The Washington Post Highlights How Democratic Candidates for Governor are Running on Their Working Class Roots

For Immediate Release:
July 9, 2026

Contact:
Olivia Davis, 202-739-2506
odavis@demgovs.org

The Washington Post Highlights How Democratic Candidates for Governor are Running on Their Working Class Roots

New reporting from the Washington Post covers how “a number of Democratic candidates in key races, especially for governor” are highlighting their working-class roots and personal stories of struggling to make ends meet in states like Arizona, Ohio, Nevada, and New Mexico in an “election that will likely turn on the state of the economy.”

In stark contrast, Republican candidates for governor continue to tout their support for the disastrous and deeply unpopular federal budget law that is driving up costs on everything from health care to groceries to housing, and it’s proving to be a massive vulnerability for their campaigns.DGA Executive Director Meghan Meehan-Draper told the Washington Post: “It’s very important because it’s authentic to who they are and affordability, we know, is the main issue in the election right now.”

Read the reporting here and see key highlights below:

• Now a number of Democratic candidates in key races, especially for governor, have working-class roots, something Democrats with eyes on flipping and holding governor’s mansions nationwide are pushing candidates to highlight as often as possible in an election that will likely turn on the state of the economy.

• “We have governors who can uniquely relate to those issues,” said Meghan Meehan-Draper, the executive director of the Democratic Governors Association. “It’s very important because it’s authentic to who they are and affordability, we know, is the main issue in the election right now.”

• Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, running for a second term in the closely watched battleground state, grew up in a working-class family in Tempe and has talked about relying on food stamps and how she drove for Uber (her stint as a driver was for three months in late 2016, per reporting by the Arizona Republic). All of these themes were in the first ad of her reelection campaign.

• Deb Haaland, a former Cabinet secretary running to be the next governor in New Mexico, has talked about how she relied on Medicaid and SNAP while raising her child as a single mother. The first two ads of her reelection campaign focused on these issues. “Everything’s expensive. Our schools need support. Deb Haaland’s lived those struggles, and she’s fighting to make things better,” says a mother in one of Haaland’s ads, leaning on her personal story.

• Amy Acton, a former top health official in Ohio who is the Democratic nominee for governor in the state, has talked at length about dealing with bouts of homelessness and abuse as a child. “When I was little, I would dream that my home would feel safe, that I wouldn’t go to bed hungry, that our heat would stay on,” Acton says in an ad.

• Aaron Ford, the Nevada attorney general who is challenging incumbent Gov. Joe Lombardo (R), became a single dad while in college and relied on Medicaid and food stamps to feed his family, something he often talks about on the campaign trail.

• Meehan-Draper argued, however, that each of these candidates’ ability to authentically question Republicans’ economic record — already a focus for Democrats — will be core to this election.

• “It’s a good contrast‚” Meehan-Draper said of Democrats’ ability to “communicate honestly” about their “really unique stories about how they overcame poverty or relied on benefits,” when compared with Republicans’ economic record.

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