The upcoming Democratic House primary in Arizona has attracted the attention of Republican donors and super PACs funded by crypto industry leaders, who are throwing their weight behind one side.
Former state Sen. Raquel Teran (D), Phoenix City Councilwoman Yasamin Ansari and physician Duane Wootton are running to replace Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who is running for Senate.
The crypto-funded super PAC Protect Progress has spent more than $1 million on independent ads supporting Ansari, and his campaign has also received nearly $200,000 from Republican donors.
“It’s disgusting to see outside billionaires and billionaires trying to buy this seat. It’s really disgusting to see how more and more wealthy people from California and New York see Latino politicians and Latino voters as just pawns in their own power games that they can easily move around on a game board or a spreadsheet,” said Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha.
“The whole community [Congressional Hispanic] The caucus is united behind Raquel and will stand up and fight to defend this seat.”
Teran is backed by Bold PAC, the campaign arm of the House Hispanic Caucus (CHC), and has the endorsement of veteran CHC politicians Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and its highest-ranking member, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA).
“This is a blatant attempt by an outside group to silence the voices of more than 500,000 Latinos in a majority-Latino district in order to buy a seat. Raquel Teran has dedicated her career to advocating for Latino rights across the state,” said Bold PAC chair Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.).
“Instead of supporting the only incredibly qualified Latina in this race, this group has decided to antagonize the Latino community by spending over $1 million on her, which undermines the right of Latinos to choose their own representatives and undermines the progress Bold PAC has worked decades to win.”
Bold PAC leaders have become especially sensitive about crypto interference in the Democratic primary after a super PAC backed by Sam Bankman Fried pumped millions of dollars into Oregon’s 2022 primary, forcing the CHC Group to open its wallet.
In the election won by Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), whose opponent received about $13 million in outside support, Bold PAC spent about 10% of its spending that election cycle backing a favored state legislator facing off against little-known political newcomer Carrick Flynn in the primary.
Teran is a key figure in the Arizona Democratic Party and resigned as Arizona Senate Minority Leader in March to focus on his House race.
However, while Ansari is inexperienced, he is nowhere near as inexperienced as Carrick Flynn.
In March, she resigned from her Phoenix City Council seat, a position she had held since 2021, to focus on her congressional campaign.
It is unclear why the Republican Party and its cryptocurrency PAC are endorsing Ansari, as both candidates have publicly touted progressive records and have similar cryptocurrency policies listed on their websites.
Ansari said some of his support comes from Iranian-Americans who want him to win regardless of party, while Teran said Republican donors are afraid of him and will try to influence Ansari.
“I think Republican donors know that I’m going to stand up to Republican donors from ousting the sheriff, just like I’ve done my whole career. [Joe] “That was the case with Mr. Arpaio, that was the case with me when I was a state representative and that was the chair of the Arizona Democratic Party,” Teran said.
“My journey so far has shown how I will stand up to Republicans and Republican extremists, but Mr. Ansari will stand with them. I think they’re making that case.”
Although both candidates describe themselves as progressives, they come from very different backgrounds.
Teran entered politics as a grassroots activist opposing Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration crackdown, grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Douglas, Arizona, and faced a citizenship challenge after winning the 2018 election.
The daughter of Iranian immigrants, Ansari attended Stanford and Cambridge universities, and her first job after graduation was as an adviser to the office of then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
During a May debate, Teran accused Ansari of taking money “from MAGA donors” and said, “Ansari is himself a billionaire landlord who benefited from loans from his father, owns investment properties and charges rents above the average payment.”
Ansari denied the “personal attacks” on Teran and criticized her legislative record.
“It is unfortunate that Raquel Teran continues to launch misleading attacks in the final two weeks of the election. Teran and her supporters are the only ones launching false negative attacks against Yasamin in this campaign, and dark money groups have spent over $1.5 million in support of Teran,” Ansari spokesman Pasquale Russ said.
“Teran accepted funding from one of Kali Lake’s closest advisors and actively solicited support from the same organizations she denounced today. This desperate strategy does nothing for voters, which is why Yasamin is focusing on her progressive record.”
If elected, both candidates would mark significant firsts: Teran would become Arizona’s first Latino congressman, and Ansari would become the first Iranian-American Democrat to serve in Congress.
But in districts that are more than 60 percent Latino, Hispanic Democrats are clamoring to elect representatives who share their life experiences.
“It happens every election cycle that outside money comes in for each district, for each candidate to defeat someone from that district,” said Christian Ramos, a Democratic strategist.
“But in this case, I think Raquel Teran is organized in these communities, knows these communities, and would be a great legislator to represent these communities, and it’s really unfortunate that outside groups that are connected to crypto and the Republican Party are spending money to try to get rid of her and stop her from being a legislator.”
Latino Democrats’ sensitivity to protecting so-called “Latino districts” extends far beyond the Arizona and Oregon primaries.
Bold PAC defines success by two criteria: defending Latino incumbents and electing new Latino lawmakers to Congress.
These attitudes stem from a longstanding notoriety about the under-representation of Hispanics in government.
“[Terán] Latino families, immigrant families, and [progressives] “We all want to make sure that that seat that Ruben was in remains a Latino, Latina seat. We can’t afford to lose representation,” said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist.
“We actually want to continue to win representation, so this is a very important seat for us.”
Hispanics make up about 20 percent of the U.S. population but only about 10 percent of Congress.
There are currently four Hispanic U.S. senators, but Sen. Bob Menendez (D-J.) is expected to resign following his corruption conviction.
If Gallego wins the November election, he will hold just four senate seats out of 100 in the chamber.
Representation aside, Hispanic Democrats say it’s poor etiquette to associate with Republican funding and groups like Protect Progress, whose sister organization supports Republican candidates.
“We Democrats are open to a primary because we can debate the issues. Healthy competition is something we embrace. I embrace it. I understand it. But I will not embrace Republicans interfering in the Democratic primary, trying to buy seats or trying to silence the voices of Latino voters,” Teran said.
