View the online debate which was held at Pima Community College West campus (click here), moderated by C. J. Karamargin, Vice Chancellor for Public Information & Governmental Relations.

Ms. Cajero Bedford served in the Arizona state house from LD 27 for 4 terms, and was elected to the State Senate in Nov. 2010.

I also reported on Maria de la Luz Garcia’s appointment to that Senate seat in Nov. 2010:
http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2010/11/02/supervisors-appoint-maria-garcia-widow-of-jorge-luis-garcia-to-the-ld-27-state-senate-seat/. Ms. Garcia was only able to serve for about two months before Ms. Cajero Bedord took over that seat.

Watch the online video and decide how to vote in the August 28 Democratic primary. Both candidates are participating in the Clean Elections program.

State Senator Olivia Cajero Bedford

Maria de la Luz Garcia

Mrs. Garcia said she was “honored to fill her husband’s seat” and that Jorge “loved serving”, and that she would “do her best to represent the constituents” of LD 27.

Senator Garcia died on October 15, 2010 from a heart attack at age 57 (click here for my blog in memory of Jorge). He was running for one of 2 seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission and his name remains on today’s ballot.

Other nominees submitted by the 39 District 27 precinct committeepersons were two House primary candidates- High School math teacher Bob Gilby (husband of Donna Branch-Gilby who challenged Supervisor Sharon Bronson in the September, 2008 primary) and Sami Hamed, an aide to Congressman Raul Grijalva. Both Gilby and Hamed lost their races in the Democratic primary for 2 seats in the LD 27 House on August 24, 2010, to fellow Democrats Sally Ann Gonzales and Dr. Macario Saldate. (Gonzales and Saldate face opposition from a Republican, a Green, and an Independent candidate in today’s General Election.)

LD 27 House Rep. Olivia Cajero Bedford is running for this State Senate seat and will likely be elected in today’s General Election, as she faces only write-in opposition. She will then be sworn in to this office in January, 2011.

Maria Garcia is a manufacturing manager at Raytheon, and was married to Jorge for 37 years. They had three children and four grandchildren.

Maria and Jorge Luis Garcia, courtesy of the Garcia family