Elected officials share hopes for future under new administration
Elected officials on the state and local level have high hopes for the next four years as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris assume their responsibilities at the White House.
On Twitter, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) shared her take on the inauguration of the nation’s 46th president.
“Today’s inauguration marks a renewed commitment for our country to remain the shining light and model for democracy and peaceful transitions of power, where the people’s
voice is the law of the land,” Sinema said. “Now is also the time to deliver on the needs of everyday Americans struggling with the health and economic consequences of the pandemic.”
Sinema noted that while she doesn’t agree with President Biden on every issue, she vowed “to continue working across the aisle, seeking compromise instead of sowing division – because we are in this together. Regardless of who each of us voted for, Americans deserve a government that is worthy of us and working for us.”
Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ-3) shared similar sentiments, lauding President Biden as an empathetic leader who “will work hard to address the issues our nation faces.”
“Today is a new day in America,” Grijalva said. “It’s a day for all Americans who love this country, love their neighbors and want to see everyone not just scraping by to survive, but thrive.”
Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls said he’s looking forward to working with the new administration to advocate for the city’s prosperity and wellbeing.
“I appreciated my close working relationship with the Trump Administration and welcome the opportunity to work with the Biden Administration on issues important to our citizens,” the mayor said. “As I have always done, I will work with this administration when I can and make it clear when I believe that its policies are not in Yuma’s best interests. As mayor, it’s my duty to work closely with our governmental partners at all levels for the betterment of the people of Yuma.”
As for Rep. Tim Dunn (AZ-13), he’s optimistic that the new administration will capitalize on the strides made by its predecessors and “deliver on uniting America.”
“There’s opportunity for continued growth for the United States and for Arizona,” Dunn said. “We’re going to hold (Biden’s) feet to the fire; he said in his inauguration speech he wants to unite America, and we need to make sure we’re enacting policies that will continue its growth.”
For Yuma, Dunn hopes regulating immigration, maintaining a “fair and livable” minimum wage while “keeping small businesses in business” and increasing border communities’ access to COVID-19 vaccinations rank among President Biden’s priorities.
“We’ve been working with our U.S. senators on more vaccines and hoping, now that Biden’s actually inaugurated, that we’ll be able to change the allocation for border communities,” Dunn said. “It wasn’t Trump’s fault, it was HHS (the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) and the way they were rolling things out. We really need more vaccines coming to Yuma; we don’t have near enough.”
Likewise, Yuma County Board of Supervisors Chairman Tony Reyes has faith that the Biden-Harris Administration will prove helpful in streamlining vaccine distribution as well as addressing Yuma-specific issues like immigration.
“For a border area like Yuma County, issues like illegal immigration are really at the top of the list; at least they are for me,” Reyes said. “Going from an administration that was, in most cases, anti-immigration to an administration that is keenly aware of immigration, I’m really looking forward to that. Really the best way to describe it is ‘good hopes’ – I have a lot of hopes that things are going to be different with this administration.”
In terms of unity, Reyes felt that part of the president’s inaugural speech were “words we needed to hear” following the various issues and events that marked 2020.
“People might have assumed that democracy was weak in some ways, but I think that whatever doesn’t kill it makes it stronger and I think we are now stronger because of what we went through this year,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what party you belong to, when we’re not united, things get tougher and things get harder to accomplish. I’m hoping we can move forward as a nation united.”