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Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz (independent) ran for election to the Iowa State Senate to represent District 17. Murguia-Ortiz lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Murguia-Ortiz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz was born in Sioux City, Iowa. Murguia-Ortiz earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa in 2016. Murguia-Ortiz's career experience includes working as a community organizer.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Iowa State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Iowa State Senate District 17
Izaah Knox defeated Toya S. Johnson and Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz in the general election for Iowa State Senate District 17 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Izaah Knox (D)  | 76.6 | 10,286 |
 | Toya S. Johnson (L) | 12.6 | 1,690 | |
 | Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz (Independent) | 9.7 | 1,297 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.2 | 162 | ||
| Total votes: 13,435 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 17
Izaah Knox defeated Grace Van Cleave in the Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 17 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Izaah Knox | 67.0 | 2,726 |
| Grace Van Cleave | 32.8 | 1,336 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 7 | ||
| Total votes: 4,069 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Murguia-Ortiz's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Born and raised in Sioux City, IA, Alejandro “Ale” Murguia-Ortiz is the son of immigrant meatpacking workers. Ale has been politically active for nearly their entire life, attending their first protest for Immigrants’ Rights at 8 years old. In response to Covid-19 outbreaks in the meatpacking industry and the murder of George Floyd by police, Alejandro has spent the last 2 years organizing full-time around immigrants' rights, workers' rights and racial justice across Iowa.
- I’m not running because I believe that electoral politics alone will deliver on the will and needs of the people. We’ve seen countless elected officials use this platform to build power for corporations and the rich. I’m running because a state-wide platform can be a catalyst for significant change if it is led by the people. We the people can demand it.
- I'm running because elections are a platform. A platform typically used by people with power to generate even more power. I'm running to give this platform to the people who are already organizing or want to organize to address the issues that the state was established to ignore. I want to call attention to the fact that organizing around elections distracts us from the power that we have.
- I don't want to use this platform simply to promise legislation. Want to organize your workplace? Want to join a tenants union? Want to get connected to existing mutual aid efforts or help meet a need in your community? Then let's do it.
Community Ownership and Worker Power: Laws are written to protect employers over workers, landlords over tenants, and developers and corporations over communities. Workers deserve ownership over their labor and communities deserve ownership over their resources. Let’s work to establish community-owned utilities and housing, worker co-operatives, and let’s put workers on employer boards.
Direct Democracy and Mutual Aid: Government officials are not connected to the community, and many officials make their office intentionally unreachable. Ale will build new systems to provide direct representation and invest in the needs of our communities.
Decriminalize Poverty and Substance Use: Criminalizing poverty and substance use perpetuates cycles of harm and trauma. Instead of displacing our neighbors and stripping them of resources, Ale will help build systems that address community needs.
I don't believe that I look up to a specific person. Nothing great that has ever been accomplished was done so by one single person but rather a community of advocates often erased by our desire to identify leaders and martyrs. I look all around me, I look at my direct neighbors who have built community right here on my block. We share resources, we offer help and we put in the effort to get to know each other in order to keep each other safe. That's the example that I want to follow regardless of where I live and I want to work to help others build something like that.
That said, my mom is a badass and I have learned so much from her.
That said, my mom is a badass and I have learned so much from her.
Our Word is Our Weapon by Subcommandante Marcos
Being a good follower and listener. Not a single person in that capitol is a true representation of their constituents and to me that is the most important fact that elected officials need to be aware of.
I'm an organizer and a listener. One of the biggest things I've learned is that I'm not very unique, I've never had a unique thought. I simply haven't met the other person who has had that same thought. This is the case a lot of times when we feel isolated, as an organizer I help bridge those relationships to remind us that we are not alone.
The most important responsibility is to center and elevate the needs of the most vulnerable communities. To listen to and be led by those ignored and hurt by the system.
I would like to help decentralize power and allow us true ownership over our lives and resources.
For me, this would be the "Day Without an Immigrant" protests of the early 2000s. I was 8 years old when I participated in my first march and I remember being pretty interested in the sense of excitement and unity that I felt marching with my community. I also remember feeling scared as we heard whispers of counter-protesters burning the Mexican flag and holding hateful signs. While I didn't see those counter-protesters, the image that I saw in my head has stuck with me to this day.
My first job was at HyVee as a courtesy clerk, cashier, and later a kitchen and dairy clerk. I worked there for about 3 years.
Our Word is our Weapon. Stories of revolution and indigenous liberation are shared in a way that feels both personal and for everyone.
Uncle Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender
Tú Me Dejaste De Querer by C. Tangana
I've struggled with depression my entire adult life. Eventually, I was able to see that it is nothing to be ashamed of nor should it be a taboo topic to discuss, as I was raised to believe. It's much easier to find the support you need when you're in a place where you can talk about and accept what you're going through.
Ideally, neither office would exist in the way that they do now. These forms of governance are much too centralized to truly represent the will and needs of the people. I believe that much of the power currently in the hands of the state should be passed along to our community.
As the state's resources, land and power continue to be bought by and consolidated by large corporations, our power as individuals and as a community will continue to diminish. Healthcare will become less affordable, the environment will continue to deteriorate, and poverty will worsen.
Having political experience makes you comfortable navigating the political world but doesn't necessarily result in better governance.
Sure, it is always good to form relationships with colleagues. However, I believe that you should build closer relationships with your community.
Decided by the people via councils made up of residents of the state and then voted on by the entire populous.
Appropriations, Labor and Business, Local Government, Transportation.
Only if my community wants me to.
Almost every day I talk to people who have lived here most of their lives and still do not have permanent protections to call this their permanent home.
"Road work ahead? I sure hope it does!" - Drew Gooden on Vine
Sure; however, a process of true consensus would result in stronger and more representative decision-making.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 13, 2022
Current members of the Iowa State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:Amy Sinclair
Minority Leader:Janice Weiner
Senators
District 1
Vacant
District 2
Jeff Taylor (R)
District 3
Lynn Evans (R)
District 4
Tim Kraayenbrink (R)
District 5
Dave Rowley (R)
District 6
Jason Schultz (R)
District 7
Kevin Alons (R)
District 8
Mark Costello (R)
District 9
Tom Shipley (R)
District 10
Dan Dawson (R)
District 11
Julian Garrett (R)
District 12
Amy Sinclair (R)
District 13
District 14
District 15
Tony Bisignano (D)
District 16
Claire Celsi (D)
District 17
Izaah Knox (D)
District 18
Janet Petersen (D)
District 19
Ken Rozenboom (R)
District 20
Mike Pike (R)
District 21
Mike Bousselot (R)
District 22
Matt Blake (D)
District 23
Jack Whitver (R)
District 24
Jesse Green (R)
District 25
Herman Quirmbach (D)
District 26
Kara Warme (R)
District 27
Annette Sweeney (R)
District 28
Dennis Guth (R)
District 29
Sandy Salmon (R)
District 30
Doug Campbell (R)
District 31
William Dotzler (D)
District 32
Michael Klimesh (R)
District 33
Carrie Koelker (R)
District 34
Dan Zumbach (R)
District 35
Mike Zimmer (D)
District 36
Thomas Townsend (D)
District 37
Molly Donahue (D)
District 38
Dave Sires (R)
District 39
Liz Bennett (D)
District 40
Art Staed (D)
District 41
Kerry Gruenhagen (R)
District 42
District 43
Zach Wahls (D)
District 44
Adrian Dickey (R)
District 45
Janice Weiner (D)
District 46
Dawn Driscoll (R)
District 47
Scott Webster (R)
District 48
Mark Lofgren (R)
District 49
Cindy Winckler (D)
District 50
Jeffrey Reichman (R)
Republican Party (33)
Democratic Party (16)
Vacancies (1)
