Decision 2020 Candidate Profile: Senator Lisa Otondo

Otondo seeking reelection to the Arizona State Senate

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Yuma County voters head to the polls in just 60-days, and Sen. Lisa Otondo, (D-AZ 15) hopes they will send her back to the Arizona State Senate.

Voters first sent Otondo to the state senate in 2016. Before that she served four-years in the state House of Representatives.

Otondo was born and raised in Yuma, and still calls the city her home. However, she's also seen much of the world. She studied international policy both in the U.S., and abroad in France and Spain. She trained flight attendants in cross-cultural communication while working for American Airlines. Otondo also ran an international import/export business, and event taught English in China. She speaks five different languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Chinese.

Otondo taught public school for six years. That puts education among her top priorities.

She says she's been on the forefront of trying to make learning accessible for students. 

This includes eliminating the digital divide between rural areas and tribal communities, and investing in broadband connections. This important now more than ever as schools made the switch to virtual learning during the pandemic.

As the daughter of a farming family, Otondo says she also understands the importance of water rights in Yuma County.

She says she started an educational learning luncheon for water issues for legislatures at the Capitol. As water and agriculture remains a critical  component for Yuma County, she continues and plans on continuing to fight for these issues.

Otondo is endorsed by Arizona Farm Bureau, Humane Voters of AZ, AZ Academy of Family Physicians, AZ Nurses Association, and Stand for Children, to name a few.

For more on what Senator Otondo stands for visit her webpage.