Michael Braun
A Little History

I’m Michael Braun and I’m running for your Senator in the Arizona State Legislature.

Welcome to my website. I would think you may want to know a little about my background before you give me your vote.

I was born and raised in the western suburbs of Chicago, and educated in their fine schools. I began my early experience in public service when my buddies pushed me into running for student council and much to my surprise, I won. After high school I went to work and kicked around in a few jobs, as kids do, before landing in a good job in the automotive industry.

It was my first experience in being in a union but eventually I was elected as a union steward then chair of a steward council. I have always answered the call to service wherever I found myself.

I met my wife, Colleen, through friends and we celebrated our 45 the wedding anniversary this year. We have two wonderful children, a son and daughter, both of whom grew up to be educators. Our daughter is now a principal here in Arizona and our son teaches special needs children. Our children are now married and our daughter has given us two grandchildren, our 14-year-old granddaughter and our 12-year-old grandson. My grandson has become my golfing buddy and his game has improved to the point that he beats me regularly! I’m one proud Grandpa, knowing how hard he has worked and improved. My views on education are linked to my grandchildren, who are in school in Arizona and my children, who have dedicated their lives to educating children. Throughout their childhoods, I was involved in their activities from coach to organizer to board member. I gained a lot of experience with working with all kinds of people even the ones with opposing views or difficult personalities. I have always been a people person and have been able to work with all kinds of people successfully.

During my working years, like many others in the late 1980’s and 1990’s, I went through the painful experience of having our manufacturing plant close out from under us and moved first to a southern “right to work state” and then to Mexico. I decided to further my education at a local Community College during this time, where I earned a degree. I balanced my obligations to the union plus classes and studying and taking care of my young children as my wife went back to work. The silver lining in this grey cloud was the priceless time I spent with my children being “Mr. Mom”. We spent two years in negotiations with the company to get a reasonable settlement for our contract. So, I know first-hand what other workers and their families go through during job loss. Especially, when the jobs dry up because they were sent overseas.

With my degree in hand and a new job, I earned promotions from maintenance worker to supervisor and then to management. My ability to work with people helped me to succeed in those roles.

Over the years I have held many jobs. Some, where, without a union, the company took advantage of workers with a probationary period and, whether it was 60 or 90 days, on the day before employment would be permanent, would be let go. It was a ruse that companies use to get cheap labor without the obligation of giving benefits to employees. A strong union is a workers’ best defense against those kinds of predatory companies. “Right to Work” legislation is not a protection of workers but a legitimizing of companies’ “right” to not pay workers a fair wage and take away a worker’s voice and ability to protect themselves and their families. Fairness is part of the original spirit of our country and workers are entitled to a fair wage and fair treatment.

I became involved in politics, many years back, when my wife had heard enough of me fussing at the TV set. She told me if I cared so much about it to get up off my butt and do something! At that moment Tammy Duckworth was running for Congress and I volunteered my time. Training was pretty fleeting and mostly involved watching a video. Then I was given a list of addresses, a bunch of flyers and told to go knock on doors. So, I did and with that first day’s experience I got hooked. I really enjoyed talking to people face to face and introducing them to Tammy Duckworth. Over time, I volunteered for other elections and eventually became a precinct committee person. I became so involved with the Democratic Party that I moved up and was elected the Addison Township chair for two terms. I really enjoyed working with my fellow Democrats during my time as chair.

As life goes, my daughter was living in Phoenix when she began her family and made us doting grandparents. My wife suggested since our grandchildren were in Phoenix, we should be there, too. So, we put our house up for sale and I got a job transfer. We settled in Phoenix for a few years before moving out to Sun City where once again I became a precinct committee person and involved with the Democratic Party. I have really enjoyed getting to know my neighbors in my role as precinct committee person and helping them get more engaged in voting and the many issues that are so important here. I have lived in Arizona now for 13 years and am fully committed to our state and identifying and solving our problems.

I decided to make this run for the State Senate when I kept hearing from my fellow Democrats, “make your voice heard and run for office”. I heard it so many times that I took it as a message to me. So, once again, I decided to answer the call to service. I chose the Senate in particular because my Republican opponent is neither qualified nor has much desire to serve ALL of the people of the state of Arizona.

There is so much that we could accomplish in this state if we not only worked for all of the people but listened to all of them as well. We need to listen to all of our citizens including our young people and our seniors, our fellow Black Americans and our Indigenous Peoples, and to our immigrants, whether they’re from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia or the Middle East.

We need to listen to our Veterans, our poor and our more vulnerable people. If we can identify the problems and issues, just think of what all of us can do together to solve our states problems.

I invite you now to go to my issues page and read about the issues I am most concerned and passionate about here in our state. I would also like to hear from you, so please leave comments and email me at the address on that page. I have always found it helpful to listen to other peoples’ perspectives when solving any type of problem. I don’t just welcome your thoughts and ideas but consider it essential if we are going to identify and solve the problems our state is currently facing.

No one likes to ask for money but I have to in order to serve as your Senator. I am running a “Clean Campaign” as run by the Arizona Clean Elections Commission. I am still in need of some of the required $5.00 donations to qualify for a lump sum amount of public money.

Beyond that, I will still need small donor donations to win this election. See my donation page for further details.

I will also need some help to win this election, confirming that working together is the best way to accomplish any goal. Please go to my volunteer page and sign up. You may find, as I did, that you can get hooked and achieve more than you ever felt possible. There are many different jobs to do and it can be fun, so, please, jump in and get your feet wet.

Thank you for coming to my website. Let’s dig in together and move Arizona forward to a better life for us all.

Arizona's 28th Legislative District (LD28) spans the upper west side of the Phoenix metropolitan area in Maricopa County. It primarily covers all or parts of the following cities and communities:

Peoria
Phoenix (specifically northwest parts of the city)
Sun City
Sun City West
Surprise