In addition to being elected as Flagstaff mayor in 2016 and re-elected two years later, third-generation Arizonan Coral Evans is the executive director of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association and owns a small bath and beauty business.
Evans is running as a Democrat for the Arizona House of Representatives in District 6, and she believes that her potential colleagues have not been working hard enough. As the mayor of a city that faced a serious COVID-19 outbreak, she believes that when the challenges became serious, the state’s leaders failed to face the challenge.
“First and foremost, our state representatives went home when the pandemic hit. I cannot be more blunt than that,” Evans said. “They chose to leave it up to the reps of the various cities, towns and the governor and to figure out what to do. We already have a major problem of access to health care in this state. I think there is a lack of guidance as to what is COVID, how do you get COVID, and should you wear a mask.”
Evans praised leaders for efforts to set up mobile testing sites, but she argued the state needed to do more to bolster rural health departments and provide food and necessary basic care, as well as to provide loans and property tax relief to small businesses. She argues that the only way for the economy to recover is to get the pandemic under control.
“In order to have a strong economy you’ve got to have well workers,” Evans said.
Evans’ view of a sclerotic legislature extends beyond COVID- 19. She expressed frustration with Propositions 207 and 208, which she feels only came about because of failures of the legislature to act on the relevant issues. Evans expressed support for legalizing recreational marijuana, but worried that Proposition 207 as written would be a bad way of doing so, since it includes a requirement to expunge records, something that Arizona law currently has no way of doing. She argues that after a marijuana legalization referendum almost passed in the state in 2016, the legislature should have taken that as a sign of the need to figure out how to do it right.
Evans supports the idea of Proposition 208, which would raise taxes on the additions on personal income over $250,000 and $500,000 for joint filers to pay for increased education spending, but is frustrated that it has to be done through the referendum because the legislature should increase education funding.
“I think it’s absolutely appalling that every two years, we the people have to go to the ballot and ask for money to pay for our education system,” Evans said.
Evans takes issue with the state’s spending priorities and especially with its lack of funding for education. She argues that the 20% by 2020 plan that raised teacher pay since 2018 did not go far enough. But she also feels that more funding from the state needs to go into community colleges, which she believes should be able to offer four-year degrees. She committed to seek funding for Yavapai College to be able to open a career and technical education school in the Verde Valley.
“Right now there’s a shortage of plumbers, there’s a shortage of highway construction, there’s a shortage of journeymen electricians, there’s a shortage of welders and roofers,” she said.
Evans argued for securing funding to increase rural broadband access, which she argued would bolster high-paying jobs in Northern Arizona.
Evans argues that an important way to improve rural communities is to improve rural health care — especially in the time of COVID-19 — and believes that the way to do so is through incentivizing doctors to begin their practice in a rural community.
