Case Study: Invest in PHX
Maricopa County, AZ
Proposition 479 - November 5, 2024
Five years after running a successful campaign to defend light rail in Phoenix, AFA Action was thrilled to support Mayor Kate Gallego on a campaign to extend a sales tax first passed in 1985 that dedicates funding for transit and transportation investments. This renewal will generate approximately $24 billion in the coming years.
Measure 479 enjoyed support from the Governor, a bipartisan coalition of leaders and stakeholders, and a unified front of local elected leaders. AFA Action worked hand-in-glove with Mayor Gallego and the local team on multiple aspects of the campaign, including research and messaging about how to talk to voters in a loud, dissonant media environment that also featured Arizona as a battleground state in the Presidential election and a hotly contested U.S. Senate race for an open seat. The measure passed with nearly 60% support.
Election Results
Yes
No
59.8%
40.2%
Phoenix, AZ
Case Study: Invest in PHX
Proposition 105 - August 27, 2019
Shortly after Mayor Kate Gallego took office, Phoenix faced a well-funded anti-transit ballot proposition that sought to overturn a voter-approved tax increase to fund a $1 billion, five-mile light rail extension connecting Downtown and South Phoenix. The anti-tax effort was funded by an organized, out-of-state political operation that in the previous year had played a role in defeating a high-profile transit measure in Nashville, TN.
AFA Action was thrilled to support Mayor Gallego and the campaign, helping advise on the messaging and opposition research. We discovered the value that Phoenicians placed on light rail and their commitment to investing in their community, and they didn’t buy the bad-faith arguments of out-of-state billionaires. As a result, Prop 105 was rejected in every single city council district regardless of the district’s political makeup.
Today, the 28-mile-long system runs from Phoenix to Tempe and Mesa with 38 stations, 472 identified projects, and over $16 billion in total capital investment. Regional transportation officials want to expand the light rail to 66 miles by 2034.
“We’re really proud of the campaign that came together to support ‘No on 105’. It brought together business leaders, unions, nonprofits, we had older adults working alongside students, it crossed party lines and included people from every part of our city.”
