Teresa Leyba Ruiz (Arizona)
Teresa Leyba Ruiz (Democratic Party) is running for election for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction. She declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on July 21, 2026.[source]
Leyba Ruiz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2026
See also: Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on July 21, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. Additional general election candidates will be added here following the primary.
General election for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction
Stephen Neal Jr. is running in the general election for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Stephen Neal Jr. (No Labels Party)  | |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction
Teresa Leyba Ruiz is running in the Democratic primary for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction on July 21, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Teresa Leyba Ruiz | ||
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| = 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 Superintendent of Public Instruction
Incumbent Thomas C. Horne is running in the Republican primary for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction on July 21, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Thomas C. Horne | |
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| = 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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Endorsements
To view Leyba Ruiz's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Teresa Leyba Ruiz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Leyba Ruiz's responses.
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- Protect Taxpayers: Arizona taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent. Our current Superintendent conceals records surrounding Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) spending. In fact, he is being sued for withholding this information from Arizonans; I will prioritize transparency with your taxpayer dollars. As your Superintendent of Public Instruction, I will:
1) Create an ESA dashboard for transparent access to expenditures made with your tax funds. 2) End the automatic approval of ESA expenditures of $2,000 or less, which have cost the state over $124M.
3) Establish rigorous audit protocols to ensure every tax dollar is spent for the intended purpose of educating Arizona’s students. - Prepare Every Student: Arizona public schools serve all of our students. No matter their ability or background, every Arizona student deserves access to a high-quality education and the chance to succeed. As your Superintendent of Public Instruction, I will: 1) Expand access to early learning opportunities, such as literacy and universal pre-K. 2) Strengthen CTE and dual enrollment pathways by partnering with our labor unions. 3) Ensure students are safe and secure by increasing access to mental health professionals, free and reduced lunches, and enrichment activities. 4) Support dual language learners through robust immersion programs. 5) Broaden tutoring and after-school programs for students who need extra support.
- Respect Educators: As an educator of 35 years, I understand the challenges both in and outside of the classroom here in Arizona. Our current Superintendent uses his position and our resources to sow mistrust against educators. It’s time to flip the script. As your Superintendent of Public Instruction, I will: 1) Address the teacher shortage by restoring respect and trust towards educators. 2) Partner with community colleges and universities to create teacher recruitment pipelines and retention programs that provide support. 3) Advocate for increased teacher compensation so that our hardworking educators know they are valued. 4) Work with County Superintendents and rural districts to reinstate professional development programs.
Unions like Ironworkers Local 75 and the Arizona Building and Construction Trades Council.
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
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
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Candidate Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction |
Personal |
Footnotes
