The Fountain Hills Democratic Club held its last Zoom meeting last Thursday night.

The meeting was well attended, according to organizers, and featured gubernatorial candidate Marco Lopez and Deedra Abboud, an attorney, civil rights advocate and positive workplace business consultant.

Lopez, an Arizona native and former Mayor of Nogales, U.S. Customs and Border Protection chief of staff, and director of AZ Dept. of Commerce, expressed what his main priorities would be as Governor.

He said he would work to improve the quality of education to raise Arizona from 49th in the country for per capita spending. This would not only improve the lives of the state’s children, but is essential to attracting business, he said.

That is tied to another priority of creating and attracting more quality jobs, as he has done with being involved in the development of Skybridge at Mesa Gateway Airport, creating over 13,000 jobs.

Thirdly, he said improving access to high-quality health care to more people would be essential, also positively affecting the economy. His website is MarcoLopez.com.

Organizers said Abboud is a powerhouse of energy in the community, advocating for civil rights and consulting to improve the quality of the corporate workplace environment which has a positive effect not only on people’s lives, but the bottom line.

Her book, “Campaign Chronicles,” is a journal about her “wild U.S. Senate campaign.” She also ran for Maricopa County Board of Supervisors last year, but has not announced to run for office. (A clarification from a previous article.) She is a featured author in “Love Meets Life” as well. Her website is DeedraAbboud.com.

The Fountain Hills Democratic Club welcomes more members in a diversified and inclusive tent. For more information, visit fhdemclub.org.

The next meeting is planned to be in person Sept. 9 at the Community Center.