Tucson Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez's long trend of voting with Republican lawmakers has resulted in a "statement of concern" from leaders of her legislative district.
Don't call it a censure, Legislative District 20 officials told The Arizona Republic. But the 287-word resolution sounds censure-adjacent, accusing Hernandez of a "departure from the Democratic Party platform." It requests that Hernandez attend district meetings at least three times per year to discuss her voting record.
"We don't want to eat our own, but at the same time, we can't, you know, just let this slide," said Matthew Capalby, a district precinct committeeman who spearheaded the writing of the statement and recent vote on it.
Democrats make up almost half of the district, which covers west and downtown Tucson. Only 18% of voters there are Republican.
People are also reading…
On May 18, 66% of the Democratic officials in the district voted to accept and publish the statement. A related press release by the district noted Hernandez has voted with Republicans 151 times since 2023. Moreover, the issues appeared "based upon a consistent pattern of votes and policy positions," including "restrictions on First Amendment rights including free speech and the right to protest," and "measures restricting LGBTQ+ educational content."
Alma Hernandez
The "straw that broke the camel's back" was her vote this year to agree to an Article V constitutional convention to address congressional term limits. Capalby said Democrats oppose a convention that could "open up the entire Constitution to basically be eviscerated."
Capalby was referring to House Concurrent Resolution 2043, which passed the Legislature earlier this year on a bipartisan vote. Hernandez was one of six Democrats in the House, which has 27 Democratic members, to vote for the measure.
Hernandez is Jewish and has been criticized by Palestinian supporters and others for her support of Israel. But the statement of concern was not due to her stance on geopolitical issues, Capalby said.
"It's her voting record. It's her performance and representing LD 20," he said.
In a text to The Republic, Hernandez wrote off the district discipline as "a politically motivated effort designed to create division and generate headlines."
She's a veteran lawmaker serving her fourth term in the House. Restricted by state term limits, Hernandez is running for the state Senate. Another Democrat, Rocque Perez, is challenging her in the July 21 primary for the seat.
Hernandez said some of the same people who encouraged members to vote on the statement against her support her primary opponent, while ignoring Perez's "lewd past and inappropriate behavior." As The Republic reported last month, Perez published several posts around 2020 advocating political violence.
Most importantly, she said, her enemies don't understand "Democrats do indeed vote for Republican bills" and that's not a "new story or a surprise" for legislative observers.
While Hernandez votes for GOP bills more often than other Democrats, her sister, Tucson Rep. Consuelo Hernandez, often votes with her. Rep. Lydia Hernandez, a conservative Phoenix Democrat who isn't related, also regularly votes with Republicans.
With a majority of Republicans in the House and Senate, Democrats can't get much done without occasionally siding with Republicans.
"Both the beauty and the curse of the Democratic Party is we are unafraid to criticize our own," said Democratic political consultant Stacy Pearson, adding voters aren't sitting around waiting for political parties to tell them what to do.
She agreed, accusing Hernandez of voting with Republicans sometimes is hardly a new revelation and that Hernandez "is very vocal" about her votes. But that's not always good strategy.
"We're living in such a strange political environment, that's not something people applaud at the moment," Pearson said.
