MEET GAVIN DOUGAL

I AM NOT A CAREER POLITICIAN.

I AM A BUILDER.

I’ll be honest: I didn't plan for my campaign to look like this.

In December 2025, just months before the election, I lost my job. I didn’t get a golden parachute. I got a cardboard box.

Now, like thousands of Arizonans, I am piecing it together—picking up contract IT work and gig shifts to keep the lights on. I know the panic of checking the bank account. I know the frustration of a system that treats workers as disposable lines on a spreadsheet.

But this isn't a sob story. It’s a qualification.

The State Senate is full of people who haven't worried about rent in decades. They manage the decline while our schools crumble and our water runs out. I am running because I don't just sympathize with your struggle—I am living it. And I know exactly how to fix it.

Candidate for Arizona State Senate | District 5

Hi, my name is Gavin Dougal. I am a 27-year-old finance and tech worker, a husband, a father of two, and a proud Gen Z Arizonan running to represent you in the State Senate.

I am not a politician. I am a survivor of the economy we are trying to fix.

I didn't learn about the housing crisis in a textbook. I learned about it when I lost my job and my family was forced to sleep in a car because we couldn’t afford the upfront move-in fees for an apartment, despite having another job lined up.

I worked night shifts at tech companies like Cruise and Bill.com, analyzing data and supporting customers, only to clock out and return to a vehicle with expired tags, terrified that a tow truck would take the only shelter my family had. I know the specific terror of driving around for hours just to find a safe place to sleep for a few hours before the next shift.

I know what it’s like to work a skilled job and still be one bad day away from losing everything. I traded a college degree for a decade of real-world hustle—from customer service to finance to cybersecurity. I have worked the jobs that don't always look fancy on a resume but are the backbone of our economy. I learned about redlining and market crashes not just by studying finance, but by living through the fallout.

This is why I am running. I have a deep, complicated love for this state. I’ve lived here since I was two years old. I went to Arizona public schools and wore the NJROTC uniform at Cortez High School (when I wasn’t wearing a singing dog costume in theater).

Now, I am raising my own family here:

• My "bookwyrm" wife, Marissa, who has ridden with me through hell and back.

• My 6-year-old son, Dante, who dreams of space every night.

• My toddler, Aurora, who dresses like a princess everyday but plays with dinosaurs.

I am running because I refuse to let Dante and Aurora grow up in a state where working families are punished for being poor and where the American Dream is walled off by corporate monopolies.

Radical Authenticity. This isn't your standard politician's bio.

• I am a Nerd: My first paycheck didn't go to stocks; it went to art supplies to make D&D maps.

• I am Real: You won't see me in a tailored suit offering empty platitudes. You’ll see me in the suit I bought specifically for this race, the only suit I own, probably tired because I was up at 2 AM finishing a project.

• I am Unbought: I am a Clean Elections Candidate. I don't take corporate money. I answer only to you.

I lead with kindness because I’ve seen enough cruelty to know it doesn't work. But do not mistake kindness for weakness. I have a fire in my belly to fix the systems that hurt us and I know that no one else should ever have to live like this and feel this pain.

My name is Gavin Dougal. I am running to fix the incentives, fund the future, and bring stability to Arizona.