2024 Arizona Corporation Commission Election: Meet the Candidates

Three seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission are up for grabs in the upcoming primary and general elections, and the results of those votes will help set the state’s water and power agenda at a critical time.

Arizona’s rapid population growth means more pressure on existing infrastructure, as do new large-scale commercial and industrial projects, including semiconductor factories and data centers. The Phoenix metro area is becoming a national leader in both areas.

The five-member Corporation Commission regulates most water and electric utilities, and board members often vote along party lines. There are four Republicans and one Democrat, and two Republican commissioners, Kevin Thompson and Nick Myers, are not running for reelection this year. Each commissioner serves a four-year term, with elections for open seats held on a rotating schedule.

The commission also oversees other areas, including rail issues, pipelines and securities/investment registrations and issues, but water and especially electricity top its agenda. To ensure Arizona has enough electricity in the years to come, commissioners must often assess the need for new power plants and expansions.

The key issues ahead are the role of new green energy sources, including solar, wind, and hydropower, versus those that emit pollutants, especially air pollutants. As state utilities gradually reduce their coal-fired electricity generation, a lively debate is centered on natural gas. While gas-fired power plants do emit emissions, they can also be brought online quickly, at any time of day and regardless of cloud cover, to meet peak demand.

Three Democrats are running for the open seats: Ylenia Aguilar, Jonathon Hill and Joshua Polacheck. So are three Republicans: Rene Lopez, Lea Marquez Peterson and Rachel Walden. There are also two Green Party candidates, Mike Cease and Nina Luxenberg. Voters in the primary can choose three candidates.

Peterson is the only incumbent currently running for re-election this year.

For more, read our full election coverage of the Corporation Commission race, including candidates’ responses to our questionnaire.

Democratic candidates promise to focus on clean energy

In statements to The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Elections Commission, Democrat Polacheck advocated for reducing the country’s dependence on oil, pointing to ongoing political upheaval in the Middle East and elsewhere.

“As a former national security official, I saw firsthand how fragile the fossil fuel supply chain is and how our reliance on it poses a threat to America,” he said.

Polacheck said his goal would be to develop clean, affordable energy. He spent nearly two years in the U.S. Foreign Service, serving in various locations overseas, before earning a master’s degree from Harvard Kennedy School.

His Democratic colleague Aguilar, if elected, has vowed not to “accept money from special interests and the corporations they are elected to regulate.”

She cited transparency, accountability, affordable utility rates and renewable energy as her priorities. Born in Mexico and raised in Illinois and Arizona, Aguilar is currently a business development manager at Gybe, a water testing company.

Hill, who has worked as both an aerospace engineer and in geological sciences, presented his candidacy as someone with a strong technical background who understands “the engineering and science behind power generation, water distribution and groundwater management.”

He also said the commission needs to place more emphasis on protecting the state’s water and electrical infrastructure from cybersecurity attacks. Hill works as an engineer at Arizona State University’s Mars Space Flight Facility.

The Democrats, all about the same age, are running as a team, hoping voters will elect all three and swing the committee majority blue. Aguilar and Hill are 42, while Polacheck is 44.

Republicans prefer to let market conditions dictate policy

All three Republican candidates for the Corporation Committee favor a more diversified energy portfolio.

“All forms of energy production should be on the table,” in the interests of stability and cost to taxpayers, said Lopez, 52, who served eight years on the Chandler City Council, twice as vice mayor.

He cited hydro, nuclear, coal and natural gas power sources, as well as industrial batteries and small modular reactors. Batteries are designed to store electricity when it is abundant early in the day to meet peak demand at other times.

As a sitting commissioner, Peterson said she focused on holding utilities accountable while fighting for affordable and reliable energy. She described herself as a champion of advanced nuclear technologies and worked to improve the reliability and affordability of small water utilities. She also stressed the need for transparency within the commission.

Peterson, 54, is a longtime small business owner and previously served as president and CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber.

Walden denounced “forced energy investments and climate targets” that endanger taxpayers and thwart free market principles.

“We must eliminate subsidies and mandates that increase the cost of your public services,” she said in her candidacy statement. Walden, who worked in the securities industry, also promised to “fight to ensure the integrity of the financial market and protect consumers from fraud.”

Walden, 46, is a member of the Mesa Public Schools board of trustees.

The Republicans also present themselves as an informal group.

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