Get Out And Vote...

It's primary election day across the Valley and the state, and while there aren't *too* many contested primaries, there are a few and they are important ones.

- There are contested primaries on both sides of the ballot for Corporation Commission.

On the Democratic side, Kara Kelty, Sandra Kennedy, Sam George, and Paul Newman are running for the three spots on the general election ballot; on the Republican side, Marian McClure, Barry Wong, Keith Swapp, Bob Robson, John Allen, Rick Fowlkes, Bob Stump, and Joe Hobbs are running. (Want proof that I spend too much time thinking and writing about AZ politics? I recited all 11 of those names from memory. :) )

- In Maricopa County, Democrats Gerald Richard and Tim Nelson are squaring off for the chance to knock off incumbent County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

- In CD5, six Republicans are contesting for the privilege of facing Democrat Harry Mitchell in November. The candidates include Laura Knaperek, Susan Bitter Smith, David Schweikert, Mark Anderson, Jim Ogsbury, and Lee Gentry.

- In CD6, Democrats Rebecca Schneider and Chris Gramazio are facing off for the chance to unseat Republican Jeff Flake in November.

- In CD1, it's a free-for-all as a number of candidates on both sides of the ballot vie to replace the indicted and departing Republican Rick Renzi.

On the Democratic side, Jeffrey Brown, Mary Kim Titla, Ann Kirkpatrick, and Howard Shanker are on the ballot; on the Republican side, Sandra Livingstone, Sydney Hay, Tom Hansen, and Barry Hall are in the running.

- In the Republican race for the LD4 Senate seat, incumbent Jack Harper is facing the challenge mounted by John Zerby.

- In the Republican race for the LD18 Senate seat, in perhaps the nastiest race of the season, Russell Pearce and Kevin Gibbons are competing to face Democrat Judah Nativio in November for the chance to replace the retiring Republican incumbent Karen Johnson.

- In the LD18 Republican race for State Rep, Cecil Ash, Steve Court, Kanani Henderson, and Ron Middlebrook are contesting to face Democrat Tammie Pursley in November.

- In LD22, the Senate race will be decided in the Republican primary, as no Democrat is running. Incumbent Thayer Verschoor is facing challengers Eddie Farnsworth and Joe Bedgood.

In the LD22 Republican State Rep primary, Andy Biggs, Laurin Hendrix, Adam Armer, and Bob Brown are vying for the chance to face Democrat Glenn Ray on November's ballot.

- In LD26 Senate, Republican incumbent Pete Hershberger is facing challenger Al Melvin; the winner goes on to face Democrat Cheryl Cage in November.

- Up north in the LD1 Democratic State Representative race, Tom Chabin, Christopher Clark Deschene, Mark Haughwout and write-in candidate Jolene Tom are facing off for the privilege of joining the lege - there aren't any Republican candidates.

- In LD3, Doris Goodale, Trish Groe and Nancy McClain are vying for the two Republican spots on the November ballot. They winners will face Democrat Pamela Durbin once there.

- In LD6, the Republican race for State Rep has been *interesting* between Sam Crump, Tony Bouie, and Carl Seel. The winners of that primary will face Democrats Teri Conrad and Jack Doody in November.

- In the LD12 Republican primary for State Representative, Robert Blendu, Steve Montenegro and Jerry Weiers are fighting for the chance to face Democrats Eve Nunez and David Scanlon in November.

- In LD14, Democrats Robert Meza, Chad Campbell, and John Valdez are facing off for the chance to represent the district in the state House of Representatives. There are no Republican candidates.

- In the Democratic primary for LD16 State Representative, Cloves Campbell, Jr., Betty Doss Ware, Ben Miranda, and Jimmie Munoz Jr. are fighting it out for the two Democratic spots on November's ballot.

- In LD20, Republicans John McComish, Jeff Dial, Frank Schmuck, and Andy Swann are opposing each other for the right to face Democrats Rae Waters and write-in Michael Williams in November.

- In the LD23 Democratic State Representative primary, Barbara McGuire, Krista Pacion, Dorian Bond, Ernest Bustamante, and write-in candidate Emily Verdugo-Aldrich are facing off to oppose Republicans John Fillmore and Frank Pratt in the general election.

- In LD27, Phil Lopes, Olivia Cajero Bedford and John Kromko are facing off.

- LD29 has perhaps the largest Democratic primary, as Tom Prezelski, Daniel Patterson, Eric Carbajal Bustamante, Ephraim Cruz, Gil Guerra, Matt Heinz, and Patricia Puig are contesting for the two November spots on the ballot.

Finally, in the LD30 Republican primary for State Representative, Frank Antenori, Sharon Collins, Doug Sposito, and David Gowan are vying for the two Republican slots against Democrat Andrea Dalessandro in November.

In addition to the above primary races, there are a number of municipal elections on Tuesday's ballot, including Scottsdale, Avondale, El Mirage, Chandler, Glendale, Guadalupe, Peoria, Queen Creek and Wickenburg in Maricopa County.

The Maricopa County Recorder's polling place locator is here. If you live in another county, contact your county's Recorder for that information.

Note: I was going to try to provide links to campaign websites for all of the Democratic candidates mentioned in this post, but if I did that, I wouldn't finish this post until after the polls closed. :)

Note2 - Zelph at AZNetroots has an informative post on some of the write-in candidates in Maricopa County here.