Lauren Kuby won the LD8 Senate seat in 2024 after two terms on the Tempe City Council, where she served as vice mayor and led a 2018 city dark-money disclosure measure that 91% of voters approved. She ran for the Corporation Commission in 2022 and lost. She was a sustainability scientist at Arizona State University. She plans to reintroduce a bill barring voucher money from private college tuition.
Prominent Endorsements
Arizona ListAzNA PACIndivisible MesaSierra Club
Candidate resources
Self-reported endorsements
- AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes
- Rep. Adelita Grijalva
- State Sen. Analise Ortiz
- Arizona Education Association
- Maricopa Area Labor Federation
- Equality AZ
- Unite Here! Local 11
- Worker Power
- United Food & Commercial Workers Local 99
- UA Local 469 (Pipefitters)
- Arizona List
- Civic Engagement Beyond Voting
- AFSCME
- Teamsters Local 104
- Lead Locally
- Jane Fonda Climate PAC
- Climate Cabinet
- Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter
- Third Act
- Communications Workers of America
- Indivisible Mesa
- Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate
- Arizona Families for Vaccines
- Maricopa County Young Democrats
- Arizona College Dems
- Arizona High School Democrats
- Center for Freethought Equality
- Honorable Raquel Teran
- Honorable Anna Tovar
- Scottsdale Councilwoman Solange Whitehead
- Scottsdale Councilwoman Maryann McAllen
- State Sen. Lela Alston
- State Sen. Mitzi Epstein
- State Sen. Theresa Hatathlie
- State Sen. Eva Diaz
- State Sen. Catherine Miranda
- State Sen. Rosanna Gabaldon
- State Sen. Brian Fernandez
- State Rep. Brian Garcia
- State Rep. Aaron Marquez
- State Rep. Mariana Sandoval
- State Rep. Stephanie Simacek
- State Rep. Junelle Cavero
- State Rep. Cesar Aguilar
- State Rep. Betty Villegas.
Candidate Questionnaire
Top Issues
Lowering the cost of living by investing affordable housing and reducing energy bills; 2) investing in healthcare and public education by reforming ESAs, renovating school facilities, retaining teachers, and supporting higher education; and 3) protecting our environment by fighting harmful data centers, transitioning to clean energy, and enacting a Rural Groundwater Management Act.
Professional Experience
- Current Arizona State Senator (LD8)
- ASU Global Futures Scientist
- Manager of ASU's Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family
- Manager of Community Engagement, ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation
- Co-Owner, Glacier Games Company
- Communications Director, Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism
- Manager, Homeless Hotline
Education
- Arizona State University (Master's in Public History, with certificate in Scholarly Editing)
- The University of Chicago (Bachelor's in American History)
Political Offices
- Arizona State Senate (LD8)
- SRP Board
- Arizona Corporation Commission
- Tempe City Councilmember
- Tempe Vice Mayor
- Democratic Precinct Committee Member
- Democratic State Committeeperson
Political Organizations
- Arizona Democratic Party
- Voter Choice Arizona
- Working Families Party
- Legislative District 8
- Legislative District 26 (chair)
Debate
In Other News
Where’s the beef?: After the House passed it with overwhelming bipartisan support back in February, the Senate approved GOP Rep. Quang Nguyen’s HB2762 by a wide margin. The bill will require any food retailer that makes products from animal cells — namely, lab-grown meat — to be labeled as “cell-cultivated” or “cell-cultured,” which is hardly an appealing stamp. It’s named “The Andy Groseta Act" after a third-generation Arizona rancher who died last year. One of the few no votes came from Democratic Sen. Lauren Kuby, who said it was being pushed by the beef industry and would come as a detriment to sustainable meat-raising alternatives. “I have a beef with this bill and I vote no,” Kuby said. (June 10, 2026)
2026-06-10
Zipps raids fallout: Federal officials said they arrested 35 undocumented immigrants during Monday’s raids of 15 Zipps Sports Grill locations in the Phoenix area, per ABC15's Hector Gonzales reports. Zipps executives said they haven’t been provided with “any charging documents or detailed information beyond what has been publicly released by federal authorities.” AZFamily got ahold of the first page of the warrant (but not the entire document), which declares the raid was “for the purpose of interrogation and civil administrative arrest of illegal aliens.” ICE said potential violations include “unlawful employment of undocumented workers, identity theft and document fraud.” Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Lauren Kuby, who along with Rep. Brian Garcia was among the observers who were pepper-sprayed at Zipps’ downtown Tempe location on Monday, said it was “disturbing to see our community attacked,” the Republic’s Helen Rummel reports. (January 29, 2026)
2026-01-29
Citizens, not residents: State Sen. Jake Hoffman says state officials should take over the counting for the decennial census, at an estimated cost of $158 million, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer reports. He wants to get a measure on the 2026 ballot for voters to decide whether non-citizens should be included in the count, even though the census is meant to include all residents, not just citizens. Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan called it “gerrymandering,” while Sen. Lauren Kuby, also a Democrat, said officials knocking on doors and asking if people are citizens could have a “chilling” effect on people responding to the census. (February 19, 2025)
2025-02-19
We should have been consultants: Democratic Rep. Lauren Kuby thinks that by renaming the Arizona Corporation Commission, she might be able to get people to pay attention to Arizona’s powerful “fourth branch” of government, per the Capitol Times’ Reagan Priest. Unfortunately, Kuby wants to call it the “Public Utility and Corporation Commission,” which is far too boring a name to achieve her stated goal. We’d suggest the “Arizona Power Players Panel” which brings a little dramatic flair to regulating business and utilities. (February 10, 2025)
2025-02-10