Arizona Capitol Times Election Coverage Your Inside Track to Arizona Elections
Rep. Cloves Campbell Jr. lost his seat in Legislative District 16 to the wife of the man who served with him in two previous House terms.
Catherine Miranda has a 191 vote lead over Campbell with 45 of 45 precincts counted.
Ruben Gallego, the Arizona Democratic vice chairman, spent the most money in the race and won by 420 votes over Miranda, the wife of Rep. Ben Miranda, who is retiring after holding one of the district’s House seats for eight years.
Campbell, who was seeking his third consecutive term, went up against Miranda’s name recognition and big-spending Gallego, but his third-place showing could also be attributed to his legal problem that came to light last month.
According to a default judgment filed in Maricopa County Superior Court in April 2009, Campbell was sued by The Leadership Consortium for $14,760 and he never responded to the suit.
The judgment does not provide details on the conflict between Campbell and the Leadership Consortium, a Valley-based non-profit that recruits and identifies leaders of color.
The Democratic winners will take on Republican Michael Gular in the Nov. 2 general election, but Democrats dominate in the district, which encompasses South Phoenix, generally east of 83rd Avenue to Tempe, and south of Van Buren Street to South Mountain.
Only Democrats have been elected to the Legislature since 2002 and no Republican has ever come within 18 percentage points in an election for the House.
Jimmie Munoz Jr., who finished third in the 2008 primary, finished fourth Aug. 2. Sandra Monica Gonzalez and Cristy Lopez finished fifth and sixth respectively.
When winners are sworn in, one of their first issues will be tackling Arizona’s budget crisis, which the Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimates could run a deficit of $2 billion to $3billion.
Gallego said some of the budget solutions would include selling off state property such as the Fairgrounds and creating a Capital Improvement Fund.
Miranda said she would like to see taxes on Internet purchases and taxes on sugar-additive products.
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