The election for Arizona State Legislative District 11 has two qualified candidates with one as the incumbent. The district covers parts of all of South Phoenix and a small part of West Tempe.
They are Joshua Ayala and Catherine Miranda.
Joshua Ayala
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The election for Arizona State Legislative District 11 has two qualified candidates with one as the incumbent. The district covers parts of all of South Phoenix and a small part of West Tempe.
They are Joshua Ayala and Catherine Miranda.
Joshua Ayala
Ayala is a fifth-generation Arizonan and Laveen resident and has never held political office. He does not have a website but shares a site with the other Republican candidates in LD 11, Cesar Aleman and Joseph Daily.
According to the Facebook page "Aleman-Daily-Ayala for Arizona," Ayala wants to fund public schools and support more affordable housing like down payment assistance and corporate overbuying of properties.
Catherine Miranda
Miranda first started in politics as a member of Roosevelt School District No. 66 in 2008, a small district that covers the area south of Sky Harbor International Airport and north of South Mountain. She has served in the legislature since 2011, when, as a representative for District 16, covering Casa Grande and North Tucson, she later redistricted to District 27, now located in Peoria.
In 2015 she ran for state senate for LD 27 and served until 2019. She took a break from the state legislature to run for Congress and was the only Democratic candidate to challenge incumbent Ruben Gallego.
She then returned to District 27 and ran in the democratic primary and lost in 2020. In 2022 she beat Republican Vince Leach for the state senate race and has served since 2023.
Recently, Miranda gained national attention for her views on trans athletes as she supports trans athletes being able to compete in sports.
At a hearing on March 15, for the senate education committee, former Weber State Volleyball player from Chandler, Kaylie Ray, spoke on the topic of HCR 2003, a bill that would restrict all sports organizations by biological sex. Ray told the committee that it was unfair that biological men would be able to be in a locker room and compete in sports with women.
Miranda, chair of the committee, responded by saying that when she was young, she was often the only woman on men’s sports teams.
“To have a man on my team, I would have welcomed it,” she said.
Miranda told Ray that she saw the issue as one that impacts a whole community and questioned Ray’s competitiveness.
To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Madeline Bates joined Independent Newsmedia in 2025 as a Phoenix/Tempe reporter. Before graduating college, she spent a semester in Washington as a Congressional reporter in the first 100 days of the second Trump administration. But local news is where her heart is. She is excited to be in Phoenix full time and exploring new parts of the city (as long as they have AC).
Community: After living in East Phoenix for two years, she fell in love with Paradise Valley, Mesa, Tempe, and everywhere in between. She recently discovered the beauty of the South Mountain Reserve and hopes to continue exploring should the weather comply.
Education: Madeline has a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and a certificate in Political History and Leadership.
Random Fact: She is a self-taught nail tech. No, she cannot do your nails.
Hobbies: Hiking (when its not 100 degrees), fiction writing, cooking, baking and trying new coffee shops.
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