Legislative District 29 Voting History

CURRENT LEGISLATORS

Senate
Linda Lopez (D)
Tucson;
clinical supervisor with family care center.
Termed out in 2016.

House
Matt Heinz (D)
Tucson;
physician (internist), IPC Hospitals of Arizona.
Termed out in 2016.

Daniel Patterson (D)
Tucson;
ecologist, southwest director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Termed out in 2016.

VOTING HISTORY

When the Independent Redistricting Commission drew boundaries of LD-29 in 2002, the historical voting pattern in the district was 65 percent Democrat and 35 percent Republican. In the 2004 presidential election, Kerry underperformed, outpolling Bush in the district by only 59 percent to 41 percent. In the 2008 presidential election, Obama performed similarly to Kerry, getting 59 percent of the vote in the district to McCain’s 40 percent.

In the 2006 gubernatorial election, Napolitano outpolled Munsil by more than 50 percentage points – the fifth -largest margin in the state.

In 2006, the less restrictive marriage amendment was voted down by 13 percentage points, a margin greater than the 4 percentage points by which it was defeated statewide. In 2008, with 50 percent more votes cast, the narrower version of the amendment passed by 4 percentage points, much less than the 12.4 percentage points by which it passed statewide.

In 2006, the union-sponsored minimum wage initiative was approved by 76 percent of voters in the district; statewide it received 65 percent. The amendment to prohibit illegal immigrants from suing for punitive damages passed in the district by 30 percentage points. The margin statewide was nearly 50 percentage points.

In 2008, voters in the district supported the Democrat in both of the congressional districts of which it is a part: Grijalva received nearly 80 percent of the vote in CD-7, and Giffords got almost 59 percent in CD-8.

FINAL ANALYSIS

This district has been a reliably Democratic district and has elected only Democrats to the Legislature since 2002. Although it was one of four Hispanic majority districts in the state when district lines were drawn in 2002, currently only one of the three people in its legislative delegation has a Hispanic surname.

Democrats lost their absolute majority of registered voters in 2004. The ranks of voters not affiliated with either major party have increased by 25 percent since 2002 (from 24 percent of registered voters to 30 percent).

In 2002, incumbent Ramon Valadez was re-elected to the Senate, but did not take the oath of office in January 2003, because had he done so he would have been disqualified from being appointed to the Pima County Board of Supervisors to fill a vacancy created when board member Raul Grijalva was elected to Congress from the newly formed 7th Congressional District.

The Pima County Board selected House-member and longtime lawmaker Victor Soltero to Valadez’s seat. The board then named Tom Prezelski to fill Soltero’s seat in the House. Prezelski was elected on his own right in 2004 and again in 2006, but voter sentiment turned in 2008 when he was accused of writing checks on a girlfriend’s bank account without her permission. His weakened candidacy generated a seven-way primary in which he placed third behind Heinz and Patterson. Heinz had previously run unsuccessfully in neighboring District 28. Patterson was in his first campaign for elected office.

In 2008, Linda Lopez, who had served in the House since 2001, made the transition to the Senate when Soltero chose to retire after completing his term. Lopez has filed for re-election in 2010. Heinz and Patterson have filed for re-election to the House. Republican Pat Kilburn has also filed for the House.