For the first time (as far as I know) there were more Independent candidates in a legislative race (LD 28 Senate) than candidates from the major parties. There was one Democrat (the incumbent), one Republican, and two Independents running in that legislative race.

But it seems that Independent candidates don’t receive a lot of votes.

November 2006 General Election: Jay Quick ran as an Independent in CD 8 House, and got 1.68% of the vote (3523 votes). This past August, 2010 he ran again for CD 8 House as a Republican in the primary, and received 2.29% of the vote (1648 votes), slightly more percentage wise.

November 2008 General Election: Ralph Nader ran for U. S. President as “Nonpartisan” and got only 0.51 % of the vote in Pima County (1995 votes). He formerly ran for President as a Green Party candidate.

November 2010 General Election: Harley Meyer just ran in CD 7 House as an Independent, and got 2.83% of the vote (4506 votes).

In LD 27 Gene Chewning just ran for State House as an Independent & got 6.46% of the vote (4,114 votes). He ran before for the same seat as a Republican in November 2006, and got 19.54% of the vote (11,327 votes)– which shows that major party affiliation does help.

And in LD 28 Senate, Ted Downing (formerly a Democratic legislator) got 6.25% of the vote (3,085 votes) running as “Nonpartisan and Independent”, while Dave Ewoldt as an Independent (formerly with the Green party) got 2.86% of the vote (1,414 votes). Final tallies are not complete for these two races either.

Downing ran for this same seat in the September, 2006 Primary as a Democrat and got 45.71% of the vote (7746 votes). He only got 3085 votes this time in the 2010 General Election, so leaving the Democratic party seems to have lessened his chances of vote-getting.

Running as an Independent frees the candidate from a Primary Election challenge, but they don’t have a political party “machine”/resources to help them get out the vote, nor a political party platform to assist the voters in deciding what these candidates stand for. Being “independent” minded may not be enough for today’s discerning voter.

And I suspect that voters who choose “Other/No Party/Independent/Non partisan” status do so as they want to avoid party labels (or are unhappy with their former party), the closed Primaries, and want the freedom to pick & choose between all the Political Party candidates (Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Independent, etc.) in the General Election.

Time will tell if any independent/non partisan candidate will win a seat in Southern Arizona in the future.

UPDATE: Only Independent politicians in Southern AZ have been Ward 2 Councilmember Carol West (who changed from a Democrat), and District 3 Pima County Supervisor Ed Moore (who changed from a Republican).

4 p.m. Tucson Tea Party, Doubletree Hotel, 445 S. Alvernon Way (south of Broadway)

7 p.m. Pima County Republican Party, Doubletree Hotel, 445 W. Alvernon Way

7 p.m. Pima County Democratic Party, Tucson Marriott University Park Hotel, 880 E. 2nd Street (east of Euclid Avenue)

For a recent survey report on the Arizona Tea Party, click here.

And what about parties by the Green Party of Pima County and Pima County Libertarian Party? Does anyone know?

And where will the “Independent” candidates like Harley Meyer (CD 7 U.S. House), Gene Chewning (LD 27 House), Ted Downing (LD 28 Senate),and Dave Ewoldt (LD 28 Senate) go to party? I guess if they win, they will be throwing their own parties. Ewoldt does have a campaign headquarters at 2602 E. Grant Rd.

UPDATE: Ewoldt is having a free bbq/potluck BYOB party at his headquarters tonight starting at 5 p.m. See comments below.

(By the way, the only Independent politician in Southern Arizona — as far as I know — was Ward 2 Councilwoman Carol West, who was elected as a Democrat but changed to Independent before her term was up.)

Hope you find something to celebrate about on General Election Night.

From the University of Arizona’s Mel & Enid Zuckerman School of Public Health website:

The health and wellness of Arizonans is a hot topic of debate this election season. Get to know the candidates and where they stand on health issues next Wednesday, Oct. 20th at the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

Graduate students from the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health will host the open forum titled, “Voting on Health: A Southern Arizona Candidate Forum.”

This is an opportunity for voters to hear what the legislative candidates have to say about their role in promoting the wellbeing of Southern Arizonans, and their plans to address key issues that affect the health of individuals living in this region. The forum in open to the public.

Participating Arizona legislative candidates running for state offices in the November 2nd election:

Paula Aboud (D) for State Senate, District 28
Dr. Ted Downing (N/I) for State Senate, District 28
Dave Ewoldt (I) for State Senate, District 28
Steve Farley (D) House seat, District 28
Pat Fleming (D) House seat, District 25
Sally Gonzales (D) House seat, District 27
Peggy Judd (R) House seat, District 25
Pat Kilburn (R) House seat, District 29
Bruce Wheeler (D) House seat, District 28

Drachman Hall, 1295 N. Martin Avenue, Room B109, Tucson, AZ. Parking is free in the Drachman Hall East lot after 5 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010 | 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Refreshments will be served from 6:30-7 p.m.)

That’s the information on the website, but the latest update is that these candidates are also attending:

Gene Chewning (I), House seat, District 27
Dr.Todd Camenisch (D), Senate seat, District 30
Robert Compton (R), House seat, District 27
Ruben Ortega (D), House seat, District 25 (maybe)
Daniel Patterson (D), House seat, District 29
Dr. Macario Saldate (D), House seat, District 27
Ken Smalley (R), House seat, District 28
Kent Solberg (G), House seat, District 27

That’s a lot of candidates (15 or 16) to listen to in 2 hours, from the Democratic, Republican, and Green Parties, and three Independents.

This will hopefully be a neutral, non-partisan forum to learn about candidates’ views on health issues in the state legislature, prior to the 11/2/10 General Election. I corrected the notice on their website to reflect that Dr. Downing is no longer running as a Democrat, but now Non-partisan/Independent. I wrote about that change back in March (click here).

For more information, please call Renee Fullerton at 520.626.8036, rfullert@email.arizona.edu.

Over 1000 community leaders, business leaders & clergy and members from over 50 institutions (churches, synagogues, schools & non-profits) across Pima County convened today at 2:30 to 4 p.m. at the Tucson Conventon Center’s Copper Ballroom to present an agenda that builds stronger families & communities in Southern Arizona, through “values reflection, inquiry, and constructive action.”

Sitting politicians (federal & state) and candidates seeking those offices were asked questions pertaining to workforce development, education, services to families, and immigration.And they were asked to promise to meet with PCIC delegations after the General Election.

Here’s a list of who attended today (supposedly all Democrat & Republican candidates of these offices were invited):

Congressman Raul Grijalva (D), CD 7
Ruth McClung (R), candidate in CD 7

State Senate candidate Chery Cage (D), LD 26
State House candidate Terri Proud (R), LD 26
State House Rep. Nancy Young Wright (D), LD 26

State House caniddate Robert Compton (R), LD 27
State House caniddate Sally Ann Gonzales (D), LD 27
State House candidate Macario Saldate (D), LD 27

State Senator Paula Aboud (D), LD 28
State Senate candidate Greg Krino (R), LD 28
State House Rep. Steve Farley (D), LD 28
State House candidate Ken Smalley (R), LD 28
State House candidate Bruce Wheeler (D), LD 28

And for the statewise offices:
Gubernatorial candidate Terry Goddard (D), current Attorney General
Attorney General candidate Felecia Rottellini (D)
Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Penny Kotterman (D)
Corporation Commission candidate David Bradley (D), current LD 28 House rep.

Statements were also made by TPD Chief Robert Villasenor and Councilmember Regina Romero in support of Proposition 400, to raise the city sales tax by one half cent/dollar.

Question asked of the State Legislature candidates:
Will you vote to enact additional revenue sources so that funding for vital services such as education & health care can be protected? (All State Senate & House candidates responded “yes” in their one minute replies, some with conditional responses.)

Questions asked of the Gubernatorial candidate:
1. What measures will you take & what leadership will you provide to ensure that budgets are not balanced on the backs of our children & most vulnerable citizens?
2. Will you support our efforts to expand innovative job training initiatives like Job Path throughout the state?

Questions asked of the Attorney General candidate:
1. What role can you play as attorney general that would benefit our families that are abused by mortgage companies? 2. Will you ensure that the enforcement of SB 1070 is done in a humane manner, and that local police departments receive accurate & just interpretations of the law?

Question asked of the Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate:
In light of the budget crisis, what leadership will you provide to improve public education in the State of Arizona?

Tucsoncitizen.com fellow blogger David Morales (“3 Sonorans”) was present videotaping this candidate session, so hopefully he will be able to provide a video later with the specific responses.

Protesting outside the Tucson Convention Center were Independent candidates Ted Downing and Dave Ewoldt (both for LD 28 Senate), and Green Party candidate Kent Solberg (for LD 27 House), who were apparently not invited to participate. Solberg handed out a statement which read that “Limiting debate, discussion & points of view is not discussion and is not consistent with the Pima County Interfaith Council’s stated goals and purposes.”

Also in the audience today were former Mayor George Miller, former TUSD Superintendent Stan Paz, current TUSD Governing Board candidate Miguel Ortega and member Adelita Grijalva, and former Pima County Attorney candidate Claudia Ellquist.

For more information on PCIC:
639 E. Speedway Blvd. #1, Tucson, Arizona
520-903-2333, office@pimacountyinterfaith.org

logo

LD 28 State Senate:

–Paula Aboud, incumbent Democratic State Senator (serving since 2006), a property manager and former teacher, www.paulaaboud.com

–Dave Ewoldt, Independent (formerly Green Party activist), co-founder and Executive Director of Tucson non-profit Natural Systems Solutions, www.daveforarizona.org

–Dr.Ted Downing, UA Research Professor in social development, running nonpartisan and independent, former 2 term Democratic house legislator in LD 28 from 2003 to 2007), www.votedowning.com

–Greg Krino, Republican attorney and Air Force Major in the Air National Guard, www.gregkrino2010.com

(Aboud & Ewoldt running “clean”, Downing & Krino running traditional.)

LD 28 State House:

–Steve Farley, Democratic graphic artist, incumbent State House Representative (since 2007), www.friendsofarley.org

–Ken Smalley, Republican property manager, former Libertarian candidate for Pima County Treasurer and Ward 6Tucson City Council, www.kensmalleyforrep.com

–Bruce Wheeler, Democratic former 1 term state house legislator & former Tucson Councilman (1987 to 1995), freelance photographer, www.wheeler2010.com

(Smalley & Wheeler running “clean”, Farley running traditional).

Attend this forum to find out more about the 4 candidates running for State Senate and 3 candidates for State House, in LD 28. KUAT Channel 6 debates for these Senate candidates coming up on 9/21 (click here), House candidates on 9/28 so mark your calendars now.

Break down of registered voters in LD 28 from Pima County Recorders’ Office, www.recorder.pima.gov

DISTRICT 28: 36,496 Democrats, 21,905 Republicans, 863 Libertarians, 419 Greens, 23,086 Others (Independents/No party affiliation), for a total of 82,769 voters.

UPDATE 9/16/10: CCEC video online now (click here).

Candidates running for State Senate in LD 28 (Aboud, Downing, Ewoldt, & Krino)

Senator Paula Aboud

Ted Downing

Dave Ewoldt

Greg Krino

Candidates running for State House in LD 28 (Farley, Smalley & Wheeler)

Rep. Steve Farley

Ken Smalley

Bruce Wheeler

“Debate! Highly Contested LD28 State Senate Race Debate”

Saturday, September 4th at 2:00 pm
Atria Bell Court Gardens (a few blocks east of St. Joseph Hospital), a senior living community
6653 E. Carondelet Drive (between Broadway and E. 5th Street, off of Wilmot Rd.)
Tucson, AZ 85710

In what was an uncontested race in the last election, this year the competition for the
LD28 Senate seat is fierce.

Democratic incumbent Paula Aboud is being challenged by three diverse opponents.
Dave Ewoldt qualified as an Independent for the general election so he could focus
on issues without being limited by party politics. Ted Downing, former Democratic
state representative in LD28, changed his party registration status halfway through
the candidate filing period and is now also running as an Independent. Former State
Representative candidate Greg Krino, a Republican, withdrew from that race and re-
filed as a primary write-in candidate for the state senate seat.

The debate will be moderated from 2-3 pm by Donna Jacobs, Executive Director at
Atria Bell Court Gardens in their Academy Hall.

Contact David Edwards at 520-886-1636 for more information.

I’ll be writing more about these 4 candidates prior to their September 14 Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission debate, but you may want to see them all tomorrow. This race is interesting, with more Independent challengers (2) than Democrats (1) or Republicans (1).

These were the state legislators that participated tonight (1st panel):
LD 25 House Rep. Pat Fleming (D)
LD 27 House candidates Sally Ann Gonzales and Dr. Macario Saldate (Ds)
LD 28 Senator Paula Aboud (D)
LD 28 Senate candidate Dave Ewoldt (I)
LD 28 House Rep. Steve Farley (D)
LD 28 House candidate Bruce Wheeler (D)
LD 30 House candidate Andrea Dalessandro (D)
LD 30 Senate candidate Dr. Todd Camenish (D), came in late

Also attending to participate in the 2nd panel were U.S. Senate candidate Rodney Glassman,
Attorney General Terry Goddard running for Governor, Sec. of State candidate Chris Deschene, and State Mine Inspector candidate Manuel Cruz, all Democrats.

Questions asked of the panelists were basically about steps they would take to improve education, to bring economic opportunity to minority populations, to strengthen public health for communities of color, to provide quality health care, and to insure equal treatment in the criminal justice system for minority populations. Being as these were all Democrats (and one Independent, formerly a Green Party activist) their answers were quite uniform in advocating and trying to restore funding to all these areas.

Of note: Sally Ann Gonzales mentioned that she is of Yaqui heritage, Chris Deschene is a member of the Navajo Nation, and Manuel Cruz and Dr. Macario Saldate are Hispanic, and provided their ethnic backgrounds and expertise to their responses.

The last question was about what steps could be taken to insure a fair and just dialogue re: immigration reform, and both Rodney Glassman and Terry Goddard said that could be done by “retiring John McCain.” Chris Deschene repeatedly asked the audience to elect Democrats to the state legislature, where he currently serves as House Rep. in LD 2.

Also in attendance tonight were former Pima County Democratic Party Chair Paul Eckerstrom for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and former Democratic Pima County Supervisor Dan Eckstrom. Fellow blogger “3 Sonorans” (David Morales) was there as well, and will be posting a video capturing the panelists’ answers to some of these questions. I’ll link to his blog once he posts it. UPDATE: Unfortunately neither David nor I got a lot of advance notice of this forum, so his cell phone video did not tape well (see his comment below).

http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/AZ/19539/32130/en/summary.html

Line up for the General Election (so far):

U. S. Senator John McCain (R) vs. former Tucson Councilmember Dr. Rodney Glassman (D) vs. Jerry Joslyn (G) vs. David Nolan (L)

CD 7 U. S. House Rep. Raul Grijalva (D) vs. Raytheon rocket scientist Ruth McClung (R) vs. George Keane (L) vs. Harley Meyer (I)

CD 8 U. S. House Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) vs. businessman Jesse Kelly (R) vs. Dr. Steven Stoltz (L)

Governor Jan Brewer (R) vs. Attorney General Terry Goddard (D) vs. Larry Gist (G) vs. Barry Hess (L)

Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) vs. House Rep. Chris Deschene (D)

Attorney General
Tom Horne (R) vs. Felecia Rotellini (D)

Treasurer:
Businessman Doug Ducey (R) vs. Former Assistant AG Andrei Cherny (D)

Superintendent of Public Instruction:
State Senator John Huppenthal (R) vs. Former Arizona Education Association Pres. Penny Kotterman (D)

Corporation Commission (2 seats):
Commissioner Gary Pierce & Brenda Burns (Rs) vs. David Bradley and Jorge Luis Garcia (Ds)

In Southern Arizona Legislative districts:

LD 26:
State Senator Al Melvin (R) vs. businesswoman Cheryl Cage (D)
State House: Rep. Vic Williams and paralegal Terri Proud (Rs) vs. State House Rep. Nancy Young Wright (D)

LD 27:
State Senator Olivia Cajero Bedford (D), vs. write in candidates Duke Schechter (R) and Jaime Vasquez (R);
State House: former legislator Sally Ann Gonzales and Dr. Macario Saldate (Ds) vs. businessman Robert Compton (R), businessman Kent Solberg (G), pastor Gene Chewning (I)

LD 28:
State Senator Paula Aboud (D) vs. Independents Dave Ewoldt and Ted Downing, and Attorney Greg Krino (R)
State House: Rep. Steve Farley and former legislator Bruce Wheeler (Ds) vs. businessman Ken Smalley (R)

LD 29:
State Senator Linda Lopez (D) unopposed
State House: Rep. Matt Heinz and Rep. Daniel Patterson (Ds) vs. businessman Pat Kilburn (R)

LD 30:
State Senator Frank Antenori (R) vs. Dr. Todd Camenisch (D)
State House: Rep. David Gowan and Rep. Ted Vogt (Rs) vs. businesswoman Andrea Dalessandro (D)

UPDATE: Wed. 8/25 at 7:57 p.m. Sec. of State website listing vote total at 801,003, 25.81% of the registered voters cast ballots, with only Maricopa County still partially reporting. Stay tuned for final unofficial results, especially for AG race which is still too close to call for the Republican nomination. Other races likely to remain the same till all votes counted, and the canvass is accepted.

UPDATE: Thurs. 8/26 5:07 p.m. 869,441 votes counted to date, 28.02% voter turnout. Stay tuned for tomorrow night’s tally. Horne ahead of Andrews by wider margin (1073), same with Rotellini over Lujan by a much wider margin (3203), causing Lujan to concede tonight. Same candidates still ahead in LD 26, 27, 28, which are the only close races to watch now.

UPDATE: Friday 8/27 6:36 p.m. 913,578 votes counted to date, 29.44 % turnout. Andrew Thomas thought of conceding today but has apparently changed his mind since he is only 485 votes behind Horne now. Most candidates leading in LD 26, 27 and 28 seem to have won. About 22,000 votes still to be counted, stay tuned for next tally.

UPDATE: Saturday 8/28 8:13 p.m. 931,817 votes counted, 30.03% turnout. Andrew Thomas still behind Tom Horne by 853 votes. Let’s see what Monday’s tally will be.

UPDATE: Monday 8/30, 5:54 p.m. 933,212 votes counted, 30.08% turnout. Tom Horne has declared victory,but Thomas has not conceded. Sec. of State’s office told me they had 3800 votes to count today and into tomorrow. Counties have 5 working days to submit their votes, so tomorrow night is the deadline. Finally!

FINAL UPDATE: Tuesday 8/31, 4:29 p.m. 934,113 votes cast (final unofficial results), turnout 30.10 % of the 3,102,876 registered voters in Arizona. Tom Horne received 899 more votes than Andrew Thomas for the AG Republican nomination, a very close race considering how many votes were cast in that race (555,699).

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

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

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.