First Person: Incumbents Win Arizona Republican Primaries

Arizona's primary election was held on Aug. 24, 2010. Although I support the Constitution Party, they don't have a primary ballot, so I opted to vote in the Republican primary. In the three biggest races in my district (governor, senator, and District 6 representative), all of the incumbents will remain on the November ballot. Although much of America is in the mood to "throw the bums out" this November, the one politician who many conservative voters are not very happy with, John McCain, was not pitted against a strong candidate. In a nearby district, Dan Quayle's son made November's ballot.

Despite the change in the political climate of our country, I believe that, in each of these elections, the incumbent and known names will be easily elected in November.

Senator: McCain vs. Hayworth

Many conservative Arizonans are not very happy with John McCain. When Glenn Beck's American Revival came to Arizona this spring, just mentioning McCain's name brought a round of boos. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. Unfortunately, the top contender for his spot, J.D. Hayworth, wasn't much better.

An infomercial that was unearthed, where Hayworth encouraged people to get "free government money," pretty much sunk his chances. I personally voted for Hayworth, not because I thought that he was great or anything, but because I'd rather get a new bum in and then find someone else in the next election cycle. More than half of Arizona Republicans disagreed with me, preferring to stick to the devil they know. Perhaps some of them believed McCain when he said that he was going to build the fence and crack down on illegal immigration (I don't).

Governor: Brewer, Buz, and Martin

Governor Jan Brewer is the incumbent, but she has never been elected to the position. She stepped up to the plate after Janet Napolitano moved into Homeland Security. While I initially wasn't a huge fan of Brewer (she wanted to raise taxes rather than cut spending), her performance on illegal immigration is well-liked by Arizona Republicans and other conservative voters such as me. She won the primary by a landslide.

In November, I expect her to beat her Democratic opponent, Terry Goddard. Goddard attacked Brewer in regard to some escaped prisoners, but I don't think that the prison issue will be a big enough black eye on Brewer to keep her from winning the race.

US Representative District 6: The Two Jeffs

For US Representative from District 6, Jeff Flake easily beat opponent Jeff Smith. Flake and Smith tend to agree on many major policy issues. While I voted for Smith (I'd rather see people in office for a short period of time rather than become career politicians), I am not too upset that Flake won. His voting record has never infuriated me like McCain's does at times. Being a fairly conservative Republican, he will probably win in November.

US Representative District 3: Quayle and Company

Although I am not in this district, District 3 had a hotly contested race in this state. Ten people ran to represent this district, including former vice president Dan Quayle's son Ben Quayle. Ben seemed very articulate the few times that I heard him in interviews, and he seemed like a good guy with some integrity and good ideas. Quayle won with 22.7 percent of the vote, which is not bad, considering that there were nine other people running against him. With Quayle's name recognition, and with the Republicans at an advantage this fall, he will probably win.

Source:

Election Results. AZ Central.com, 25 August 2010, 1 AM MST.