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Downing changes party affiliation in LD 28 State Senate race

by on May. 12, 2010, under Life, Politics

The State Senate race in midtown LD 28 is heating up but now has more Independents running than Democrats or Republicans. I’ve reported on this race briefly before (click here), but here’s the latest surprise.

former State House Rep. Ted Downing

former State House Rep. Ted Downing

Former state rep. Ted Downing has changed his party affiliation on the Secretary of State’s website from Democrat to Independent. Ted served 2 terms as LD 28 House Rep. as a Democrat from 2003 to 2007, and is a UA professor of social development. Current LD 28 State Senator Aboud beat Downing in this same race back in November 2006, 9158 votes (54.04%) to 7746 votes (45.71%).

Meanwhile, Dave Ewoldt has filed in that same office as an Independent as well. Dave was the campaign manager for Green candidate Dave Croteau for Mayor in 2007 and has been active in the Green Party. Ewoldt’s campaign flyer describes himself as “Politically experienced, but Independent to the core.” He is a practitioner and researcher in the field of ecopsychology.

candidate Dave Ewoldt

candidate Dave Ewoldt

I guess that means both men will move on to the General with no primary election competition.

So that would leave incumbent LD 28 State Senator Paula Aboud, a property manager, as the only Democrat running, with no Republican challenger.

As far as I know, the only Independent in public office in Southern Arizona was former Tucson City Councilmember Carol West, who changed from Democrat to Independent in her last year of office.

State Senator Paula Aboud

State Senator Paula Aboud

Websites for these three candidates in LD 28 State Senate:

–Paula Aboud, www.paulaaboud.com

–Dr. Ted Downing, www.ted-downing.com

–Dave Ewoldt, website under construction, contact him at DaveforArizona@gmail.com.
5/31 update: www.daveforarizona.org.

For a map of LD 28, click here for the Pima County Democratic Party website.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 5:42 pm and is filed under Life, Politics. Tags for this post: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • http://pointmantucson.yuku.com/ mike_brewer

    The way the nation and localities are trending, it looks like the two party duopoly picks candidates and the Independents decide who wins. The last Ward 6 election proved that to be true. I know you have a bunch of statistics. Do you know what the cross-over vote count was in Ward 6? I say that will be a trend.
     

    • Carolyn Classen

      Hi Mike, yes the Independent vote is growing.  Not sure what you mean by cross-over vote in Ward 6.  Nina Trasoff  won in wards 1,3, 5, and 6, but lost in Wards 2 and 4, and overall to Steve Kozachik by 1756 votes.  This should change if the City of Tucson goes to ward only elections by 2013.

  • http://thechollajumps.com Jim Kelley

    Changing to independaent just to look like they are not liberal Democrats. It’s just smoke and mirrors and shows just how seriously the leftwing in Tucson takes the up and coming Republicans running LD28. Greg Krino is one of the strongest candidates for the State House the Republicans have put up since Frank Antenori.

    • Carolyn Classen

      Greg Krino (soon to be graduating from law school) is running for LD 28 state house and his website is http://gregkrino2010.com/. There are six Democrats and two Republicans running for those two house seats in LD 28, now held by Democrats Rep. Steve Farley (running for re-election) and Rep. David Bradley (termed out).

    • Dave Ewoldt

      Hi Jim… I’ve never been a liberal Democrat, although I was registered as a Republican once. It’s a liberal myth that the Greens are the left wing, and many Roosevelt Republicans (Teddy, that is) are discovering that they really can’t find much to disagree with in the basic Green platform. Refined into relocalization as I do, it’s all about Main St. over Wall St., respecting other people,  and taking care of–instead of abusing–the creation for current and future generations.
      Which part of that do you disagree with?
      But, the thing is, I really don’t want to get involved with party politics. Jefferson warned about that. The Dems and Repubs are constantly focused on retaining power, the Greens are constantly focused on getting some.
      In the meantime, we’ve got some crises converging–economic, environmental, and concerning our democracy–and the response from both major parties anyway is to deny, ignore, or to suggest giving us more of what’s causing all the problems.
      But about the only electoral issue I’d be inclined get involved with is to use Instant Runoff Voting (such as the RNC does), at least at the state and county levels. Most cities would have to change their charters to go along with such common sense electoral reform, as it benefits the parties as much as it does the Independents.
      Do you know off-hand what Greg’s stance on that might be?
       

      • Carolyn Classen

        Dave, I emailed Jim Kelley and Greg Krino yesterday for responses to your questions. So it will be up to them to respond. Thanks for your comments.

  • Carolyn Classen

    Former rep. Ted Downing emailed me (as he is in Canada) to say his “motivation is structural” and posted two websites about unicameral legislatures:
    http://www.azcentral.com/news/aztalk/forum/articles/0317livetalk.html#
    http://tv.azpm.org/kuat/video-segment/2010/3/9/kuat-unicameral-legislature/

  • http://GregKrino2010.com Greg Krino

    Mr. Ewoldt,
    I support the IRV, as well as the unicameral legislature.
    Good luck on your campaign,
    Greg Krino

  • Chetdude

    daveforarizona.org is up.
    Check it out!

    • Carolyn Classen

      Thanks for letting us know that Independent Dave Ewoldt’s campaign website is up & running.

  • Carolyn Classen

    Update: Republican Greg Krino  has opted out of the State House race in LD 28 for the State Senate race, to challenge Democrat Aboud, and Independents Ewoldt and Downing in the General election (per blogger The Cholla Jumps).
    His state house candidate website: http://gregkrino2010.com/

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