The Arizona Democratic Party elected a new chair on Saturday: former lawmaker Charlene Fernandez.
She won with 58% of the vote, in an overwhelming victory against four other candidates.
Fernandez is a former school board member, state legislator, Yuma County chair and vice chair of the state party. She was also appointed the state director of rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture under former President Joe Biden in 2021.
“We are going to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in every county in this state — all 15. I’m counting on you candidates. So, thank you so much, and Arizona legislators, I'm coming for you!” Fernandez said.
She appeared to have many fans in the crowd which was peppered with “Charlene for Chair” signs.
Fernandez is from Yuma. She emphasized the need for the party to do outreach in rural areas and to show people how Democrats will address real kitchen-table issues.
“The message should always be that we’re here to save democracy, to make sure that working class people have jobs that we can go to the grocery store and afford eggs and our groceries and people can buy homes and live the American dream. Our message is on point,” Fernandez said.
She added that she is going to work as chair full time.
In a statement of interest, Fernandez wrote that she wants to implement a “15-county strategy, statewide voter registration drives, and year-round engagement across the state.”
Democrats also voted on Saturday to pay Fernandez for her work.
At the Democrat’s last big meeting, the party voted to oust former chair Robert Branscomb. He’d only served for a few months, but was mired in controversy for almost his entire time in office.
In the meantime, senior vice chair Kim Khoury served as acting party chair.
