Priya Sundareshan

Priya Sundareshan was born in and lives in Tucson, Arizona. Sundareshan earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006, an M.S. in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Arizona and a J.D. from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, both in 2011. Her career experience includes working as a director of the natural resource use and management clinic with the James E. Rogers College of Law and as an attorney.[2][3]

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Priya is running for State Senate in the new LD18 to make Arizona a leader in renewable energy, restore balance to our water shortage through conservation and efficiency, and improve our democracy by making voting easy and accessible to all.

Priya was born and raised in Tucson, and attended public schools in the district. She studied engineering at MIT and law and natural resource economics at the U of A, so she knows we need more science-based decision-making in politics. She has two young boys and wants her children and all children to inherit a sustainable world.

Priya has made environmental advocacy her career. She directs the natural resources law clinic at the University of Arizona. Before that, she advocated for sustainable fisheries with Environmental Defense Fund in DC and coordinated the environmental group coalition to prevent weakening of the Magnuson-Stevens Act in 2017-18.

Priya is also a voting rights advocate and has been leading voter protection efforts and engagement on redistricting within the Arizona Democratic Party as chair of its Election Integrity Committee. She ran the Arizona Democratic Party’s voter information hotline in 2018, and was a voter protection volunteer with the Democratic Party of Virginia in 2016 and 2017.

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?

We must create a sustainable, thriving Arizona for my children and all children to live in. This includes a public education system that is fully funded, using water responsibly, and taking action to address climate change by swiftly transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.Voting rights are fundamental to maintaining our democracy, and we must strengthen everyone's ability to access the ballot by making it easy and accessible to vote. We should not place barriers on the right to vote.Protecting our human rights is fundamental to making our democracy a reality. The right to control our own bodies and access abortion as one of many healthcare options during pregnancy, the right to contraception, the right to marry who we want, the right to be the gender we are comfortable being, and many more, must be protected from discrimination.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I have spent my career in environmental law and policy in an effort to reduce our use of fossil fuels and prevent climate change. Transitioning to renewable energy and revamping our transportation systems to minimize fossil fuel consumption is fundamental to ensuring that we leave a livable planet for our children.

I am also passionate about responsible water use, especially in our arid West. We need to reform our water laws so that they are based in science and aim for sustainable use to support our desert living.

I believe that voting must be easy and accessible for all, and this makes our democracy a reality. We should not be putting up barriers to vote, especially because such barriers fall harder on black and brown people, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

As a graduate of Tucson public schools, I want all children in Arizona to have the opportunity to attend full funded public schools with teachers and staff who are paid comparable to teachers in other states.

As a new mom who has recently been through pregnancy, we must protect the right to access the full suite of healthcare options during pregnancy, including abortion. Each person should be able to control their own body.

We must protect the human rights of everyone and their ability to be who they are and love who they wish. Discrimination has no place in our society.