A View From The Arizona Trenches
Old-fashioned traditional election day is tomorrow. Meanwhile, here in Arizona, many of us have already taken advantage of early voting. My wife and I mailed in our ballots last Friday. We fervently look forward to Wednesday, when the incessant blare of non-stop election commercials will mostly end.
Senate
The big matchup is between Republican Martha McSally and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. McSally has been described as "unhinged" and "a liar" while Sinema is described as a "far left wacko who protested the war while wearing a pink tutu". (Yes, really.)
McSally campaigns heavily on her military service (16 years, 1st woman fighter pilot, yada yada) and supposed support for pre-existing conditions while Sinema wants to fix dysfunctional Washington and provide quality healthcare for all Arizonans. Being Arizona, though, Sinema also has to support veterans and keep Arizonans safe from the Mongol hordes, er, the southern invaders, um, the refugees seeking a better life. (Yeah, that's the ticket!)
My wife has a visceral dislike for McSally, so she voted for Sinema. I went for the Green candidate because I like to waste my vote or something like that.
House of Representatives
Slam dunk, really. Raul Grijalva has been our long-time Democratic representative, does a decent job, and is essentially assured of re-election as many times as he wants to run in this heavily Hispanic voting district.
Governor
Doug Ducey is the incumbent Republican governor being challenged by Democrat David Garcia and Green Angel Torres. Garcia shot himself in the foot, then in the belly, then finished off with a coup de grâce to the head by giving speeches where he opined "Imagine … no border wall in Arizona". Yeah, he really said that. In Arizona. Bye-bye, David. Hello 2nd term for Doug.
Attorney General
Most notable about this race was the amount of mud-slinging devoted to a race hardly anybody pays attention to and that affects practically nobody. Incumbent Republican Mark Brnovich is "corrupt, cheats employees out of overtime pay, and was bribed by an electric utility to water down the solar power proposition" while Democrat January Contreras is a "dangerous far-left liberal who will destroy Arizona and is supported by California billionaire Tom Steyer". (California!?!? Boo!! Hiss!!) Naturally, Contreras got our votes, but it seems almost certain the Republican will win re-election.
Ballot Propositions
It would be nice if I could just vote "No" on the ballot propositions and be done with it. Unfortunately, some are worded in the alternative, meaning that you have to read through them to determine whether No means No or No means Yes. That being said, I usually vote in the affirmative on road and school bonds and in the negative on everything else.
One of the initiatives, Prop 127 for increasing alternative energy requirements, is so confusing and had so much garbage being slung for and against it that I just left it alone. The "constitutional mandate that, irrespective of cost to consumers" portion of it was quite alarming. I'm all for renewable energy, but cost must be a consideration. Otherwise, corruption will blossom.
Bottom Line
If you haven't voted yet, get out and do it. While it often seems that nothing changes and we the people are powerless peons, at a minimum we can register our displeasure with the system by voting contrarian (outside the duopoly). Yeah, it's a flawed democracy, but most of the time it's still better than the alternatives.
Comments
Sounds as exciting as every other state.
Michi does have 3 good props on the ballot - all yeses:
1) legal rec pot
2) a version of automatic voter registration and absentee voting for everyone for any reason
3) Redistricting to be removed from the parties and give to a citizen's council with a whole bunch of rules. I think the rules are there to make it hard to game the system by taking over the council.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
The Green Candidate,
coincidentally named "Green" has bowed out of the race, and asked all her supporters to vote for Sinema. No thanks, but unfortunately, I voted early...for Green.
Raul's a good guy, and I occasionally tell him so. I would vote for him, but we're in the next district over.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Yeah, Raul's great.
It's too bad the Democratic Party doesn't have hundreds more like him.
Did you know the Green Party senate candidate dropped out?
Yep, az senate candidate Angela Green (yes, the Green Party candidate was named Green) quit last week and tepidly endorsed Sinema. Krysten had absolutely nothing to say about it. I got the feeling she’d rather not be endorsed by the green party. She’s going for the “moderate republicans” so kept her distance.
Ms Green didn’t say why she was dropping out. Her website has a very muddled message, it’s not clear if it’s been updated or not, it’s so vague. But her “endorsement” of Sinema was weird and way too late even if was going to help.
I actually like the version of Kyrsten Sinema that McSally is trying to run against. But that incarnation died when she was elected to the House. No more pink tutus or anti war protests or cavorting with witches. Yes, she actually did cavort with witches, back in the day. Too funny. I would have voted for that Sinema.
McSally is really gross so I was considering actually voting for Kyrsten, especially after seeing the attack ads, which highlight her past when she was a hard core progressive, green party spokesperson, and anti war activist. Too bad she turned away from all that, but she wanted to be elected so there ya go.
I didn't know.
So much for 3rd parties being a viable option. Sadly, I think McSally will likely win.
Why drop out if you're already on the ballot?
Pay-off? Threat? Bad polling and lack of money makes no sense, if you're already on the ballot.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
And she waited until early voting was well under way
Mail in ballots had been out for at least two weeks and a good chunk were already sent it. It really is very strange. Sinema wasn’t interested, at all. She completely ignored Green, both before and after she said she was quitting and sort-of endorsed Sinema. There’s been virtually no press about it. Frankly, no one seems to care, so I seriously doubt either payoff or threats. To me it just makes her seem very flakey and unreliable.
Why does this always happen? Ross Perot was doing great until
he pulled that “I’m dropping out — no, now I’m back in the race” nonsense which made him seem — well, you already said it.
Kyrsten sold out.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
She's voted with Trump 60% of the time. She was one of only 3 House Democrats who voted to make the Trump tax cut permanent.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Yeppers, she sure changed
I remember when she first ran for the House, she was not in my district but a friend told me to check her out. “You will love her” I was informed. Why? “Because she’s an atheist, and openly bisexual!”
Wowz. Ok, I’ll check her out, maybe donate, even though she sounds doomed.
But then I listened to a couple of videos of her campaigning and some speeches, and was totally meh. Identity politics was not enough. I passed on supporting her. Didn’t know anything about her anti war activism or any of that, until McSally pointed it out.
Kyrsten Sinema was at one time exactly who I would have wanted to vote for. But her tendency to shun categories and labels extends to every part of her identity. She doesn’t call herself an atheist, she says she has no religious affiliation. She doesn’t even own bisexual, but instead refuses any sexual identity label nowadays. She’s doing the same with trying to not be either a dem or a republican.
I think she’s trying for McCain’s spot as the so-called independent maverick of Arizona. McSally is an extreme partisan, who votes with trump 97% of the time (I think that’s right, it’s close to that) while Sinema is “only” 60-something percent with him.
She might win. We will see soon enough. You are right that AZ is about to elect our first republican woman senator either way.
I'm in CD-2,
but I spend a lot of time at Grijalva HQ every election season because I'm a progressive.
I volunteered with the Matiella campaign in the CD-2 primary. Mary lost so she's volunteering for Grijalva now too. The consensus seems to be that Kirkpatrick will win tomorrow.
Here's the problem, Ann is a creature of the national party. I'm afraid that, if she wins, the DNC and the DCCC will say, "Look, we shit all over the progressives and we still won. We don't need their votes, we can ignore their concerns."
And, yeah, I voted for both her and Sinema. One thing is certain, after tomorrow, no matter who wins, Arizona will have its first female senator, and she will be a Republican.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.