A pair of Arizona Green Party candidates are running in the already crowded race for three seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Mike Cease and Nina Luxenberg ran as write-in candidates in the Green Party primary and will be on the general election ballot alongside three Democrats and three Republicans.

Arizona Capitol Times
By Regan Priest
September 5, 2024

Cease is a long-time member of the Arizona Green Party and has run as a Green-endorsed candidate in many Tucson elections. Luxenberg is a newer Arizona resident and a radiologist also based in Tucson.

The two garnered 179 and 175 votes respectively in the Green Party primary and will have to contend with big vote-getters like Rachel Walden, a Republican candidate for the ACC who received the most votes of any female candidate in the Arizona primary.

Cease has a background in chemical engineering and has been a member of the Green Party since 1996. He said his priorities as a commissioner would include sanctioning Arizona companies with ties to Israel, pushing utility companies to transition to renewable energy sources and stopping mining companies from polluting groundwater.

A ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine conflict is a priority for Cease, and something he said he hopes to facilitate through ending partnerships between Arizona companies and Israel. He said he decided to run for the Corporation Commission because he realized it can have an impact on a lot of issues that Green Party voters care about, like a ceasefire.

“[The ACC] touches on a whole range of core issues in the Green Party platform and Green Party values,” Cease said.

Luxenberg said she moved to Arizona two years ago from Florida and has fallen in love with the state and its nature. Her passion for the environment drove her to run for public office for the first time in her life.

“When I moved to Arizona, I joined the Green Party,” Luxenberg said. “I have always followed their tenants, their platform, basically it’s people, planet and peace, and I abide by all of that.”

Luxenberg said her top priorities are lowering utility costs, incentivizing solar energy and protecting the state’s water supply. One of her biggest concerns is the potential opening of a new mine near the Santa Rita Mountains in Pima County.

Mining operations like the one near the Santa Rita Mountains are high priorities for many Arizona Green Party candidates, including Cease and the party’s candidate for U.S. Senate, Edward Quintana. Cease said he is also particularly concerned about the Resolution Copper Mine that has been threatening the sacred Native American site Oak Flat in eastern Arizona.

While the Democratic candidates for the ACC have positioned themselves as the climate-focused slate and have received endorsements from environmental groups like the Sierra Club, Green Party candidates are the best choice for real solutions, Luxenberg said.

“The Green Party has always put the people first and we are concerned about implementing climate change solutions as quickly as possible,” Luxenberg said.

Cease acknowledged that he and Luxenberg face more challenges in their campaigns as Green Party candidates, especially after being excluded from a Sept. 3 debate hosted by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. After some Green Party candidates said they weren’t invited to debates, Clean Elections said it instituted a new rule requiring statewide candidates to receive 1% of all votes cast in all primaries to be invited to debate.

That threshold is over 12,000 votes, something Cease said Green Party candidates could never hope to achieve with their closed primaries and around 3,400 registered voters.

“It’s devastating because that’s an awesome opportunity for any candidate to get his or her message out there,” Cease said.

All Arizonans, regardless of political party, will be able to cast votes for Green Party candidates if they choose, and Cease and Luxenberg hope voters consider them when casting their ballots.

“This isn’t voting for the lesser of two evils, that’s not how we’re going to see change,” Luxenberg said. “It’s not a question of, ‘I don’t want to support them because they won’t win.’ Voting is one way we give our voice, so I think everyone should vote their conscience.”