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Ari Bradshaw
Ari Bradshaw (Republican Party) ran for election to the Arizona House of Representatives to represent District 2. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Bradshaw completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Ari Bradshaw was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He earned a bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University. His career experience includes working in marketing.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Arizona House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Arizona House of Representatives District 2 (2 seats)
Stephanie Simacek and incumbent Justin Wilmeth defeated Ari Bradshaw and Tom Simes in the general election for Arizona House of Representatives District 2 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Stephanie Simacek (D) | 30.3 | 47,797 |
| ✔ |  | Justin Wilmeth (R) | 29.8 | 46,943 |
 | Ari Bradshaw (R)  | 29.7 | 46,809 | |
 | Tom Simes (Independent) | 10.1 | 15,947 | |
| Total votes: 157,496 | |||
| = 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 Arizona House of Representatives District 2 (2 seats)
Stephanie Simacek advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 2 on July 30, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Stephanie Simacek | 100.0 | 14,072 |
| Total votes: 14,072 | |||
| = 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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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 2 (2 seats)
Incumbent Justin Wilmeth and Ari Bradshaw defeated Danielle Hagen in the Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 2 on July 30, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Justin Wilmeth | 54.5 | 14,896 |
| ✔ | | Ari Bradshaw | 45.3 | 12,382 |
| Danielle Hagen (Write-in) | 0.2 | 43 | ||
| Total votes: 27,321 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Neil DeSanti (R)
Campaign finance
Endorsements
To view Bradshaw's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bradshaw in this election.
Pledges
Bradshaw signed the following pledges.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ari Bradshaw completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bradshaw's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I lost my father to suicide at 13 after a years-long struggle with synthetic opioid addiction. Shortly after, my cousin overdosed on heroin. After not finding success in our one-size-fits all public school system, I was able to receive a scholarship from Arizona’s expansive school choice options to a local private school and began excelling. In high school, I co-founded the Ink4Kidz charity with some of my peers and we raised dozens of thousands of dollars for underprivileged schools and students across the state.
Upon finishing university, I found myself living in the back of an RV with no air conditioning during the summer of 2020. I developed my advertising business during this time on a $200 laptop that I had from my time at school and within six months had lifted myself out of the back of the trailer.
After I had gotten myself on my own two feet, I decided to dedicate a large portion of my life to fighting for a better future. Our state is facing major issues concerning water, education, cost of housing, synthetic opioids, border security, and homelessness.
I hope to earn your support and serve as your voice at the Arizona State Capitol.
God Bless Arizona,
-Ari- We must advocate for policies which ensure that children are able to receive excellent education options regardless of income or zip code. The ESA program should be protected and made to be economically long-term viable, we should raise teacher pay using state land trust funds, and we should empower parents to make decisions concerning their children's education. We should fund trade schools, dual enrollment programs, and more to ensure that children have every opportunity available to succeed and that Arizona can be the greatest place for K-12 education in the world. Families should be able to choose excellent options regardless of if their preference is for a district public, charter, or private school.
- Arizona's water ought to be preserved and protected. The state should ensure that we have a 100 year water guarantee on all rental builds to match policies concerning for-sale builds, enact a statewide water market, and embrace brackish desalination. Foreign farmland owners should not be allowed to endlessly drain our underground aquifers. In addition to these policies at the state level, we ought to pass memorials convincing Congress to heavily invest in Pacific desalination under the condition that California withdraws from the Colorado River Compact. I am proudly endorsed by Amanda Monize of the Maricopa county water board and Alex Kolodin who negotiated the bipartisan Rio Verde water bill in 2023.
- Arizona's economy is its lifeblood. I own two small businesses and believe we must protect our small business culture while fighting for a strong economy that enables families to live well on a single income. We must pass a balanced budget and allow for Arizonans to build generational wealth. We ought to fight for lower housing costs, a lower cost of living, and domestic resource production to help Arizona's economy thrive into the future. We should incentivize development of affordable single family homes and pass memorials convincing Congress to divest back to the state some of the 42% of AZ land which is managed by the federal government. We must lower the cost of living, raise homeownership rates, and improve our economy.
Two Concepts of Liberty - Isaiah Berlin
The Road to Serfdom - Friedrich Hayek
Fiscal Responsibility - Given the diverse makeup of the district, prioritizing sound fiscal policies is key. This includes responsible budgeting, reducing wasteful spending, and promoting economic growth through small business-friendly initiatives.
Responsive - Elected officials must be accountable to the people they serve. This means listening to constituents, responding to their concerns, and being willing to explain and justify decisions made on their behalf.
Pragmatic - In a politically divided district, it's important to be pragmatic and willing to listen to those with disagreements across party lines. We ought to be able to work collaboratively with our peers to solve problems.
Accessibility -Constituents need to feel that their elected representative is accessible and approachable. Regularly attending district meetings, responding to emails and phone calls promptly, and actively engaging with constituents in the community are essential.
Commitment to Constitutional Principles - Upholding the Arizona Constitution and defending the rights and freedoms it guarantees is fundamental. This includes protecting individual liberties, promoting limited government, and respecting the rule of law.
Legislating: State representatives are responsible for drafting, sponsoring, and voting on legislation that impacts the state and its residents. This includes proposing bills to address important issues, reviewing and analyzing proposed legislation, and participating in committee hearings and debates.
Appropriations: State reps play a crucial role in the state budget process. We are responsible for reviewing and approving the state budget, allocating funds to various programs and services, and ensuring fiscal responsibility and accountability.
Constituent Services: State representatives must provide assistance and support to their constituents in navigating state government services and programs. This involves responding to inquiries and requests for assistance, helping constituents resolve issues with state agencies, and connecting them with resources and services.
Promoting Economic Development: State representatives should work to promote economic growth and job creation in their districts and across the state. This includes supporting policies that encourage business investment, workforce development, and entrepreneurship.
Advocating for State Interests: State representatives are responsible for advocating for the interests of Arizona at the state and through concurrent memorials at the federal level.
- Financially incentivize developers to build for-sale starter homes
- Statewide Water Market (co-sponsor the potential Kolodin bill)
- Accredit more organizations to help address the homelessness crisis
- 100 Year Water Guarantee for Rental Builds
- Teacher Pay Raise (co-sponsor the potential Gress bill)
- Address the Bark Beetle Epidemic
- Right to Repair for certain tech and farming products
- First-time homeowner aid
State Rep. Joseph Chaplik
State Rep. Matt Gress
State Rep. Alex Kolodin
State Rep. Michele Pena
State Rep. Justin Wilmeth
State Sen. Shawnna Bolick
Fmr. State Rep. Walt Blackman
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.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Arizona House of Representatives District 2 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 21, 2024
