Alma Hernandez, a Jewish Democratic lawmaker who describes herself as a “proud Zionist,” won the Democratic primary for an Arizona state Senate seat representing the Tucson area, despite facing a campaign that members of the Jewish community described as antisemitic.
Hernandez, 33, who has served in the Arizona House of Representatives, received 54% of the vote in the state’s 20th Legislative District.
She defeated former city council member Rocque Perez by eight percentage points. Perez’s campaign attacked Hernandez over claims that she was influenced by “overseas interests” and described her as a “genocide enabler.”
Perez repeatedly alleged during the campaign that Hernandez was funded by AIPAC, although the pro-Israel lobbying organization does not finance state-level races.
He also circulated a fundraising message asking supporters to contribute $5 to help “unseat a Zionist.”
Hernandez’s outspoken support for Israel and her past votes alongside Republicans have caused friction between her and some members of the Democratic Party.
Rocque Perez
(Photo: Social media)
Perez’s rhetoric was not condemned by senior local party figures who supported him, including Tucson Mayor Regina Romero.
Jewish community leaders warned party officials in writing that Perez’s rhetoric “relied on antisemitic narratives” and demonstrated how “growing anti-Zionism on the radical left intersects with antisemitism.” Their appeal received no response.
Before the vote, the Jewish Community Resilience Center of Southern Arizona, which monitors antisemitic incidents in the region, also sent a letter to city council members who had endorsed Perez.
The letter pointed to what it described as a recurring pattern of public statements promoting “classic antisemitic narratives portraying Jews as foreign agents of Israel.”
That letter also received no response from senior party officials.
After the unofficial results were announced, Hernandez said voters in her district had “rejected antisemitism and the agenda of the Democratic Socialists.”
“We proved that elections are won by knocking on doors and talking to voters, not through social media, online outrage and endorsements from friends,” she said.
Hernandez is expected to win the November general election comfortably because of the district’s strong Democratic majority.
“Running a campaign centered on attacking a Jewish elected official and making the word ‘genocide’ the main issue is not a winning message in Arizona,” she said.
Hernandez also emphasized that she had run as an independent-minded candidate.
“Even though I was not the establishment candidate, we won because we remained authentic, worked hard and focused on delivering results,” she said. “I will continue being unapologetically myself.”
Hernandez’s victory offers a counterpoint to a broader national trend in which populist candidates from the progressive left have recently won congressional primaries in states including Colorado and New York.
In Arizona during the same week, Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton also defeated an anti-Israel challenger, Kai Newkirk, with 62% of the vote.
During his campaign, Newkirk criticized American support for Jerusalem and, referring to reports of a digital influence campaign that he claimed benefited Stanton, said: “The state of Israel is interfering in our elections.”