Issue: primary elections

Some candidates with varying degrees of political baggage proved more adept at second chances than others.

Rep. David Stringer and former House Speaker David Gowan advanced to November after securing the Republican nomination in their respective legislative races. Their past actions may have given some voters pause, but not nearly enough to keep them from winning on August 28.

In the case of Stringer, R-Prescott, and Gowan, a Sierra Vista Republican, their primary victories all but assured that they will return to the Capitol, as both Republicans are running in districts with strong GOP voter registration advantages.

Others who faced similar scrutiny for their behavior did not fare so well.

Voters rejected Rep. Paul Mosley, R-Lake Havasu City, in his re-election bid in Legislative District 5 after police body camera footage showed him boasting to a La Paz County sheriff’s deputy about driving well in excess of highway speed limits in March.

Tim Jeffries lost to Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita in the race for the LD23 Senate seat acing criticism over his tenure as director of the Department of Economic Security, a job he was fired from amid reports that he fired hundreds of state workers and used a state plane to fly to Nogales to celebrate with employees who gave up their job protections.

And former legislator Don Shooter, who was expelled from the House of Representatives in February following an investigation that concluded he sexually harassed colleagues and lobbyists at the Capitol, was soundly rejected by voters in the LD13 GOP primary for the Senate.

The reasons for their defeat seem obvious.

Shooter faced steep odds from the start given that his colleagues in the House of Representatives ousted him after an investigation substantiated most of the sexually-charged misconduct allegations against him.

In addition to reports of his ouster at DES, Jeffries faced a competitive three-way primary against incumbent Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita and a political newcomer.

Mosley’s troubles were the most recent, perhaps making his the most damaging.

“He was a victim of very, very bad judgment and very, very bad timing, which in politics makes for a very, very bad outcome,” said lobbyist Barry Dill.

The story of Mosley’s heavy foot resonated in the local news coverage of the traffic stop in ways that don’t always occur in more rural districts, Dill said. Often, a disconnect exists between the way a story is reported in metro Phoenix or Tucson and how it is portrayed at smaller news outlets.

“The scandals, if that’s what you want to call them, don’t necessarily affect candidates outside of metropolitan areas where local officials rule the day,” he said.

Campaign consultant Constantin Querard, who worked with Gowan and Stringer, said voters in more rural districts interpret messages and stories differently than the media in major markets like Phoenix. And while GOP leaders called for Stringer’s resignation after he told a GOP gathering in June that there are “not enough white kids to go around” in Arizona’s public schools, voters in LD1 understood the message that Querard said Stringer was trying to get across – immigration without assimilation is unhealthy.

“Stringer’s trouble came because he said something lots of other people have said, but he said it very badly,” Querard said.

While the media went on a feeding frenzy, Querard said the average voter “understands pretty easily if they like what you’ve said but understand that you said it badly. That’s not a capital crime.”

Pundits on Twitter may have piled on Gowan for his past struggles as speaker – Gowan repaid the state $12,000 that he had wrongfully received as reimbursement and his administration was the subject of two investigations that led to strong rebukes, but no criminal charges, from the attorney general – but he resonated as a true “citizen legislator” who works multiple jobs to provide for his family while also vying for the part time job as a state senator.

Gowan’s relationships in his community cut through the news coverage and political spending against him, Querard said.

“You connect to your neighbors more because frankly, you depend on your neighbors more. There’s a greater sense of community because you need your community,” Querard said. “It’s a lot more difficult to lie about somebody down there because they know that person.”

The latest available campaign finance reports show that Gowan overcame tens of thousands of dollars in outside spending that attacked his record and sought, but failed, to prop up his opponent, Rep. Drew John.

“He’s probably outspent five to one, with the media against him, and wins,” Querard said. “The voters are obviously figuring some stuff out despite what they’re being told.”