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Voters to decide state house, senate seats in District 25
Thelma Grimes/Wick Communications
The general election candidates are set in state District 25 with two seats open for the House of Representatives, and one seat in the Senate.
Democrat Manny Al-varez will face Republican Gail Griffin in the senate race.
Alvarez is seeking a second term in the senate.
Alvarez served in the Arizona House of Representatives for eight years before being elected to the Senate.
With 9,551 votes in the Aug. 24 primary, Griffin defeated Republican op-ponent Craig Smith to move on to face Alvarez in November. Griffin said it's time for change.
"I don't feel I'm being represented. People are coming to me and saying (Alvarez) does not represent our interests. He's a nice guy, but he doesn't seem interested in doing the right thing."
Griffin said she feels Alvarez has failed to represent the people when it comes to protecting the Arizona-Mexico border, has failed to work with the legislature to balance the state budget, and is unable to create jobs and improve the District 25 economy.
Alvarez did not return the News-Sun call for comment.
In the Arizona House of Representatives, Democrats in the District 25 race include incumbent Patricia Fleming and newcomer Ruben Ortega.
In the Aug. 24 primary, Fleming and Ortega defeated Democratic opponent Ken Davis.
Fleming received the majority of the votes with 7,658 and Ortega had 6,343.
Republicans looking to take the two open seats are incumbent David Stevens and Willcox newcomer Peggy Judd.
Based on the votes in the primary, Stevens said he is confident he will be reelected to a second term.
Stevens received 10,777 according to the unofficial results, and Judd received 8,684. They were the only Republicans running.
Stevens said he had a lot more votes than fellow incumbent Fleming, who was ahead of him at this time two years ago.
As the general election campaign moves forward, Stevens stressed his two biggest priorities in rural Arizona are creating jobs and improving the budget.
"If we can fix those two things, a lot of other issues will improve," he said. "We need to take a look at education and take care of healthcare in this state."
Fleming did not return the News-Sun's call for comment.
Ortega, who ran for election in 1996, said he is reentering politics be-cause it is something he's good at.
"I retired in 1996 to help run the family business, a shoe and boot repair shop. But it closed in 2008," he said. "After taking some time off, in 2010 I was thinking about what to do, what I like to do and what I'm good at. I was always good at politics."
In entering the race, Ortega said some important issues include education, the economy and border security.
"Our representatives need to be asking how these issues are impacting our rural communities like Benson, Tombstone and Willcox," he said. "We need to attract more people to Southern Arizona.
Ortega said partisanship must stop, and votes must be based on the merits of an idea and not on whether it is from a Republican or Democrat.
Republican Judd is new to the political arena, getting involved last year after organizing several Tea Party events in Willcox.
Judd said she is not a Tea Party candidate, but realized with some positive feedback she can make a difference at the state level.
"Our district encompasses the southern border," she said. "These issues are huge in our district, and I want to stop illegal immigration. The border is left unattended, and we need to get the Border Patrol down there. I have no desire for amnesty."
Taking the debate a step further, Judd said she wants to focus on getting illegal immigrants off welfare and stop all public benefits.
Judd said fixing the illegal immigration problem will go a long way toward improving the Arizona economy.
Judd said she'd also like to focus on the state's wasteful spending.
The general election candidates are set in state District 25 with two seats open for the House of Representatives, and one seat in the Senate.
Democrat Manny Al-varez will face Republican Gail Griffin in the senate race.
Alvarez is seeking a second term in the senate.
Alvarez served in the Arizona House of Representatives for eight years before being elected to the Senate.
With 9,551 votes in the Aug. 24 primary, Griffin defeated Republican op-ponent Craig Smith to move on to face Alvarez in November. Griffin said it's time for change.
"I don't feel I'm being represented. People are coming to me and saying (Alvarez) does not represent our interests. He's a nice guy, but he doesn't seem interested in doing the right thing."
Griffin said she feels Alvarez has failed to represent the people when it comes to protecting the Arizona-Mexico border, has failed to work with the legislature to balance the state budget, and is unable to create jobs and improve the District 25 economy.
Alvarez did not return the News-Sun call for comment.
In the Arizona House of Representatives, Democrats in the District 25 race include incumbent Patricia Fleming and newcomer Ruben Ortega.
In the Aug. 24 primary, Fleming and Ortega defeated Democratic opponent Ken Davis.
Fleming received the majority of the votes with 7,658 and Ortega had 6,343.
Republicans looking to take the two open seats are incumbent David Stevens and Willcox newcomer Peggy Judd.
Based on the votes in the primary, Stevens said he is confident he will be reelected to a second term.
Stevens received 10,777 according to the unofficial results, and Judd received 8,684. They were the only Republicans running.
Stevens said he had a lot more votes than fellow incumbent Fleming, who was ahead of him at this time two years ago.
As the general election campaign moves forward, Stevens stressed his two biggest priorities in rural Arizona are creating jobs and improving the budget.
"If we can fix those two things, a lot of other issues will improve," he said. "We need to take a look at education and take care of healthcare in this state."
Fleming did not return the News-Sun's call for comment.
Ortega, who ran for election in 1996, said he is reentering politics be-cause it is something he's good at.
"I retired in 1996 to help run the family business, a shoe and boot repair shop. But it closed in 2008," he said. "After taking some time off, in 2010 I was thinking about what to do, what I like to do and what I'm good at. I was always good at politics."
In entering the race, Ortega said some important issues include education, the economy and border security.
"Our representatives need to be asking how these issues are impacting our rural communities like Benson, Tombstone and Willcox," he said. "We need to attract more people to Southern Arizona.
Ortega said partisanship must stop, and votes must be based on the merits of an idea and not on whether it is from a Republican or Democrat.
Republican Judd is new to the political arena, getting involved last year after organizing several Tea Party events in Willcox.
Judd said she is not a Tea Party candidate, but realized with some positive feedback she can make a difference at the state level.
"Our district encompasses the southern border," she said. "These issues are huge in our district, and I want to stop illegal immigration. The border is left unattended, and we need to get the Border Patrol down there. I have no desire for amnesty."
Taking the debate a step further, Judd said she wants to focus on getting illegal immigrants off welfare and stop all public benefits.
Judd said fixing the illegal immigration problem will go a long way toward improving the Arizona economy.
Judd said she'd also like to focus on the state's wasteful spending.
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of bensonnews-sun.com.
Been there wrote on Sep 1, 2010 10:22 AM:
Answer: Absolutely nothing. She or her staff would not return phone calls or e-mails.
I am sorry to say I had voted for her. Never again. "