Republican 2 term LD 26 House Rep. Vic Williams has filed to run for the District 1 Pima County Supervsior seat to be vacated by retiring Supervisor Ann Day. Prior to becoming a legislator in 2009 Williams was a small businessman & had started his first firm, Racksource, a warehousing equipment company in California, and had also invested in real estate.

House Rep. Vic Williams

Read more from his AZ House of Representative bio here.

Williams is entering a four-way Republican primary for this seat. Political newcomers Stuart McDaniel and Ally Miller, and former CD 8 House candidate/former AZ Republican Party chair Mike Hellon have previously announced their candidacies. Only former LD 26 House Rep. Nancy Young Wright is running in the Democratic primary for District 1 Supervisor (so far).

Williams and Marilyn Zerull won the September 2008 Republican primary for this House seat in LD 26 over Trent Humphries (Tucson Tea Party founder), and then Williams and appointed Democrat House Rep. Nancy Young Wright prevailed in the Nov. 2008 General Election for the 2 House seats. In August 2010 Williams and political newcomer Terri Proud won the Republican primary over Dr. Wade McLean in that race, and also prevailed in the General Election upsetting Democrat incumbent Nancy Young Wright.

So if Williams prevails in the District 1 Republican primary on August 28, he will face off once again against Young Wright.

Williams’ campaign website: www.vote4vic.com, (520) 390-9946 or info@vote4vic.com.

All Pima County Supervisors are up for re-election this year, and to date there have been no announced challengers to the present incumbents- Democrat Ramon Valadez (D 2), Democrat Sharon Bronson (D 3), Republican Ray Carroll (D 4), Democrat Richard Elias (D 5). For my previous May 2011 blog about these Supervisors, click here.

The AP news article reprinted in the Arizona Daily Star today (“Even untainted by scandal, women lag noticeably in electoral sphere”) discusses why less women run for political office. (click here):

The number of women in Congress has plateaued since 2007, with just 17 women in the 100-member Senate and 72 in the 435-member House. In state legislatures nationwide, 1,738 lawmakers are women, compared with 1,809 last year, and the percentage of women holding statewide office has fallen from 27.6 percent in 2001 to 21.9 percent today. Just six states have female governors.

We are one of those states with a woman Governor, Jan Brewer, who just won her own term in November, 2010 after taking over in January 2009 when then-Governor Janet Napolitano left to become head of federal Homeland Security. Brewer is a Republican and Napolitano is a Democrat.

I wrote about women candidates in last year’s Arizona elections (click here) and many women ran for almost all races in the legislature and state-wide offices.

In the current 2011 election for the City of Tucson, only one woman (Mary DeCamp, a Green Party member) is running for Mayor. Councilmembers Karin Uhlich (Ward 3) and Shirley Scott (Ward 4) were considering bids for Mayor as well, but opted to stay in their Council seats. In Wards 1, 2 and 4, women are running: Democratic Councilmember Regina Romero for re-election, Republican challenger Jennifer Rawson, and Democratic Councilmember Shirley Scott for re-election.

On the Southern Arizona legislative front there are several women politicians: LD 25 Senator Gail Griffin (R), LD 25 House Rep. Peggy Judd (R), LD 26 House Rep. Terri Proud (R), LD 27 Senator Olivia Cajero Bedford (D), LD 27 House Rep. Sally Ann Gonzales (D), LD 28 Senator Paula Aboud (D), LD 29 Senator Linda Lopez (D). And CD 8 is represented in U.S. Congress by Democrat Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering from that tragic shooting on January 8, 2011.

I think women don’t run because politics is still perceived as a “dirty game”, with long hours and often disagreeable constituents and issues. Plus women may still have to multi-task with children, meal preparation/housework, etc.

What do you think readers? The AP article goes on to say that perhaps more women should run for office, due to the number of recent sex scandals involving male politicians (i.e. former VP candidate/U.S. Senator John Edwards, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Congressman Anthony Weiner). The assumption there is that perhaps women politicians wouldn’t fall prey to sexual temptations or scandals.

On Election Night (November 2, 2010) and the days afterward, some of these races were too close to call, and at long last the Secretary of State has posted the final “unofficial results” (click here) with all results from the thousands of early & provisional ballots being counted. Voter turnout statewide was 55.65 %; higher at 65.54 % in Pima County. These results won’t be “official” until November 29, when the election Canvass is approved, but note the recount info below regarding Prop. 112. And Prop. 203 (medical marijuana) did prevail after all.

U.S. Senate: incumbent Senator John McCain (R)

U.S. House CD7: incumbent Congressman Raul Grijalva (D)

U.S. House CD 8: incumbent Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D)

Governor of Arizona: incumbent Governor Jan Brewer (R)

Secretary of State: incumbent Ken Bennett (R)

Treasurer: Doug Ducey (R)

Attorney General: Tom Horne (R)

Superintendent of Public Instruction: John Huppenthal (R)

Corporation Commission (2 seats): Brenda Burns (R), incumbent Gary Pierce (R)

State Mine Inspector: incumbent Joe Hart (R)

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In Southern Arizona legislative districts:

LD 25 Senate: Gail Griffin (R)
House: Peggy Judd (R) & Rep. David Stevens (R), incumbent

LD 26 Senate: Senator Al Melvin (R), incumbent
House: Terri Proud (R) & Rep. Vic Williams (R), incumbent

LD 27 Senate: Rep.Olivia Cajero Bedford (D)
House: Sally Ann Gonzales (D) & Dr. Macario Saldate (D)

LD 28 Senate: Senator Paula Aboud (D), incumbent
House: Rep. Steve Farley (D), incumbent & Bruce Wheeler (D)

LD 29 Senate: Senator Linda Lopez (D), incumbent
House: Rep. Daniel Patterson (D) & Rep. Dr. Matt Heinz, (D), both incumbents

LD 30 Senate: Senator Frank Antenori (R), incumbent
House: Rep. David Gowan (R) & Rep. Ted Vogt (R), both incumbents

Prop. 106 Health Care Services YES

Prop. 107 Preferential Treatment/Discrimination YES

Prop. 109 Hunting & Fishing NO

Prop. 110 State Trust Lands NO

Prop. 111 Lt. Governor NO

Prop. 112 Initiative Petitions NO? (lost by only 123 votes, recount to occur after November 29, may take about 10 days thereafter for all 15 counties to recount their ballots)

Prop. 113 Secret Ballot for Unions YES

Prop. 203 Medical Marijuana YES (won by 4341 votes, only decided on 11/13/10 with final tallies)

Prop. 301 “Growing Smarter” NO

Prop 302 “First Things First” NO

City of Tucson Prop. 400 (proposed sales tax increase) – NO

City of Tucson Prop. 401 (proposed City Charter changes) – NO

For Pima County election results, click here.

Clerk of the Superior Court: Patti Noland (R), incumbent

TUSD Governing Board (2 seats): Adelita Grijalva, incumbent & Michael Hicks

The Arizona voters have spoken.
Ballots Cast: 1,750,877 of 3,146,418 registered voters.