Contributed Article/Courtesy Steven McDonald-Press Secretary/Joshua for Arizona
TUCSON – As Americans face record-breaking heat, soaring costs, and decreasing energy reliability, Arizona’s race for Corporation Commission might be the most important clean energy race in the country.
Democratic candidate Joshua Polacheck is running for Arizona Corporation Commissioner to oversee monopolies like energy, gas, and water utilities. He’s running with two other strong fighters for Arizona’s middle-class voters: Jonathan Hill and Ylenia Aguilar. They’ll combat the state’s historically high electrical bills, with a future-forward plan fit for 2024 that addresses new market realities, provides affordability, reliability, cleaner energy, and freedom from the chaos happening in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, building energy independence for Arizona.
Polacheck, who spent 2 decades serving America overseas with the United States Department of State, is a Tucson native now raising his own family here. He says the Republican candidates he and his running mates are running against “want to mandate outdated technology that is more expensive, gives our kids cancer and asthma and is less reliable.”
“Arizona can show the path forward for the entire country, that free market solutions can bring down the cost of electricity, make it cleaner while securing the state’s energy and economic future. We want the market to operate freely, instead of de facto mandates for fossil fuels.”
Arizona is one of the minority of states that elect their commissioners. Polacheck and his running mates face three Republican challengers: Rene Lopez, Rachel Walden, and incumbent Lea Marquez Peterson; all vying for seats currently held by a Republican majority made up of Marquez Peterson, Jim O’Connor (R), and Anna Tovar (D), O’Connor and Tavor are not seeking reelection. With 5 seats total, the winners will serve alongside Republicans Kevin Thompson, a former natural gas lobbyist, and Nick Meyer, who will both remain until 2027.
“The current commission,” Polacheck explains, “has not said no to a single rate increase to any electrical company since taking power. We ship nearly $5 billion a year out-of-state for coal and methane to power our grid.” This past spring, their approval of a controversial Arizona Public Service (APS) rate hike earned them the nickname “Rate Hikes R US,” in an opinion piece at Arizona Capitol Times.
“The current governing majority on the Arizona Corporation Commission has made their intentions clear. They will tie Arizona to the chaos of the global fossil fuel supply chain for decades to come, driving up prices for everyday citizens, and undermining the reliability of our grid, “he adds. “With the current climate crisis, it’s totally unrealistic to think we’ll be burning methane in 2098 to deliver safe a/c and power our water pumps.”
If elected, as part of a Democratic majority, Polacheck will reform outdated ACC regulations that incentivize utilities to continue investing billions in fossil fuels infrastructure that Arizonans will be forced to pay for for decades to come. “Our state needs an energy independence plan for the 21st century,” Polacheck says. His plan would unleash the free market, create tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs in all corners of the state, and institute universal electrification to address the historical exclusion of rural indigenous and border communities from the grid. “These reforms will allow all of Arizona to secure our energy and economic futures,” Polacheck says, “and will lay down the foundation for America’s economic boom for the next decade.”
As a former national security official, Polacheck saw firsthand the fragility and violence of the global fossil fuel supply chain. He understands how fossil fuel supply chain dependency is a threat to American security.
“Look at Nevada, they have over 50% clean energy; even with a MAGA Governor. 25 years ago, the ACC passed a bipartisan plan for energy independence with clean energy that was both ambitious and realistic. When the MAGA majority took over the ACC in 2023, they systematically dismantled that plan. During that time other states became more ambitious: Nevada, and Wyoming. Arizona has the potential to be the Saudi Arabia of clean electricity.”
Polacheck and his running mates are the only candidates endorsed by unions, including Ironworkers Local 75; as a former union brother, Joshua is committed to protecting working families, not corporate interests. They are currently criss-crossing the state meeting with voters in towns and cities talking about the concerns keeping them up at night — skyrocketing electric, water, and gas bills and fears that their communities won’t have the resources to keep their water and power systems going into the 21st century.
MORE ABOUT JOSHUA
Joshua Polacheck grew up across the rural West, attending reservation schools as the child of an Indian Health Service Doctor. At 23, he was commissioned into the Foreign Service and spent nearly two decades with the United States State Department serving America overseas, including in Mosul and Islamabad in northern Iraq, Pakistan, the Dominican Republic, and Zimbabwe leaving after the 2016 election. In 2018, after getting his masters from the Harvard Kennedy School, he returned to Arizona to raise his family. With control of the Arizona Corporation Commission on the line, he decided to enter the electoral arena.
