Kristie O’Brien Went Old-School to Flip an East Valley Senate Seat

Kristie O’Brien spent much of the past year knocking on doors in the East Valley, sometimes accompanied by her eight-year-old twin boys. She talked to Democrats, Republicans, independents and anyone else who would answer the bell. She even gave her personal phone number to thousands of voters.

On November 3, the strategy paid off. O’Brien defeated Republican state Rep. Julie Willoughby by approximately ten percentage points in Legislative District 13, helping Democrats complete their historic takeover of the Arizona Legislature.

“I went old school, and I feel like that’s what delivered the district,” O’Brien told the Arizona Globe.

O’Brien, a Chandler native who works as a mediator, had run for the state Senate once before, losing to Republican Steve Yarbrough in 2014. After that defeat, she stepped away from electoral politics to care for her aging father and raise her children, although she remained politically active as a poll observer.

When Republican Sen. J.D. Mesnard reached his term limit, O’Brien saw another opportunity.

She knew Democrats had a chance in the competitive district, which includes much of Chandler and portions of Gilbert and Sun Lakes. Ruben Gallego had carried it in his successful 2024 U.S. Senate race. Still, O’Brien wasn’t expecting a landslide.

“As we got closer to the election, we heard rumblings of plus six, and I thought I could squeak out a win,” she said. “I overperformed.”

O’Brien credits the broader political environment and an organized Democratic campaign operation, which included coordinated canvassing with House candidates Rockee Armstrong and Jacob Weinberg. The district was targeted by the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, and the Democratic caucus provided campaign staff.

But she believes the personal conversations mattered most.

She encountered what she called “Reagan Republicans” who felt alienated from their own party. Others were unhappy about the war in Iran. Libertarians and independent voters also appeared receptive to her message.

“I’m not a typical Democrat, I’m a product of our district, I am a moderate,” she said.

Unlike digital advertising and political commercials, which she described as largely noise, a visit from a candidate gave voters an opportunity to engage in a real conversation.

“It’s different when someone comes to your door,” she said.

The campaign also became a family affair. O’Brien brought her twin boys along while collecting signatures to qualify for the ballot, turning the activity into time they could spend together.

She acknowledged being apprehensive about running in the aftermath of the assassination of a Minnesota state legislator and her husband in 2025. But O’Brien said the reception she encountered in her own community reassured her.

“The Chandler that I grew up in, we had each other’s backs,” she said. “There’s a real desire for us to get away from this partisan divisiveness.”

Even voters who disagreed with her, she said, were generally cordial.

Now O’Brien is preparing to join a Democratic Senate majority, part of the party’s first period of unified control of Arizona state government since 1966.

She expects the new legislative leadership to include a substantial moderate contingent.

“People will be pleasantly surprised that there’s a balance of moderates,” she said. “I am not a socialist. I talk to everybody.”

Her immediate priorities include affordability, consumer protection, public education and water policy.

O’Brien said Arizona should consider stronger consumer protections, including restrictions on price gouging and surveillance pricing, the practice of using consumer data to tailor prices.

But water is a particular interest. She previously worked on federal clean-air and clean-water legislation involving ten U.S. senators, and said she encountered intense concern about water costs while campaigning in Chandler and Gilbert.

Some residents of expensive homes told her they were receiving $400 monthly water bills, she said. Gilbert has raised its water rates substantially over the past three years, including a 25% increase in 2026.

O’Brien believes Arizona needs a more comprehensive approach to water policy, particularly with the prospect of further Colorado River shortages and declining groundwater supplies in rural communities.

She would support the creation of a dedicated Senate committee on water issues and would welcome a role on the committee if Senate President Priya Sundareshan establishes one.

Education is another priority. O’Brien attended Mesa Public Schools and graduated from Dobson High School. She expressed concern about Arizona’s public-school performance and the loss of teachers to other states.

She also wants tighter oversight of the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account voucher program, which she believes has diverted resources from public schools.

“We were never, despite the narrative that other people wanted to paint, anti-parents choosing,” she said. “We were against the unchecked fraud and abuse with the ESA voucher system. We wanted to put guardrails on that system.”

For now, O’Brien is adjusting to the unexpected scale of her party’s victory.

Visiting the Capitol on Tuesday, she stopped to look at a photograph of her childhood hero Sandra Day O’Connor, who served in the Arizona Senate in the early 1970s before becoming the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

O’Brien was struck by the history of a chamber that has not had a Democratic majority in decades.

On election night, she recalled, she left her local district celebration with a nine-point lead. By the time she reached the larger Democratic gathering, the margin had grown, and supporters were greeting her as senator-elect.

“We thought this could happen, and now it’s happening,” she said. “I’m already having meetings. We’re excited, and we’re going to get things done.”