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Heredia to the rescue?

The Dems need help. Then again, if you happen to be a Republican, you probably think they’re doing just fine.

Okay, let’s be honest: The Dems need help. Then again, if you happen to be a Republican, you probably think they’re doing just fine.

In an effort to help fix what ails them, the Democratic Party has hired a new executive director. Yuma native Luis Heredia has left his job with Union Pacific Railroad as director of public affairs for Arizona and New Mexico to lead the party’s statewide office in Phoenix.

The news for the Democrats hasn’t been all bad. The party picked up two seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2008 and it now holds a majority in the state’s U.S. congressional delegation. At the Legislature, on the other hand, the Democrats are virtually on life support.

Among his goals, Heredia plans to capitalize on the jump in Democratic voter registration. “We need to increase that trend,” Heredia told the Arizona Capitol Times, “and solidify, and hopefully ... in 2010, if not 2011, surpass Republicans in making this state a Democratic state, as it was historically.”

Heredia, who lives in Gilbert, once served as an aide to Congressman Raul Grijalva of Tucson. Prior to joining Union Pacific, Heredia worked as director of college services at Arizona Western College and as a neighborhood planner for the City of Yuma. He also has held elected office as a member of the Somerton Elementary School District Governing Board. And he served for seven years as an appointee to the Yuma County Planning and Zoning Commission.

In a statement, Heredia says he believes, “Arizona Democrats are well-prepared and well-poised to lead our great state.”

The voters will be the judge of that.