Barbara Fike

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Barbara Fike

Democratic Party

Candidate, Arizona House of Representatives District 28

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Next election

July 21, 2026

Education

High school

Alhambra High School

Bachelor's

Northern Arizona University, 1975

Graduate

Northern Arizona University, 1978

Personal

Birthplace

Phoenix, AZ

Religion

United Methodist

Profession

Educator

Contact

Personal LinkedIn

Barbara Fike (Democratic Party) is running for election to the Arizona House of Representatives to represent District 28. She declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on July 21, 2026.^[source]

Biography

Barbara Fike was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She earned a bachelor's degree from Northern Arizona University in 1975 and a graduate degree from Northern Arizona University in 1978. Her career experience includes working with the Arizona Department of Economic Security and as an educator. She has been affiliated with Dove of the Desert United Methodist Church, Arizona Walk to Emmaus, Arizona Faith Network, and Las Palomas del Norte Community Hand Bell Choir.

Elections

2026

See also: Arizona House of Representatives elections, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on July 21, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 28 (2 seats)

Barbara Fike (D) and Marc Graham (D) are running in the Democratic primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 28 on July 21, 2026.

		Candidate
		Barbara Fike
	Submit photo	Marc Graham

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
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Republican primary

Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 28 (2 seats)

Incumbent David Livingston (R), incumbent Beverly Pingerelli (R), and Heather Rooks (R) are running in the Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 28 on July 21, 2026.

		Candidate
		David Livingston
		Beverly Pingerelli
		Heather Rooks

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

2024

See also: Arizona House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Arizona House of Representatives District 28 (2 seats)

Incumbent Beverly Pingerelli and incumbent David Livingston defeated Barbara Fike in the general election for Arizona House of Representatives District 28 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Beverly Pingerelli (R)	37.8	79,618
✔		David Livingston (R)	37.6	79,333
		Barbara Fike (D)	24.6	51,780

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 210,731
= 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 28 (2 seats)

Barbara Fike advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 28 on July 30, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Barbara Fike	100.0	18,880

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,880
= 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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 28 (2 seats)

Incumbent David Livingston and incumbent Beverly Pingerelli defeated Susan Black in the Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 28 on July 30, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		David Livingston	37.0	26,914
✔		Beverly Pingerelli	36.7	26,707
		Susan Black	26.3	19,170

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 72,791
= 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.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Fike in this election.

Pledges

Fike signed the following pledges.

• U.S. Term Limits

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Barbara Fike has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. If you are Barbara Fike, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

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2024

Barbara Fike completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Fike's responses.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a second-generation native Arizonan, educated in Arizona schools, kindergarten through university, undergraduate and graduate levels. I have taught English and Social Science in Arizona schools - middle school, high school, and community college - for over 40 years. After surviving polio in my infancy, I am left with minor mobility issues and an enduring appreciation for vaccines and medical science! I grew up in what was northwest Phoenix at the time in a middle-class family of five (plus two grandparents). We were not rich, but comfortable on a teacher’s salary – my father, Pat Lebs, was a band director in the Phoenix Union High School District. I have been married to a Phoenix area architect for over 30 years. We have an adult son and daughter who live in Oregon and Phoenix respectively, both of whom were educated in the Deer Valley District and at NAU. A Labrador Retriever who loves to swim in our pool and a sneaky but lovable black cat round out our family. We are very active in our church, Dove of the Desert UMC, especially in music and missions. Las Palomas del Norte Handbell Choir is our extra-curricular labor of love, but we also enjoy travel and spending time at a cabin near Flagstaff. I currently teach one or two English 101/102 classes each semester at Glendale Community College North, since retiring from full-time teaching in the Deer Valley District. I love Arizona - her land and her people.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• My passion is education. As an historian, I understand that Public K-12 education is vital to the health and success of a democracy. Our founding fathers understood this as evidenced by land grants for education. The client of schools is not as much the students or parents as it is society as a whole. We all benefit from our children being educated to the fullest of their capabilities. Curriculum should be developed by professional educators, not dictated by a few parents or micromanaged by politicians. I adamantly oppose vouchers, which divert money to unregulated "parent-choice" programs, while undermining the kind of free and balanced education needed for citizens of a democracy. Freedom dies in ignorance.
• I believe in choice. I decided to run for office because I was tired of there being no choice on ballots due to so many candidates running unopposed. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, I believe that all persons are created equal, and endowed by their creator with rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. I do not believe that Creator gives anyone the right to judge, much less restrict, another’s choices. No one has the right to limit the choices of another when it comes to decisions about expression of identity, sexuality, spirituality, bodily autonomy, or gender identity. When choices harm no one, then they are no one's business.
• Democracy is fragile and must be safeguarded. We need to preserve the past, but also protect the future. Since the people are sovereign in a democracy, it is critical that they take the power they wield seriously. A democracy requires everyone to be on board, to participate in and trust the election process. But if we abdicate our responsibility because it’s just easier to let the autocrat win, we will lose all choice in the matter. Because autocrats do what is best for themselves and their cronies, not what’s best for either the country or its citizens. They are poised to bring about the failure of the democracy experiment started 250 years ago if we the people don’t intervene.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Education – all of society wins when children have equal access to education.

Water management - we live in the desert, and should act accordingly. We also need to recognize global warming is real.
Reproductive healthcare - my daughter shouldn't have fewer rights than I did at her age.
Affordable housing - people need to be able to live in the communities they work in.
LGBTQIA+ rights - no one should tell anyone else whom they can love or where they can go.

Voting rights - in our technological age, voting should be easier, not harder.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

An elected official should be responsive to the constituents, not the donors. They should be diligent in informing themselves on the issues, and listen to others with an open mind. They should respect and be courteous to other members of the body. They should be willing to work with each other while keeping the best interests of Arizonans uppermost.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am an excellent problem solver and can usually see a path to a solution that others miss. That may be partly due to my childhood. I had polio in infancy and the doctors told my mother I would never walk as a result. But of course, children are resilient and I managed to find a way to get from point A to point B on two feet. While I may not walk using the same muscles others do, I can walk. My whole life I dealt with obstacles to doing things the way everyone else did. I learned early to be a problem solver in non-traditional ways. I also had to learn how to scan the area around me to be alert for potential obstacles to my path so I could quickly devise a workaround because otherwise, I fell often! That ability serves me well in seeing what is coming before others do, both literally and figuratively.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The assassination of JFK. I was ten.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I worked opening a new women's clothing store. I only had the job a few weeks because after they opened the needed fewer people and laid off all of us who were single. This was in 1976 - the Great Recession.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Whatever the last song was that I sang in the church choir or that we played in handbells is the song that is probably stuck in my head. I am also cursed with an endless playlist of lyrics in my head that is easily triggered by a random word in a conversation!

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

I have often struggled with people judging me based on my exterior - female and handicapped - and not looking past that to see what I had to offer. I do enjoy it when they realize I am more than meets the eye!

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

While prior experience helps get a legislator quickly up to speed, the idea of a democratic republic is for regular people to serve and then move back into their careers - not make a career of serving. The writers of the US Constitution believed the legislature should be made up of citizens who served two years and then went back to their lives, ensuring that all ideas were heard and all people represented, due to a regular turnover in legislators. When someone makes politics their career, they become politicians - not legislators.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Of course. Collaboration and cooperation are the only way to get past the stalemates we've seen in recent years where legislators seem to only vote the way the party boss wants them to, not from their own reasoned, researched, and discussed opinions. My favorite story of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor from when she was in the legislature was that when legislators were at an impasse, she would invite everyone to her house for margaritas.

Is there a particular legislator, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Sandra Day O'Connor, because she held her own opinions strongly, but listened to others and treated them with respect.

Are you interested in running for a different political office (for example, the U.S. Congress or governor) in the future?

no

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

AzNOW, Moms Demand Action, Better Ballot Arizona so far.

What committees interest you?

Education, Housing, water

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

I am running clean elections because I believe in total transparency in election financing, and the government should be the same.

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

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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.

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Barbara Fike campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024	Arizona House of Representatives District 28	Lost general	$1,748	$2,578
Grand total			$1,748	$2,578
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Election Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

See also

2026 Elections

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Government

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External links

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Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Arizona House of Representatives

Leadership

Speaker of the House:Steve Montenegro

Majority Leader:Michael Carbone

Minority Leader:Oscar De Los Santos

Representatives

District 1

Selina Bliss (R)

Quang Nguyen (R)

District 2

Stephanie Simacek (D)

Justin Wilmeth (R)

District 3

Alexander Kolodin (R)

Cody Reim (R)

District 4

Pamela Carter (R)

Matt Gress (R)

District 5

Sarah Liguori (D)

Aaron Marquez (D)

District 6

Mae Peshlakai (D)

Myron Tsosie (D)

District 7

Walter Blackman (R)

David Marshall (R)

District 8

Janeen Connolly (D)

Brian Garcia (D)

District 9

Lorena Austin (D)

Seth Blattman (D)

District 10

Ralph Heap (R)

Justin Olson (R)

District 11

Junelle Cavero (D)

Oscar De Los Santos (D)

District 12

Patricia Contreras (D)

Anastasia Travers (D)

District 13

Jeff Weninger (R)

Julie Willoughby (R)

District 14

Laurin Hendrix (R)

Khyl Powell (R)

District 15

Neal Carter (R)

Michael Way (R)

District 16

Chris Lopez (R)

Teresa Martinez (R)

District 17

Rachel Keshel (R)

Kevin Volk (D)

District 18

Nancy Gutierrez (D)

Christopher Mathis (D)

District 19

Lupe Diaz (R)

Gail Griffin (R)

District 20

Alma Hernandez (D)

Betty Villegas (D)

District 21

Consuelo Hernandez (D)

Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (D)

District 22

Lupe Contreras (D)

Elda Luna-Nájera (D)

District 23

Michele Pena (R)

Mariana Sandoval (D)

District 24

Anna Abeytia (D)

Lydia Hernandez (D)

District 25

Michael Carbone (R)

Nick Kupper (R)

District 26

Cesar Aguilar (D)

Quantá Crews (D)

District 27

Lisa Fink (R)

Tony Rivero (R)

District 28

David Livingston (R)

Beverly Pingerelli (R)

District 29

Steve Montenegro (R)

James Taylor (R)

District 30

Leo Biasiucci (R)

John Gillette (R)

Republican Party (33)

Democratic Party (27)