Candidate Forum

There are six candidates running in the Democratic primary for Congressional District 2.  The incumbent, Republican Martha McSally, is vacating her seat to run for Jeff Flake's US Senate seat.  Over 400 people attended.  There's quite a bit of diversity among the group. Of the three pictured, one is a Latina and two are gay.  Mary Matiella was CFO of the National Forest Service and had similar roles in both the Departments of the Army and Housing and Urban Development (Obama administration).  Her experience is exceeded among the candidates only by my choice, Ann Kirkpatrick (not pictured), a  3-term Member of Congress from a neighboring district.  Matt Heinz, an emergency room physician was the nominee last cycle and got crushed.  Barbara Sherry is well over 65 years old who among other things owned a ranch near the border. But wow, was she fiery and had some really good, out-of-the-box ideas.

Ann, who I have known for years, called me later to ask how I thought it went and if I had any suggestions, which I offered.  Her campaign manager called me prior to the event. I gave him a heads up that she may be dealing with a less than supportive crowd.  She slipped in a couple of my ideas in responses.

It really felt good to contribute to a Congressional candidate's campaign again.  The last time I was involved was in 2010, Gabby Giffords final run.  I had a voice message on my phone from her the night before the election. I didn't delete it. Two months later she was grievously injured in the Tucson massacre. Unfortunately, I lost the message when I bought a new phone. The only archived blip I have posted is a photo of us together (when I was a bit larger). 

It's going to be a long summer.  The primary is in late August.