PHOENIX – Deedra Abboud, a Phoenix attorney and community activist, announced on Monday, April 10, that she would seek the 2018 Democratic nomination for US Senate in Arizona, emphasizing a message of unity and integration in her community.

“The journey that I have decided to take on today is not just for the people who look like me or sound like me, but for all Arizonans,” Abboud, 45, said as she formally launched her candidacy at a brief event with supporters at the Japanese Friendship Garden in downtown Phoenix, AZ Central reported on Monday.

“Because we cannot continue to go backwards on this path that weakens our children’s education, strips health care from people who need it the most, locking up and breaking up families, and, once again, empowering big banks that caused the worst housing crisis in Arizona.

“I am with the growing majority of Arizonans who know that anger and resistance can only take us so far,” she added.

“We need to unite to move our families forward. We need to unite to move Arizona forward. We need to unite to move America forward.”

If she can secure the Democratic nomination, Abboud would face off against incumbent Sen. Jeff Flake, who is already facing challenge from second-time Republican Senate candidate Kelli Ward of Lake Havasu City.

Others mentioned as possible Senate candidates include Arizona State Treasurer Jeff DeWit, a Republican who is close to President Donald Trump, and three-term US Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.

“We always expected opponents in both the primary and general elections,” Steve Voeller, a longtime Flake adviser and confidant, said in an email to AZ Central.

Tough Race

Abboud is the first Democratic candidate to announce for the race.

“This isn’t about left and right. It’s about today and a tomorrow that unites us, gets the work done,” Abboud said in her announcement.

“I’m ready to have the tough and candid conversations that we need in Arizona so that we can progress. I’m ready to hold our president and his administration accountable and to challenge elected officials who are more interested in keeping their job than in doing their job.”

Abboud is the founder of an organization called the Global Institute of Solution Oriented Leadership and the recipient of the Martin Luther King Award in Tempe and Phoenix, according to the short bio that accompanied the news advisory about her Senate candidacy.

As a lawyer, she focuses on immigration and estate planning.

In 2003, Abboud helped open the first Arizona office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. She was the group’s local executive director at the time.

“In the face of such challenges, I spent more than 15 years fighting alongside our diverse communities to make Arizona accommodating and loving to all people,” she said.

Abboud said she also is “ready to fight for equal pay for women.”

“Because I am a woman and I have experienced getting paid less than my male colleagues,” she said. “I’m ready to make sure that working families have paid sick leave so they can take care of themselves and those they love.”