Legislative District 26 Voting History

CURRENT LEGISLATORS

Senate
Al Melvin (R)
Tucson;
owner of American Quality International Consulting.
Termed out in 2016.

House
Vic Williams (R)
Tucson;
owner of Real Estate Investments.
Termed out in 2016.

Nancy Young Wright (D)
Oro Valley;
former program coordinator for Pima County.
Termed out in 2014.

VOTING HISTORY

When the Independent Redistricting Commission drew boundaries of LD-26 in 2002, the historical partisan voting pattern in the district was 55 percent Republican to 45 percent Democrat. In 2004, Bush beat Kerry in the district by the same margin. In 2008, McCain’s margin of victory over Obama was about the same. However, in the 2006 gubernatorial election, Napolitano defeated Munsil in the district by a margin of 64 percent to 35 percent.

The entire legislative district lies within CD-8, and in 2008 Democrat Giffords outpolled Republican Bee by 9 percentage points.

The more expansive marriage amendment in 2006 was defeated by more than 8 percentage points, twice the margin of defeat statewide.

In 2008, with almost 35 percent more votes cast than in 2006, the more narrowly worded marriage amendment passed, but only by 3 percentage points, much less than the 12.4 percentage points statewide.

The union-sponsored minimum wage initiative passed handily in the district by more than 20 percentage points, and the amendment prohibiting illegal immigrants from suing in state court for punitive damages passed in the district but by a somewhat smaller margin than statewide (42 percent in the district vs. 48 percent statewide).

FINAL ANALYSIS

On paper this is a solid Republican district. Until 2006, it had sent only Republicans to the Legislature since new district lines were implemented in 2002. However, when Republicans fielded two candidates in 2006 who apparently were too conservative for the majority of voters in the district, Democrats claimed two of the three seats: Lena Saradnik defeated Republican Don Jorgensen by five percentage points, and Charlene Pesquiera defeated Republican Al Melvin by 455 votes (about one-half of 1 percent). Moderate Republican, Rep. Pete Hershberger, was re-elected, preventing a Democratic sweep in the district.

In 2008, Democrat Pesquiera did not run for re-election to the Senate. Hershberger, who was termed out in the House, ran for the open Senate seat but lost in the primary to conservative Al Melvin, who was the party’s losing Senate candidate in 2006.

In the 2008 general election, Melvin was aided by the higher turn-out generated by a presidential election (nearly 23,000 more votes were cast for state senator in 2008 vs. 2006). He defeated aviation consultant and Democratic activist Cheryl Cage by nearly 2 percentage points (1,966 votes).

In the House, with one seat vacant, the district chose a split delegation. Republican Vic Williams led the ticket. Incumbent Nancy Young Wright, a Democrat who was appointed in January 2008 to replace Saradnik who had had a stroke and resigned, narrowly defeated Republican Marilyn Zerull by 850 votes (one-half of 1 percent).