Kirkpatrick squeaks by; 3 Diné waltz into statehouse
Arizona Congressional District 1 Race contendants Ann Kirkpatrick (D) and Andy Tobin (R).
CHINLE
In spite of low voter turnout on the Navajo Nation, U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-District 1, Tuesday kept her House seat in a squeaker against the speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, Andrew M. Tobin.
Kirkpatrick had 53.11 percent of the vote to Tobin’s 46.49.
Kirkpatrick spent Tuesday doing some last minute campaigning on the Navajo Nation, making stops in Fort Defiance, Chinle and Tuba City, hoping to spur her strong Navajo base into action.
Tobin, meanwhile, was counting on the lack of a Navajo presidential election — in the wake of last Thursday’s Navajo Nation Supreme Court order to postpone it — to discourage Navajos from coming to the polls and casting their characteristically Democratic votes.
The statehouse races in heavily Navajo District 7, by contrast, were yawners.
Once again District 7 will be represented by three Diné Democrats, although one of them will be a new face in the Legislature. Retired judge Jennifer Benally, running unopposed, claimed the House seat vacated by Jamescita Peshlakai when she ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for state senate. Incumbent Albert Hale, also unopposed, kept the other. Benally had 23,402 votes and Hale 22,440. Some 597 votes, 1.29 percent of the total, went to write-ins.
“What an experience from beginning to end!” gushed Benally in an email to the Times. “I am truly grateful and humbled by the turnout of my campaign. True to my commitment, I have not waited for the results of this election to continue my drive to learn more about the issues we face in education, healthcare, our economy and our natural resources — We are still in this together.”
Carlyle Begay, appointed last year to fill the unexpired term of State Sen. Jack C. Jackson Jr., who left to join the Obama Administration, claimed 84.09 percent of the vote. His challenger, Fort Defiance statistician Kelly Gneiting, had garnered 15.37 percent of the vote — a respectable finish for a first-time, third party candidate.
Gneiting is the head of the Independent American Party.
Begay said he had spent the day campaigning for his father, Walter Begay Jr., who lost his bid for Navajo Nation Council delegate in Chilchinbeto, Dennehotso and Kayenta to Nathaniel Brown.
“He wasn’t really that disappointed,” Begay said. “He really does enjoy traveling with me, so this will give us more time to spend together.”
Begay described winning his first election as “humbling.”
“It’s a vote of confidence in my leadership,” he said. “I will continue building relationships, getting the Legislature to see that partnering with the tribes is good for the state.”
Gneiting was not discouraged. “I’m honored that some folks recognize me, but more than that, I hope they voted for my positions,” he wrote in an email to the Times. “I’m hopeful for next time.”
In the state as a whole, Republicans fared well. Doug Ducey won the governor race by nearly 12 percentage points; Michele Reagan bested Terry Goddard for secretary of state, Mark Brnovich claimed the title of attorney general and Diane Douglas squeaked by David Garcia for superintendent of public instruction.
State treasurer candidate Jeff Dewit, R, was running unopposed, as was state mine inspector candidate Joe Hart, also a Republican.
Of the three propositions, 122, 303 and 304, only the 304, the one involving raising state legislators’ salaries, was being soundly defeated.
Highway 264,
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