A judge is deciding whether Democrat Alma Hernandez can stay on the 2026 ballot in Legislative District 20, after fellow Democrats challenged her candidacy over more than $20,000 in alleged unpaid campaign finance fines.

Rocque Perez, a former Tucson city council member, and Luz Espinoza Burruel filed nearly identical suits against Hernandez, who has represented Legislative District 20 in the state house since 2019 and is seeking reelection, alleging she racked up the fines by filing several campaign finance reports hundreds of days late between 2018 and 2023.

Public finance records from Hernandez's previous campaign show more than $20,000 in fines tied to late reports, including a $2,875 fine for the 2022 first-quarter filing.

At a hearing Monday, Judge Cynthia Kuhn asked both sides to submit written arguments laying out the facts of the case and how they believe the law applies, centered on whether Hernandez's unpaid fines constitute liabilities — the standard that would remove her from the ballot. Kuhn has until Thursday to issue a ruling.

Hernandez's defense leaned on a 2018 Arizona Supreme Court ruling that found candidates could not be disqualified for penalties related to late campaign finance reports unless those penalties had been enforced by state agencies, according to Arizona Public Media's Nick Rommel.

"These filings are not technicalities. Campaign finance disclosure is one of the only tools the public has to understand who is shaping elected officials' priorities, who they are accountable to, and whose interests are closest to power," Perez said in a news release. "At a time when corporations and special interests continue to shape decision-making, the public deserves to know who's beholden to them."

The Hernandez family is well known in southern Arizona Democratic politics. Siblings Alma, Consuelo and Daniel Hernandez have all held public office in the region.

Consuelo Hernandez, Democratic representative for Legislative District 21, faces a similar challenge over campaign fines that were unpaid at the time she filed for reelection, according to the Arizona Daily Star. A resident in her district, represented by the same attorney as the Alma Hernandez plaintiffs, filed the challenge over nearly $19,000 in alleged unpaid campaign finance fines. A hearing in that case was scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Hernandez's nomination paper, filed March 23, states under penalty of perjury that she had no outstanding judgments of $1,000 or more against her from campaign finance enforcement. The lawsuit argues otherwise.

"Based on the very record presented to the court, the Hernandez family accrued thousands of dollars in fines for noncompliance in that respect coming into this year," Perez said. "I believe the plaintiff counsel in the other case will make a worthwhile argument in an appeal to the Supreme Court."

Alma Hernandez told Tucson Spotlight the challenges filed against her candidacy were "baseless attempts" to disqualify her from the race.

"I am confident that the court will reject them," she said. "As always, I am committed to respecting Arizona's laws and election procedures and dedicated to serving my constituents."

Perez disagreed.

"If ever there were a time to set a new precedent for campaign finance compliance and equal enforcement, it would be now, under a Democratic Governor, Democratic Secretary of State, and Democratic Attorney General," Perez said.

Quentin Agnello is a University of Arizona alum and freelance journalist in Tucson. Contact him at qsagnello@gmail.com.

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