Bittersweet Victory
Posted by: Krista
Although I’m thrilled about taking the Presidency and gaining another congressional seat for Arizona, this has been a bittersweet victory. In Pinal County, we gained Ann Kirkpatrick as our congressperson, but we lost a supervisor seat, a legislative seat, and sheriff*.
In fact, in LD23, Pinal went to the two republicans running for State Representative, and our incumbent Dem, Barbara McGuire, only retained her seat because she got a majority of votes in Maricopa and Gila counties. And oddly enough, the second Dem running for LD23, Ernest Bustamante, got more votes in Maricopa and Gila counties than any of the other three candidates. As for the repub who won, Frank Pratt of Casa Grande, I hope he’s a true representative to all of LD23 and not just the repubs. Although I wish Bustamante had won, I respect Pratt and have found him to be a decent guy who has some moderate views and seems less likely to partake in some of the repub shenanigans and hatemongering (although, he probably needs to start buying back his past campaign handouts according to the Clean Elections rules and probably should have bought back his past campaign signs earlier than 8.31.08…tsk.).
Pinal currently has three supervisors, but with the 2010 census, we expect to gain two more. Of the three supervisors, we had two Dem victories with Pete Rios, former State Senator and State Representative, and David Snider, the only supervisor running for re-election this term. The third Dem running for supervisor was Mary Shope, a dear friend of mine. She worked tirelessly at a grassroots level to get out the vote, but I fear that fundraising is what did her in. Shope was determined to work for the people and refused to accept contributions from developers. With a better fundraising machine, I believe she would have picked up the few thousand votes that would have put her ahead of the repub. Shope was a great candidate, and I expect to see more from her in the years ahead.
The Sheriff’s race was painful to watch. There was a lot of animosity and hatred, probably coming from both sides, but I saw it the most from the repub side. I saw a complete disregard for common decency by the repub’s supporters and still question the integrity of the repub candidate for ignoring campaign sign laws – and then there was the photo radar ticket he wouldn’t own up to. Our Dem Sheriff, Chris Vasquez, is an individual for which I have a great deal of respect. His intelligence and energy has always inspired me, and I’m disappointed to have lost him as my sheriff. Vasquez is a true leader, and I suspect we haven’t seen the last of him as a candidate.
The once Dem stronghold in Pinal is slowly watching its voter registration turn red. In my opinion, the repubs are insufferable about their registration gains, and I can only imagine how much more insufferable they’ll be now that they’ve won a couple of seats. Well, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe they’ll take their victories with grace, but somehow I doubt it. Time will tell.
As for the Pinal Dems, I’m sure they’re regrouping and gearing up to overcome the onslaught of repubs. They have brilliant leadership in Joe Robison and Carolyn Gordon, and they have stalwart supporters in Mary D., Mary S., Barb N., et al. Their office is still up and running, and I’m certain they’re on a fundraising mission to keep the doors open (donations can be made at pinaldemocrats.org). I have a lot of faith in the Pinal Dems’ ability to continue building their network of volunteers, donors, and candidates.
*Please note that the races I’ve discussed are just the races I was closely following. Pinal County has multiple legislative districts and congressional districts, which I did not discuss here.
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I, too, was disappointed with Sheriff Vasquez’ loss. I think too few people really understand what the sheriff does and what difference their vote makes. If I live in a city, which most residents of Pinal County do, what effect does the sheriff have on me vs. the city police?
I’m basically okay with Frank Pratt. I have met him and his wife a couple times and he seems intelligent and level-headed. I guess he is one of those “If I have to have a Republican…” candidates.
Living in Casa Grande, I’m sure I’m not alone in my difficulty connecting with the Pinal County Democrats organization. They don’t seem to act when and how they should (for example, why were the polling places here inundated with Repub volunteers handing out pamphlets but not a Dem in sight?) so it’s hard to justify donations or time spent at meetings and functions. If not for my involvement with your campaign, I would never go near that organization. I’m really one to talk, though, since I’m not exactly running out there to reform things.
I just need to move out of Pinal County, because I am increasingly at odds with the population and representation.
I have non-partisan friends who know Pratt and say good things. You never know, the new speaker might just allow him the latitude to vote his conscious and represent his district.
The AZ Dems failed to defend their turf in LD 23.
Andy, I think you said it best about Pratt being an “if I have to have a Republican candidate…” Let’s hope he’s as level headed as he seems. I also believe he supports education more than some republicans – his wife is an educator, after all. After one of the forums, I remember stopping him to tell him I liked what he said about education, so it must’ve been good :)
I am sorry about your feelings with Pinal County and the Pinal County Dems. I see how hard the core group works, so I know it first hand. Plus, I’ve seen the immense amount of growth they’ve had since I started going to meetings five years ago. I know I should have been more involved and should have taken Nov. 4th off to work the polls, but I didn’t. Shame on me for neglecting one of the most important days. It is a lesson to us to give it all we can.
Simon, I’m glad to hear Pratt has a decent reputation. I do believe he used to be a Dem, so maybe some of his Dem leanings will come through :)