Advancing Arizona, also known as Advancing AZ and Honest Arizona, is a left-of-center advocacy organization that seeks to defeat Republican candidates. Led by Democrats, Honest Arizona fundraises under the name Advancing Arizona and advocates for increased government spending, raising the minimum wage, increased government involvement in health care, and opposition to tax cuts. Described as a “Democratic dark money group,”  Advancing Arizona/Honest Arizona supported the initiatives of the Biden administration, worked with left-leaning groups to defeat then-U.S. Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ), and attacks Republican members of Congress.  ¹

History

Advancing Arizona was formed in 2019 as a social advocacy organization. ² Advancing Arizona and Honest Arizona are both funded through Advancing Arizona, a which uses both names. ³ The first executive director at the formation of Honest Arizona was Niles Harris who was the campaign manager for Katie Hobbs (D) in her campaign for Arizona secretary of state in 2018. ⁴ The communications director from 2019 to 2022 for Advancing Arizona was a former communications director of the Arizona Democratic Party. ⁵ Politico described Advancing Arizona as a “Democratic dark money group.” ¹

Activities

Honest Arizona has published left-leaning fact sheets targeting U.S. Representatives David Schweikert (R-AZ) and Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ).  ⁶  Honest Arizona claims Rep. Schweikert voted to cut social security and Medicare, voted against lowering prescription drug prices, voted against raising the minimum wage, and voted to cut taxes for the rich. ⁶ Rep. Ciscomani has been accused by Honest Arizona of voting against the Inflation Reduction Act that would enable the IRS to go after tax cheats, voting to raise energy costs by not voting for the same act, voting to limit abortion access, voting against Social Security and Medicare, and voting for tax breaks for the rich. ⁶

Honest Arizona published a fact sheet alleging the Republican Party only wants to give tax breaks to the wealthy and not the poor and middle class, cut funding to veterans, eliminate preschool slots for kids, threaten medical care for senior citizens, and jeopardize health coverage and access for Arizonians. ⁶ Honest Arizona has authored three reports praising the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). ⁶

Honest Arizona has claimed that surging grocery food prices were linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and accused grocery chains of price gouging. ⁶ Honest Arizona attacks clothing retailers, gas companies, farms and meatpacking facilities, and the auto industry for hiking prices purely for profit and using the pandemic as an excuse. ⁶

Advancing Arizona spent almost $1.8 million to defeat then-U.S. Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ). ⁷ Steve Gomez, the president of Advancing Arizona, has appeared in an advertisement for the Democratic-aligned group Majority Forward. ⁸

Honest Arizona is listed as an affiliate of Fair Share America, a coalition that coordinates left-of-center efforts to raise taxes on corporations and high-income individuals that was created by the Rockefeller Foundation and is supported by the National Education Association (NEA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and other labor unions and left-of-center public policy advocacy organizations. ^{9 10}

Opposition to Second Trump Administration

​In 2025, Honest Arizona intensified its efforts to oppose the Trump administration and Republican members of Arizona’s congressional delegation. The organization focused on defeating Republican candidates and advocating for increased government spending, raising the minimum wage, and expanded government involvement in health care. ¹¹

The group organized a ‘Tax Talk’ event with State Senator Analise Ortiz (D-Phoenix) and Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans president Linda Somo that called the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act the “Trump tax scam” and quoted Sen. Ortiz saying “When it comes to the federal funding cuts that we’ve seen, we’re seeing cuts to health care and cancer research, veterans benefits, and a lot of these federal agencies have grants that trickle down to the states.” ¹²

In February 2025, the group organized and participated in protests across the state targeting U.S. Representatives David Schweikert (R-AZ) and Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) over proposed federal budget cuts. The demonstrations were held in Phoenix and Tucson, among other places, and were part of a coordinated effort by the group to foster opposition to a budget resolution backed by House Republicans. Honest Arizona and its allies claimed the resolution would pave the way for cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, and other federal benefit programs to fund tax cuts. ¹¹

Events

For Earth Day 2024, Honest Arizona printed and placed yard signs around Arizona touting the Inflation Reduction Act for helping the environment and lowering energy costs. ¹³

During Major League Baseball’s spring training, Honest Arizona attended an Arizona Diamondbacks game to give out a baseball-type trading card on U.S. Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ) claiming he voted against Social Security and Medicare, protects wealthy tax cheats, and was most likely to raise costs on working families. ¹⁴

In November 2023, Honest Arizona along with the AFL-CIO and MoveOn protested outside the offices of Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) and Rep .David Schwikert (R-AZ) in opposition to federal budget cuts. ¹⁵ In 2020, Honest Arizona in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, Indivisible, and Arizona Health Care Voters collaborated to host an empty chair townhall to attack then-U.S. Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ). ¹⁶

Funding

In 2022, Advancing Arizona received $2.75 million from the “dark money” group Sixteen Thirty Fund. ¹⁷ The Sixteen Thirty Fund, an organization controlled by the left-of-center group Arabella Advisors, also paid Advancing Arizona $8.75 million in 2021, $2,477,000 in 2020, and $3,950,000 in 2019. ¹⁸

Finances

In 2021, Advancing Arizona had net assets of $484,211. ² In 2021, Advancing Arizona recorded $7,635,001 in revenue and had $7,351,876 in expenses. ² In 2020, Advancing Arizona raised $3,524,304 in revenue and had $3,895,678 in expenses. ²

1. King, May and Zach Montellaro. “How the Census Bureau is Adapting to the Pandemic.” Politico. July 9, 2020. Accessed June 3, 2024. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-score/2020/07/09/how-the-census-bureau-is-adapting-to-the-pandemic-789053.
2.  Advancing Arizona, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2021.
3. “Honest Arizona.” Honest Arizona. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://www.honestarizona.org; Lacy, Akela. “A Crop of Dark-Money Groups is Backing Democratic Efforts to Retake the Senate.” The Intercept. February 24, 2020. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://theintercept.com/2020/02/24/dark-money-democrats-senate-2020-elections/.
4. “Niles Harris.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/niles-harris-2a378b56/.
5. “Les Braswell.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/les-braswell-b2385b27/.
6. “Get the Facts About Key Issues Impacting Arizonans.” Honest Arizona. Accessed June 3, 2024. https://www.honestarizona.org.
7. Wilson, Reid. “Democrats Spend Big to Put Senate in Play.” The Hill. December 12, 2019. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/474196-democrats-spend-big-to-put-senate-in-play/.
8. “Steve.” Majority Forward. Accessed June 3, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0HCFfH4rS4; Lacy, Akela. “A Crop of Dark-Money Groups is Backing Democratic Efforts to Retake the Senate.” The Intercept. February 24, 2020. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://theintercept.com/2020/02/24/dark-money-democrats-senate-2020-elections/; Advancing Arizona, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2021.
9. Hamilton, Masha. “Born at Bellagio: A Fair Share Tax Coalition.” The Rockefeller Foundation, September 19, 2024. https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/grantee-impact-stories/born-at-bellagio-a-fair-share-tax-coalition/
10. “Introducing Fair Share America.” State Revenue Alliance, September 16, 2024. https://www.staterevenuealliance.org/introducing-fsa.
11. ​”At Protests Across State, Arizonans Demanded Congressmen Schweikert and Ciscomani Stop Funding Cuts to Food Assistance and Healthcare.” Honest Arizona. February 24, 2025. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://www.honestarizona.org/news/at-protests-across-state-arizonans-demanded-congressmen-schweikert-and-ciscomani-stop-funding-cuts-to-food-assistance-and-healthcare
12. “Honest Arizona Hosts Tax Talk to Educate Arizonans on Trump Tax Scam’s Impact on Working Families.” Honest Arizona. February 21, 2025. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://www.honestarizona.org/news/honest-arizona-hosts-tax-talk-to-educate-arizonans-on-trump-tax-scams-impact-on-working-families
13. Honest Arizona on Earth Day: Protect the Inflation Reduction Act to Save Arizonians Money, Mitigate Impact of Climate Change.” Honest Arizona. April 22, 2024. Accessed June 3, 2024. https://www.honestarizona.org/news/honest-arizona-on-earth-day-protect-the-inflation-reduction-act-to-save-arizonans-money-mitigate-impact-of-climate-change.
14. “As Spring Training Winds Down, Schweikert Already Proving to Be MVP for Wealthy & Corporations.” Honest Arizona. March 25, 2024. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://www.honestarizona.org/news/as-spring-training-winds-down-schweikert-already-proving-to-be-mvp-for-wealthy-amp-corporations.
15. “ICYMI: AFL-CIO, Honest Arizona, and MoveOn Demand Ciscomani, Schweikert Stop Unpopular Cuts, Keep Gov’t Open.” Honest Arizona. November 17, 2023. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://www.honestarizona.org/news/icymi-afl-cio-honest-arizona-moveon-demand-ciscomani-schweikert-stop-unpopular-cuts-keep-govt-open.
16. Stevenson, Cameron. “It’s Been Three Years Since Sen. Martha McSally’s Last Town Hall Appearance.” The Copper Courier. February 19, 2020. Accessed June 3, 2024. https://coppercourier.com/2020/02/19/its-been-three-years-since-sen-martha-mcsallys-last-town-hall-appearance/.
17. Sixteen Thirty Fund, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2022.
18. Ludwig, Hayden. “Arabella Advisors’ ‘Dark Money’ Backs Biden – Expect Even More. Capital Research Center. July 21, 2020. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://capitalresearch.org/article/arabella-advisors-dark-money-backs-biden-expect-even-more/; Sixteen Thirty Fund, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2021; Sixteen Thirty Fund, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2020; Sixteen Thirty Fund, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2019.