Human Rights Campaign Arizona State Director Bridget Sharpe released the following statement:

“The Human Rights Campaign is proud to endorse U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly for reelection from Arizona. Sen. Kelly has been a steadfast advocate for LGBTQ+ rights throughout his time in public life. Arizonans know that the fight for equality is far from over. We need to re-elect Sen. Kelly to help ensure we have a pro-equality majority in the U.S. Senate and deliver on our nation’s founding promise of full equality for all.”

Sen. Mark Kelly released the following statement:

“Every Arizonan deserves to live their lives as who they are, free from any discrimination. In the Senate I’m working to make that a reality by standing up to renewed attacks against the LGBTQ+ community and supporting the Equality Act. I’m grateful to have the support of the Human Rights Campaign as we continue this important work.”

Sen. Kelly is committed to fighting for progress on key legislation to advance equality for 242,000 LGBTQ+ Arizonans and more than 20 million LGBTQ+ people nationwide. He is an original cosponsor of the Equality Act, crucial federal legislation that would finally guarantee explicit protections for LGBTQ+ people under our nation's existing civil rights laws. Arizona is one of 29 states where our LGBTQ+ neighbors aren't fully protected from discrimination because of who they are.

HRC’s Commitment to Arizona

HRC endorsed Sen. Mark Kelly in his bid for the U.S. Senate in 2020. Equality Voters, including the 1.3 million in Arizona, are a voting bloc of demographically and geographically diverse Americans who are united by the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality. Equality Voters are younger, more racially diverse, and more female than the general electorate, they recognize and trust the HRC brand, and they are more likely to identify with issue-specific organizations than candidates or political parties.

HRC has had staff and resources on the ground in Arizona since 2017. Across the country, HRC PAC works every day to elect pro-equality leaders who support policies that will support the rights and lives of LGBTQ+ people. During the 2020 election cycle, HRC staff on the ground recruited 5,800 individual volunteers nationwide who completed 28,500 hours of voter contact in more than 2,650 volunteer events. HRC engaged in robust digital and online GOTV efforts, including sending over 2.7 million person-to-person text messages, a massive increase from 2018 when approximately 500,000 texts were sent. HRC sent over 2.5 million mail pieces, had over 930,000 phone conversations with voters, and engaged more than 200,000 voters through HRC’s voter dashboard at hrc.org/vote.