Brian Fernandez
2023 - Present
2025
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Brian Fernandez (Democratic Party) is a member of the Arizona State Senate, representing District 23. He assumed office on January 9, 2023. His current term ends on January 13, 2025.
Fernandez (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Arizona State Senate to represent District 23. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Fernandez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
The Yuma County Board of Supervisors appointed Fernandez to the position on November 22, 2021, to replace Charlene Fernandez (D).[1]
Biography
Brian Fernandez was born in Yuma, Arizona. He earned a high school diploma from Yuma High School and went on to earn a B.A. in broadcasting and communication from Arizona State University. His career experience includes working in software engineering, as a small business owner, as a technology entrepreneur, as a technology director with the United States Senate, as a technology advisor to the Congressional Black Caucus, as a project management coordinator with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, and as a technology consultant with BakerHostetler in Washington, D.C. Fernandez founded Neuronic Games, Symfodium, and Team State.[2][3]
Committee assignments
2023-2024
Fernandez was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Appropriations Committee
- Finance Committee
- Natural Resources and Energy Committee
- Joint Legislative Budget Committee
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Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Arizona State Senate District 23
Incumbent Brian Fernandez defeated Michelle Altherr in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 23 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brian Fernandez (D)  | 53.1 | 39,541 |
 | Michelle Altherr (R) | 46.9 | 34,882 | |
| Total votes: 74,423 | |||
| = 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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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 23
Incumbent Brian Fernandez defeated Jesus Lugo Jr. in the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 23 on July 30, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brian Fernandez | 60.3 | 6,943 |
 | Jesus Lugo Jr. | 39.7 | 4,562 | |
| Total votes: 11,505 | |||
| = 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 State Senate District 23
Michelle Altherr advanced from the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 23 on July 30, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michelle Altherr | 100.0 | 9,657 |
| Total votes: 9,657 | |||
| = 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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Campaign finance
Endorsements
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Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Fernandez in this election.
2022
State Senate
See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Arizona State Senate District 23
Brian Fernandez defeated Gary Garcia Snyder in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 23 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brian Fernandez (D) | 53.7 | 29,175 |
 | Gary Garcia Snyder (R) | 46.3 | 25,194 | |
| Total votes: 54,369 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 23
Brian Fernandez advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 23 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brian Fernandez | 100.0 | 13,365 |
| Total votes: 13,365 | |||
| = 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 State Senate District 23
Gary Garcia Snyder advanced from the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 23 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Gary Garcia Snyder | 100.0 | 10,752 |
| Total votes: 10,752 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign finance
State House
Brian Fernandez did not file to run for re-election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Brian Fernandez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Fernandez's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Brian Fernandez is an Arizona native elected to represent Legislative District 23 in the Arizona State Senate. Legislative District 23 covers most of Arizona’s border with Mexico and is a major international logistics throughway with a robust agricultural industry. Before being elected to the State Senate Brian Fernandez served as State Representative, where he secured millions of dollars for rural infrastructure projects to include: 20 million to expand Jack Rabbit Trail in the West Valley, and 34 million to build and improve Cesar Chavez Blvd in San Luis AZ. He also funded education voting for the historic 1-billion-dollar education budget and secured over 5 million dollars for rural undergraduate programs.
Prior to serving as an elected official Brian Fernandez was involved politically, assisting various campaigns including former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, former Congressman Ed Pastor and Congressman Ruben Gallego. He also worked for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Technology Director for the Congressional Black Caucus.
Brian Fernandez is a small business owner and tech entrepreneur. He co-founded Symphosium a tech company that created a CRM software for members of Congress. He is also the Founder and CEO of Team Smart, an Arizona based software startup doing business globally. Brian Fernandez has spent his career creating solutions for complex problems and is proud to bring that experience to the Arizona State Senate.
- Support Education: Pay public schools teachers and support staff competitive, living wages. Increase funding for vocational training and rural community colleges. Train our students for 21st century careers and keep Arizona’s economy growing strong through innovative, public-private partnerships with our local universities.
- Improve Water and Infrastructure: Invest in safe, reliable roads and bridges to meet the needs of our farmers, ranchers, local businesses and families. Ensure Arizonans have a 100-year water plan by finding new sources and leveraging smart water conservation and recycling solutions. Bring broadband and cellular service to underserved rural communities.
- Support The Economy: Lower the cost of housing by preventing out-of-state investment firms from taking thousands of properties off the market, so families can afford to buy their own homes. Offer gasoline rebates to working families to combat price gouging at the fuel pump and provide drivers with lower cost, cleaner fuel options in the future.
Healthcare, Education, the Economy, and the Environment
My grandparents, they immigrated to Arizona with no more than sixth-grade educations, but they worked hard to give my mom, and me, the opportunity to graduate from college.
Addressing the state's budget deficit and investing in water conservation and infrastructure
During the 2024 legislative session, I served on the Finance and Commerce, Natural Resources, Energy and Water, and Appropriations committees
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.
2022
Brian Fernandez did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Arizona scorecards, email suggestions to [email protected].
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 9 to July 31.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 10 to June 25.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 11 to June 30.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Arizona State Senate District 23 |
Officeholder Arizona State Senate District 23 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Arizona Republic, "Like mother, like son: Brian Fernandez chosen to replace mom, Charlene, as Yuma lawmaker," November 22, 2021
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Brian Fernandez," accessed January 14, 2023
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 28, 2024
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R) |
Arizona State Senate District 23 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by Charlene Fernandez (D) |
Arizona House of Representatives District 4 2021-2023 |
Succeeded by - |
