LD23: the four county district where the House race is the real fight

November 3, 2026 general election. District 23 is one of the largest legislative districts in Arizona, stretching from Goodyear in Maricopa County to Yuma, and taking in sections of four counties: Maricopa, Pima, Pinal, and Yuma. It includes Yuma, San Luis, and Gila Bend, plus the Tohono O'odham area of Pima County, about 232,000 people. Registration: about 33 percent Democratic, 26 percent Republican, 39 percent other, a Democratic registration edge of about seven points. The district was drawn as a majority Latino constituency, with 62 percent of residents Hispanic or Latino. The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission rated it outside the competitive range and leaning Democratic, but recent results are tighter than that rating suggests: the district voted Democratic by only about 1.8 points in the 2024 presidential race, the incumbent Democratic senator won by about 7.6 points that year, and a Republican has held one of its two House seats since 2022. No forecaster rating for these specific races was located, beyond the Arizona Republic and Arizona Mirror treating the House race as a top battleground for control of the chamber.

State Senate: Fernandez vs. Altherr, the 2024 rematch

The shape of the race: a straight rematch. Sen. Brian Fernandez (D) beat Michelle Altherr (R) 53.8 to 46.2 percent in 2024, in a district Donald Trump nearly carried the same year. Both won their 2026 primaries unopposed, Fernandez with 12,426 votes and Altherr with 8,563. Fernandez runs with an incumbent's record and two well documented ethics controversies, detailed in his entry. Altherr runs with very little money, detailed in hers. This is a contested race, not a formality, but the burden of proof is on the challenger who lost by 7.6 points last time.

Brian Fernandez (Democrat, incumbent)

LD23 state senator since January 2023. Born and raised in Yuma. Arizona State University; staffer for the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington; led a technology consulting firm in the Washington and Baltimore area until 2016. Appointed in 2021 to the state House seat his mother, Charlene Fernandez, had held; his mother later became chair of the Arizona Democratic Party. Elected to the Senate in 2022. Senate committees, per the Arizona Republic: Appropriations, Finance, and Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency. Outside job at the center of his controversies: he works for Onvida Health, the Yuma hospital system formerly called Yuma Regional Medical Center.

Record and key votes (verified individually where noted):

The 2025 state budget (SB 1735): YES. A Yuma Informed review of the Legislature's final roll call confirms Fernandez voted for the budget on June 27, 2025. That budget contained the $3 million appropriation to his employer described under Controversies below, which is why this vote matters on this page.
HB 2677 (2024), repeal of the 1864 near-total abortion ban: YES, by party unanimity reporting. The Senate passed it 16 to 14, a margin requiring every Senate Democrat. No name-level roll call line for Fernandez was retrieved; see the verification box.
Arizona Western College funding: the college credited him with securing a $15 million state appropriation for workforce development in fiscal year 2024, and named a facility the Fernandez Family Cyber Security Lab. The Arizona Republic notes it could not independently verify what role he played in securing that funding. He requested about $10 million more for the college in each of the 2024 and 2025 sessions; both bills stalled in committee.
Stated priorities (the Arizona Republic's summary of his platform): strengthening public schools and expanding affordable housing, on a generally liberal platform.

Money: no campaign finance total for Fernandez was located in the sources retrieved, including the March 2026 See the Money tables published with the 2026 Senate election summary, which list no fundraising table for him. Stated as a gap, not filled in.

Controversies, two of them, both about conflicts of interest, both with his responses:

The $3 million for his employer (2025). About a month after starting work at Onvida Health, Fernandez filed a bill for a $7 million Onvida and University of Arizona partnership. That bill stalled. A version sponsored by Sen. Tim Dunn passed the Senate; Fernandez says he filed a disclosure form noting he works for a Yuma hospital system that could overlap the bill, and recused himself from voting on it, and says Senate staff told him recusal was not required. After the story ran, a Senate spokesperson said the chief of staff denied that conversation took place. The $7 million then shrank to $3 million and appeared inside the state budget, routed through the City of Yuma to a nonprofit regional hospital supporting at least 400 beds, a description only Onvida meets. This time Fernandez did not disclose the connection or abstain, and he voted for the budget. The city routed the money to Onvida in January 2026, for scholarships and a regional medical branch. His response: he "did not have an actual personal financial interest" in the funding, "would not have received a material financial benefit from any of the dollars appropriated," and falls under the exemption for a member of a class of at least ten people, in his case Onvida employees. Senate President Warren Petersen told the Republic the money was part of the portion of state funds each senator can direct to favored projects.
The house owned by a college executive (reported October 2026). Fernandez has reported living since 2021 in a Yuma home owned by Lorraine Stofft, Arizona Western College's vice president of advancement, who also oversees its foundation and has joined delegations asking lawmakers, including Fernandez, for state funding for the college. Both are registered to vote at the address. Living there satisfies his district residency requirement; he reported owning no property as of January 2026. He has not disclosed a conflict of interest regarding Stofft or the college to Senate leadership, per a Senate majority spokesperson. A government ethics expert told the Republic that no single fact establishes wrongdoing, but together they "create legitimate questions" about transparency and private benefit. His response: he declined to answer written questions, including whether he pays rent or has a lease, declined to comment through an aide, and did not return calls. A Senate Democratic caucus spokesperson called the matter his "private life." Stofft and the college did not answer the Republic's questions either.

Michelle Altherr (Republican)

Air Force veteran, 15 years of service; previously worked in fashion design. She describes herself as a "grassroots patriot" and says her path into politics began volunteering with Latinos for Trump in 2019. This is the same matchup as 2024, when she was the Republican nominee and lost 53.8 to 46.2 percent. Note the contrast with the other Republican named Snyder on this page: in 2022, the Republican Senate nominee against Fernandez was Gary Garcia Snyder, who is running for the House this year.

Stated priorities, from her Arizona Voter Guide statement and candidate profiles: "bringing back American patriotism, pride, and integrity to the office of our elected officials"; servant leadership guided by Biblical principles; election integrity, including support for one day voting and for term limits (she has signed a term limits pledge); opposition to open borders with support for a barrier wall and for legal immigration; current economic policies on water and gas are, in her words from a candidate profile, a "blatant attack on free enterprise."
Money, with its date: as of her March 2026 campaign finance reports, raised $6,216, spent $6,419.99, $124.31 on hand (See the Money, via the 2026 Senate election summary). That is a challenger running a statewide scale district race on a four figure bank balance as of March; no later figure was retrieved.
Controversies: none found in the coverage retrieved.

State House: four candidates, two seats, one Republican incumbent Democrats need to beat

How this race works: vote for up to two. The delegation is currently split: Mariana Sandoval (D) and Michele Peña (R). Peña's two wins are the analytical core of this race. In 2022 she qualified as a primary write-in, then won the general election as the only Republican on the ballot, a tactic called single-shotting: Republican voters cast one of their two votes for her and leave the other blank, concentrating her total while Democratic votes split between two candidates. She won again in 2024, by a narrower margin of 2,179 votes, per the Arizona Mirror. This year the single-shot structure is broken: a second Republican, Gary Garcia Snyder, is also on the ballot, which the Tucson Agenda says disrupts the strategy that helped Peña hold the seat. Democrats Sandoval and Emilia Cortez are running to take both seats, which their party likely needs if it is to win the House. Peña skipped the September 30, 2026 Clean Elections debate; Sandoval and Cortez attended.

Mariana Sandoval (Democrat, incumbent)

LD23 state representative since January 2023, from Goodyear, running for a third term. Former paralegal, then worked for the Arizona Attorney General's Office. Served four years on the Agua Fria Union High School District governing board before running for the House. She led the Democratic primary field with 8,546 votes.

Record: she was one of the 25 sponsors of HB 2677 (2024), the repeal of the 1864 abortion ban, which passed and was signed by Gov. Hobbs. Sponsor lists are name-level sourcing, so this one is printed without the unanimity caveat used elsewhere on these pages.
Stated priorities: affordable housing, supporting tipped workers, and expanding workforce development programs. At the September 30, 2026 debate she argued affordability is the district's top issue, opposed renewing state land leases for the company that dumped California biosolids in Yuma ("We are not California's dumping ground for bio solids"), said local law enforcement should not turn people over to federal immigration agents because of the risk of civil rights violations, and argued against imposing residential water restrictions now, favoring conservation education instead. Her closing case was partisan and explicit: elect her and Cortez to flip the House, because "when Democrats are in the majority, we can deliver an Arizona where working families come first, not corporations."
Endorsements and scorecards, attributed: Arizona Education Association, Human Rights Campaign, and Sierra Club, per the Arizona Republic. The NRA Political Victory Fund graded her F in 2026.
Money: no campaign finance total located in the sources retrieved. Controversies: none found.

Emilia Cortez (Democrat)

First-time candidate from Yuma. Public affairs professional; economic development specialist for the Quechan Indian Tribe; previously a senior program coordinator at the University of Arizona and a marketing professional. She took the second Democratic nomination with 5,719 primary votes, ahead of Juan Manuel Guerrero and Naomi Miguel.

Stated priorities: investments in small businesses, access to child care, water conservation, and affordability generally. Endorsed by Sandoval, Moms Fed Up, and Equality Arizona, per the Arizona Republic.
Debate note, reported as reported: at the September 30, 2026 Clean Elections debate she agreed with Sandoval on opposing the biosolids leases and on affordability, did not rule out supporting limits on residential water use ("I don't believe it's a yes or no"), and stumbled on a civics point: asked whether a sheriff's deputy should hand a detainee over to ICE, she answered that, because sheriffs are federal, they should. Sandoval corrected her in real time: sheriffs are county officials. The Arizona Mirror reported the exchange as a stumble over the difference between state and federal law enforcement; it is printed here because voters in a border district may weigh it, not as a scandal.
Money: no campaign finance total located. Controversies: none beyond the debate exchange above.

Michele Peña (Republican, incumbent)

LD23 state representative since January 2023, from Yuma. Elected in 2022 after winning the Republican primary as a write-in, then reelected in 2024. Vice chair of the House Land, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, per the Arizona Republic; a candidate aggregator also lists her as vice chair of International Trade and as a member of the Education, Legislative Audit, and Public Safety and Law Enforcement committees. The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Mirror both describe her as a top Democratic target in 2026. Surname spelled Peña on her legislative materials and Pena in many databases.

Her record is her two wins: about 3,000 votes over the second Democrat in 2022 and 2,179 votes in 2024, per the Arizona Mirror, both times as the only Republican on the House ballot. This year she led the Republican primary with 6,908 votes to Snyder's 6,077, close enough that the second Republican is a real presence in this race, not a placeholder.
Stated priorities, from candidate summaries: agriculture, education, economic opportunity, parental rights, veterans issues, fiscal responsibility, and combating government corruption. Scorecard, attributed: the NRA Political Victory Fund graded her A in 2026, the highest grade given to any candidate on this page.
Key votes: no individual vote for Peña is printed on this page, because none was verified to this site's name-level standard in the sources retrieved. In particular, this page does not assign her a position on HB 2677 (2024): the House passed it with three Republican yes votes, and the reporting retrieved does not name her among them or against them.
Debate note: she skipped the September 30, 2026 Clean Elections debate, per the Arizona Mirror. No reason for the absence was given in that account.
Money: no campaign finance total located in the sources retrieved. Controversies: none found beyond the debate absence.

Gary Garcia Snyder (Republican)

Republican Party operative turned candidate. He describes himself as a "Mexican American Republican raised in a conservative Christian military family." He has held various posts within the state Republican Party, including serving as one of Arizona's elected delegates to the Republican National Committee, per the Arizona Republic. He is not a newcomer to this district: as the Republican nominee for this Senate seat in 2022, he lost to Fernandez 53.7 to 46.3 percent, a margin of 3,981 votes, per an Elections Daily review of that race. He goes by Gary Snyder in some listings and Gary Garcia Snyder in others.

Why his candidacy matters more than his odds: for two cycles Peña was the only Republican on this House ballot, and analysts credit that single-shot concentration for her wins. The Tucson Agenda puts it bluntly: Snyder joining her on the ballot disrupts that strategy. Every Republican vote cast for Snyder is a vote that in 2022 and 2024 could only have gone to Peña or nowhere.
Stated priorities: beyond the self description above and his party roles, no detailed issue platform for Snyder's House campaign was located in the sources retrieved. That is a gap, stated openly. Scorecard, attributed: the NRA Political Victory Fund graded him AQ in 2026, its questionnaire based grade for a candidate without a voting record.
Money: no campaign finance total located. Controversies: none found.

Verification notes

Key vote depth is this page's known shortfall, as on the LD12 page. One Fernandez vote, the 2025 budget, is individually confirmed from a roll call review. His HB 2677 vote rests on the Senate's 16 to 14 margin requiring unanimous Democratic support. Sandoval's HB 2677 sponsorship is name-level. No individual votes are printed for Peña, Cortez, Snyder, or Altherr, because none were verified to that standard, and Peña's HB 2677 position is specifically not guessed at.
The Arizona Republic's September 29, 2026 legislature guide appears to have swapped the location lines for District 22 and District 23, and this page does not use that guide's vote spread figures for either district for that reason. The spreads it prints, Democratic plus 37.36 in its District 22 section and Democratic plus 16.89 in its District 23 section, cannot be confidently assigned, and neither matches the registration edge or the 2024 presidential margin used here.
Money is thin and dated where it exists. Altherr's figures are as of March 2026 reports. No totals were located for Fernandez, Sandoval, Cortez, Peña, or Snyder, and none is invented here.
The Arizona Western College funding item carries the Republic's own caveat: it could not independently verify what role Fernandez played in securing the $15 million. His credit for it comes from the college itself.
District geography: the four county footprint, including the small Pima and Pinal sections, is from the district's reference summary. The task of describing this district briefly always loses something; the Pinal section is tiny (93 total votes in the 2022 Senate count for that county section) and the Pima section is the reason Tucson appears in some descriptions of this Yuma based district.
Name forms preserved rather than resolved: Peña versus Pena, and Gary Garcia Snyder versus Gary Snyder.

How to vote without getting your ballot rejected

Mail it by Tuesday, October 27, 2026. After that day, do not mail it: use a drop box or a vote center instead.
It must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3. Postmarks do not count.
Sign and date the affidavit envelope, and write a current phone number on it.
For write-ins: only votes for officially filed write-in candidates are counted. The Secretary of State's general election write-in list, revised September 9, 2026, names no official write-in in either District 23 legislative race.
Leaving any item blank is allowed. It does not affect the rest of your ballot. In the House race, voting for only one of your two available votes is also allowed, and is the tactic behind the single-shot pattern described above.