Arizona State Primary Elections

They're coming up soon, August 28th to be exact.  I've already listed my city of Scottsdale endorsements here, so I figured I may as well also list my state of Arizona endorsements.  I'm a registered democrat so I will be voting in the Democratic primary, I'll chime in on a few of the Republican candidates too though (to be fair, I will only list the races that I'm voting in as I'm not that familiar with the candidates in the other districts).  Here goes:

U.S. Senate.   Jon Kyl is retiring after 18 years, I'm happy to see him go, he had just become to partisan and unwilling to compromise, that doesn't lead to very effective governance, it's time we put the people before the party.  Arizona is a pretty red state so I'm guessing whichever Republican candidate wins the primary will have the edge in replacing Kyl in November.  That's no guarantee though, I'm sensing people are tiring of all the Republican intransigence and may be ready to try something different.  Richard Carmona is a pretty strong candidate, he's a former Bush appointee, Jon Kyl and John McCain have both previously spoken highly of him, he's got a great story, he's got a legitimate chance to win this thing, he's got my endorsement too.  The Republican primary features Jeff Flake against Wil Cardon.  Flake is a 5 term U.S. Representative, he's considered to be pretty far to the right on most issues, Cardon is the requisite Tea Party candidate, he is running to the right of Flake on most issues.  I don't think that either of them is right for Arizona or the country at this point in time, if I had to choose between the two, I'd reluctantly go with Flake only because he does seem to be a bit more of a free thinker whereas the only things that I've heard from Cardon are Tea Party talking points.  Flake has also served 10+ years now with no ethical issues and he also been one of the leading fighters against pork spending (although that may have hurt Arizona). 

U.S. House of Representative District 9.  I'm a little bit perturbed that David Schapira, Kyrsten Sinema and Andrei Cherny all decided to run in the same congressional district, I like them all, they are three of the brightest young minds in the Arizona democratic party, by all three running in the same district it means two of them will not have a place in shaping the future of the state/country, that's not a good thing.  Being that I can only select one of them, I am endorsing David Shapira, he's the most moderate of the three and should appeal to more independents.  Shapira also seemed to be the most pragmatic and well reasoned of the three when they debated.  I will strongly support whichever candidate makes it through the primary.  Lisa Borowsky in my opinion is the best of the Republican district 9 candidates, I'm guessing that means she will not be the choice of Arizona Republican primary voters though (who tend to fall on the far right fringes). 

State of Arizona Congressional District 24.  I'm a fan of both Chad Campbell & Lela Alston, they will get my vote.  Campbell is a three term congressman, he has been the Arizona House Democratic leader which is a bit of a thankless job in deep red Arizona but he has been a strong voice against the extremism of the right wing and he's got a strong track record.  Alston is another strong voice opposed to the excesses of the far right.  She's got a long list of endorsements and a proven track record. 

Maricopa County Sheriff.   It's way past time for a change at the Sheriff's office, the abuse of power, the lawsuits, the extremism, the partisanship and the incompetence of Joe Arpaio has gone on far too long.  Whoever wins the Democratic primary, will get my vote in November.   Of the democratic candidate running, I think that Paul Penzone has the best chance to beat Arpaio in November, he's got an impressive list of endorsements and a strong track record, he gets my endorsement over John Rowan.  In the end though, this will be a "anyone but Joe" vote.