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Bernadette Greene Placentia - A Democrat with a Backbone.
Bernadette isn’t a politician; she’s one of us. A former long-haul truck driver, small business owner, and everyday Arizonan who’s felt the sting of today’s economy.
She knows what it’s like to watch the price of eggs go up and stand at the checkout line deciding what to put back because you can’t afford it all. All of this while healthcare and utility bills pile up on top of each other.
Our constitutional rights are under attack, women’s freedoms are being stripped away, and extremists are threatening to roll back Social Security and cut healthcare for our seniors.
Abe Hamadeh has sold us out, and Bernadette has what it takes to beat him in 2026.
Meet Bernadette
Bernadette was raised in the grit of the rural Midwest, where neighbors had each other’s backs, you left your doors unlocked, and hard work wasn’t a slogan; it was survival.
The proud daughter of a Vietnam veteran and a 1st-generation citizen from a Hungarian Refugee mom, Bernadette grew up with a deep respect for service, sacrifice, and the freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution. She learned early that you don’t wait for someone else to solve your problems, you roll up your sleeves, get to work, and fight like hell for your family and community.
After college, Bernadette was pulling late-night shifts at the local truck stop diner to help her family stay afloat. Soon after, she climbed into the cab of a big rig and spent the next 27 years hauling freight across the country. She’s seen America from the ground level, truck stop to truck stop, talking to factory workers, single moms, farmers, and veterans—ordinary people ignored by the political elite in Washington.
Through relentless dedication, Bernadette built her own trucking company. However, when the economy tanked, she watched everything she had fought for, her business, her trucks, her livelihood, slip away. Like millions of Americans, she had to start over, knowing firsthand what it feels like when politicians and corporations write the rules to benefit themselves, while working families pay the price.
For 17 years, Bernadette has shared life’s toughest roads with her husband, an environmental services tech. They have a beautiful adopted daughter from China and have built a family rooted in faith, sacrifice, and perseverance. She’s a lifelong gun owner who believes in protecting our freedoms, while finding common-sense solutions and not catering to political extremes.
Bernadette never wanted to be a politician. But watching career politicians and MAGA extremists tear this country apart, threaten Social Security, attack women’s rights, defund our public schools, and sell out working people lit a fire in her that can’t be put out. Today, our Republic and the U.S. Constitution, for which our founding fathers fought to defend, are under direct attack from politicians who put self-interest and power above country. Bernadette is stepping up because enough is enough!
Bernadette is a Democrat with a backbone, someone who has hauled America’s goods through many storms, fought for every paycheck, and knows what it’s like to lose everything and have to rebuild. In Congress, she’ll roll up her sleeves to fight for the people politicians have forgotten, by protecting Social Security and Medicare, securing our borders without losing our humanity, making healthcare affordable, defending reproductive freedom, and ensuring that working- and middle-class families finally have someone on their side.
She’s not another politician. She’s one of us, and she’s ready to fight like hell to protect Arizona’s 8th Congressional District and the Constitution.
Bernadette On The Issues
Respecting Our Seniors
Bernadette believes Social Security and Medicare are promises that must be kept to those who have worked and contributed their whole lives. She will oppose raising the retirement age, require high earners to pay the same payroll tax rate as working families, cap Medicare prescription costs, and promote preventative care to help seniors stay healthy and independent.
Standing with Our Veterans
With a father who served in Vietnam, Bernadette understands the sacrifices veterans make for our country. She believes America must honor its commitments to them. In Congress, she will fully fund the VA, reduce intake time, improve mental health services, preserve community-care options, and expand job training, all while holding the VA accountable for every tax dollar spent.
The Economy & Jobs
As a former small business owner who lost her business, Bernadette knows the challenges entrepreneurs face. She understands that strong families depend on strong paychecks and stable jobs. In Congress, she will fight to cut red tape and taxes for small businesses, invest in vocational training and apprenticeships, and ensure industries have access to skilled workers.
Smart Border Security and Immigration Reform
Bernadette believes in secure borders and a lawful, orderly immigration system. She will work to modernize ports of entry, invest in technology and manpower for the Border Patrol, dismantle drug cartels and human trafficking operations, streamline legal immigration, and fix the asylum process so it is fair but not abused. She will never support open borders and will ensure our laws are enforced.
Trucker Rights
Bernadette supports the fight to end predatory lease-purchase programs in the trucking industry, which trap small-business truckers in debt and deny them the freedom of true ownership. The OOIDA estimates that these agreements fail more than 90 % of the time, leaving hardworking drivers financially devastated.
Access To Education
Bernadette knows a strong education system is the foundation for opportunity and self-reliance. She will work to invest in vocational and technical programs, provide targeted relief to borrowers misled by predatory institutions, and create incentives for service in high-demand fields like teaching, nursing, and public safety.
Healthcare
As a mother and community leader, Bernadette understands that access to timely and affordable healthcare is a promise that must be kept for every family. In Congress, she will fight to protect coverage for pre-existing conditions, expand healthcare access in underserved and rural areas, and demand cost transparency in billing so that patients know exactly what they’re paying for.
Infrastructure
Bernadette believes that maintaining our roads, bridges, and water systems is not merely a matter of convenience; it is a matter of safety, economic strength, and national pride. She will protect infrastructure funding, eliminate needless delays to accelerate projects, prioritize local contractors, and ensure that investments in broadband and clean energy create American jobs rather than sending work overseas.
Protecting Women’s Rights
Bernadette believes healthcare decisions should be made by women in consultation with their doctors, not politicians. In Congress, she will protect access to contraception and emergency care, expand paid parental leave, and make quality childcare more affordable for working families.
U.S. Term Limits
Bernadette believes elected officials should answer to the people, not to a lifetime in power. In Congress, she’ll fight to enact term limits for members of Congress, to stop career politicians from putting party and profit over the public good, restore accountability, and ensure fresh ideas and new leadership in Washington.