we can see some positive change come this November. I hope you can inspire some of the other young people in all over the state, especially up here in Mojave County, Bullhead City. There ain't too many people that want to get involved in politics at all. You know, and that's absolutely true. That's really true. I think I I was that the last couple of weekends I've been out knocking on some doors. Not not in the thousands. I can assure you, Alberto. ⁓ step it up, come on. I know ten probably up here. It's a I feel really inadequate when I hear that. ⁓ But it's absolutely true. The younger people whose doors we knocked on were just not wanting to connect. And it's so disheartening, you know, to hear that. I really I I suppose if if I was twenty nine, I might have made a better connection. I don't know. I think that's part of it, don't you, Alberto? Yeah. Yeah, I'd agree. I mean, I'd agree to an extent. I mean, I I I've always been somebody who's who's sort of been called an old soul. I always, you know, tend to have relationships with those much older than me but but it's it's it's very true i mean when when i see somebody and i'm knocking on a door and i see that they're my age ⁓ you know or younger than me i you know i just talk about what's important to them and and and we already know this because you know i'm on tick tock i'm on instagram just like the majority of those in my demographic and and we're all seeing the same thing you know we're seeing a a world in disarray a country in shambles and we're seeing a state that is trying to find its legs in this new world right And so definitely because when when I can connect to them on, you know, how where where they are in that moment, ⁓ I I I do think it makes a big impact. Something that's been so gratifying to see on the trail is, you know, a big focus of ours is our social media because we do want to reach voters where they are and that's where most of them get their news from, right? And and over the last few months there have been many occasions where I knock on a door and it's somebody I've never met before. And I say, Hi, my name is Alberto Flores. I'm running for so and so. And they cut me off and they go, ⁓ I saw your TikTok. ⁓ I saw your Instagram video. Hey, I already knew you. Yeah, it's it's amazing. But but all that to say, you know, it works. It works. And and and people see that and they're like, ⁓ my goodness, you were on my phone, you're here, you're real. I I've never met a candidate before. Usually they send somebody. So I mean, I'm taking advantage of the fact that I do have youth and I can and I can knock thousands of doors because it is Very difficult. It it can be very exhausting, but taking it Especially when it's a hundred degrees out all the time. it does. That's awesome, man. Well, we sure appreciate your enthusiasm enthusiasm and your your commitment to doing making things life better for your constituents and for Arizonans in general. Yeah, and happy to have you come back. too for another episode of Arizona Unscripted. That'd be fun to have you back for some updates. Yeah. Yeah. When and we all I I just want to say, talking about ⁓ politics being a team sport, thank you, Alberto, for being on our team. We need you, we want you with us, and we support you 100%. So best of luck in the election, November third. And as Bart says, ⁓ if we get a chance Either before or after you're elected. We'll have you come back on after you're elected. I would love that. I appreciate the the time you guys have had me here for. Thanks again, Alberta, for being with us. And ⁓ that's it for today's edition of Arizona Unscripted. Thanks to everybody, and y'all have a wonderful rest of your day. Have a good one.