State Rep. Kevin Volk, a Democrat, is seeking reelection to the Arizona House of Representatives in Legislative District 17, running alongside Democrat Holly Lyon, an Air Force veteran and former math teacher.

Republican Rep. Rachel Keshel is seeking another term and is joined on the GOP side by John Winchester, a government relations manager at Arizona State University. 

Legislative District 17 wraps around Tucson's north and east sides, stretching from Rincon Valley and Tanque Verde through Oro Valley and Marana to SaddleBrooke in southern Pinal County. Republicans hold a roughly 10 percentage point voter registration advantage in the district, one of the few in the state with split representation in the House. 

Volk was elected in 2024, defeating Republican incumbent Cory McGarr as a single-shot candidate and flipping one of the district's two House seats.

A Tucson native, Volk taught fifth grade, interned for then-U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, taught English in Mexico on a Fulbright scholarship and later founded a small business developing affordable housing in Tucson. In his first term, he has focused on affordable housing, early childhood education funding and water conservation.

Tucson Spotlight asked all the candidates their positions on groundwater regulation, affordable housing and public school funding.

Outside of the state's Active Management Areas, groundwater pumping in rural Arizona remains largely unmeasured and unregulated, and the Governor's Water Policy Council has proposed the Rural Groundwater Management Act to bring basic oversight to those areas.

"I was born and raised in Southern Arizona and grew up exploring our desert," Volk said. "We know water is a precious resource, and I think it's ridiculous that foreign and out-of-state entities are pumping unlimited groundwater and threatening our water security."

Volk pointed to the council's 29 members, who come from across the state and across party lines, and said the Legislature's refusal to consider the bill leaves Arizona in an increasingly vulnerable position.

"I think the time to act to protect our water is now," Volk said. "Let's hear that bill, discuss it, work together on it, and protect Arizona water so that it's available for Arizonans first."

Housing affordability is another top concern for district voters, with rents rising across the Tucson region and affordable stock in short supply.

Volk, who has developed housing through his own small business, said the state should focus less on subsidizing costs and more on lowering the cost of building homes in the first place. He pointed to lower-interest financing for infrastructure and home construction and to streamlining government processes that add time and expense to housing projects.

"I've knocked on doors and talked to constituents who have four generations living under one roof due to the lack of affordability," Volk said. "Arizonans, and their kids and grandkids, need more options for housing. We need to increase the supply of homes in a way that is appropriate to our local communities."

On education, Volk said Arizona has fallen to 49th in the nation in per-student funding, which he tied to high teacher turnover and the largest average class sizes in the country.

"The current legislature has gotten more and more partisan, and that means less and less productive," Volk said.

He called the Legislature's failure to renew Proposition 123, the voter-approved measure that directed roughly $300 million a year from the state land trust to public schools before it expired last year, one of its biggest failures.

"We need to prioritize renewing this education funding source as a top priority for next year to raise teacher pay and fully fund facilities," Volk said. "That is how our schools will be equipped to best serve Arizona students and their families."

Neither party faces a contested primary for the district's two House seats in the July 21 primary.

Caitlin Schmidt is Editor and Publisher of Tucson Spotlight. Contact her at caitlin@tucsonspotlight.org.

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