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August 20th, 2022 Political Note #495 Adrian Fontes Arizona Secretary of State
2022 General Election
On January 4 of this year, I made a bad judgment. Eager to choose a candidate to recommend for Arizona’s Secretary of State, conscious of how important that race was, I picked one of two serious candidates to recommend. The wrong one.
On August 2, Arizona Democrats selected former County Clerk Adrian Fontes as their candidate for Secretary of State. Adrian Fontes was not the candidate I encouraged you to support on January 4. Today, I encourage you to support Adrian Fontes.
Adrian Fontes is a smart guy. He graduated from Arizona State University Summa Cum Laude. He was part of Barrett Honors College at ASU. Seven thousand Arizona State University students are enrolled in Barrett Honors College out of the University’s 90,000 undergraduates.
Adrian Fontes graduated in 1998, went to the University of Denver Law School and graduated in 2000. He worked as a Deputy DA in Denver, then returned home to Arizona as a Deputy Maricopa County Attorney. Still in Arizona, he spent three years as an Assistant Attorney General. In 2005, he opened his own law office at 420 East Roosevelt Road in between Arizona State University Downtown and the Banner University Medical Center.
He got the seven-year itch and was looking for something new. Something new in connection with work. His marriage seems fine. He has a wife and three daughters. In 2012, he opened Bodega 420. More than a grocery store, Bodega 420 provided the kind of fresh food not easily available in downtown Phoenix. Adan Fontes also intended it to be a community gathering place. Maybe he intended it to be a base of political operations. In 2016, he ran for County Recorder and won
County Recorder is a big job for a big county. Maricopa County, with more than 4 ½ million people, is the fourth largest county in the country – after Los Angeles, Cook (Chicago), and Harris (Houston). Adrian Fontes interest in politics was a product of his family history. His grandfather, who fought in WWII was elected Mayor of Nogales, Arizona. Adrian Fontes served four years in the Marines before he started at Arizona State. Ensconced in Phoenix, he was not going to run for mayor. Phoenix already had a Democratic mayor when Adrian Fontes ran for Recorder.
Adrian Fontes saw himself as a reformer. He was the first Latino County Recorder in Maricopa County. Among the records he was in charge of were those associated with voter registration. He intended to make voting more accessible and safer at the same time. He used technology so that when voters came to vote, their registration and other relevant information was immediately visible to the voter and the registrar.
He changed a system that discouraged voters, that relied on outdated equipment and cronies as poll workers. He introduced new technologies and professionalized the workers. He worked with community and political organizations to increase registration. His work yielded an additional half million registrants. Maricopa became the second largest voting jurisdiction in the country.
Adrian Fontes makes a good case that his experience as Recorder and his experience in the 2020 election is good preparation for the job of Secretary of State. He arranged for a move from voting in precincts to using large voting centers. With technology, a voter would automatically get the ballot for his or her precinct. And with technology, the vote count would be easy.
In 2018 there were glitches with the new technology. As a result, there were long lines. There was a quarrel with the Attorney General. The Board of Election took over the responsibility for organizing future election day voting, leaving Adrian Fontes and his office with registration and with oversight of early voting.
Beset by Covid, the 2020 election could have been chaotic. It went smoothly, but not without lawsuits. The centers and drop off boxes Adrian Fontes oversaw led to a record setting number of early voters. There were no long lines at the voting centers. Nor were the long lines on election day, in part because so many people had already voted. Adrian Fontes lost only one lawsuit related to the 2020 voting. He was prohibited from using a new system which allowed voters to correct errors when they completed their ballot.
Adrian Fontes lost the 2020 election. In a post-election interview, local television news magazine host Mark Brodie introduced Adrian Fontes. Brodie explained in his introduction for the interview that the critics who claimed the voting was rigged could not be right. If those election critics were right, Adrian Fontes could not possibly have allowed himself to lose.
Adrian Fontes has been running for Secretary of State based on his experience with and knowledge about elections. Winning the primary was, in part, a vote of confidence by Democrats in the integrity of Arizona’s election process. Arizonans will have a chance to choose between Adrian Fontes and a candidate convinced that Donald Trump was robbed in 2020.
Mark Finchem, the Republican candidate for Secretary of State, is as far right as you are going to get in an American politician. He is a member of the Oath Keepers, one of the groups that appears to have armed themselves for the January 6 insurrection. The one man convicted, so far, for sedition was affiliated with the Oath Keepers. Finchem is currently an Arizona State Rep and the Arizona Coordinator of the Coalition of Western States, an organization devoted to opposing the United States Bureau of Land Management. In January, 2021, Finchem falsely reported that tens of thousands of missing or lost votes from the 2020 election had been found and that, furthermore, tens of thousands of votes had been cast fraudulently. Based on that “report”, he urged that Arizona legislature to appoint a separate slate of electors for the Electoral College.
Arizona’s election for Secretary of State is a big….deal. It is crucial to put oversight of the election in the hands of Democrat who understands elections and has demonstrated his integrity. It is crucial to prevent Mark Finchem from exercise control over the 2024 elections.
You can give money to candidates for the US Senate at a time when Democrats are beginning to feel they just might expand their majority in the Senate. You can give money to candidates for the US House of Representatives at a time when Democrats are beginning to feel they have a chance to keep their majority. You can give money to candidates for governor because who runs a state is important. You should also give money to Adam Fontes and other candidates for Secretary of State because the person in charge of elections is a big…..deal.
Down Ballot Candidates
Secretary of State candidates worth noting
Arizona Adrian Fontes (Political Note #495) v Mark Finchem
Georgia State Rep Bee Nguyen (Political Note #409) v Incumbent Brad Raffensperger
Michigan Incumbent Jocelyn Benson (Political Note #435) v Big Lie enthusiast Kristina Karamo
Minnesota Incumbent Steve Simon v former candidate Kim Crockett
Nevada Attorney and ex Boxing Commissioner Cisco Aguilar (Political Note #436) v Big Lie enthusiast former state assemblyman Jim Marchant
New Mexico Incumbent Maggie Toulouse Oliver (who has already had to deal with a local who refused to certify votes) v Businesswoman Audrey Mendonca-Trujillo
Ohio City Counselor Chelsea Clark (Political Note #471) v Incumbent Frank LaRose
Attorney General races worth noting:
Arizona Kris Mayes (Political Note #470) v ex Prosecutor Abe Hamadeh
Arkansas Litigator Jesse Joe Gibson v Lt. Governor Tim Griffin
Georgia State Senator Jen Jordan (Political Note #441) v Incumbent Chris Carr
Iowa Incumbent Tom Miller v County Attorney Brenna Bird
Kansas Attorney Chris Mann (Political Note #425) v extremist ex Secretary of State Kris Klaubach.
Michigan Incumbent Dana Nessel (Political Note #415) v Trump acolyte Attorney Matthew DePerno
Minnesota Incumbent Keith Ellison (Political Note #442) v Attorney Jim Schultz
Nevada Incumbent Aaron Ford (Political Note #360) v Attorney Sigal Chattah
New Mexico County DA Raul Torrez v ex military attorney Jeremy Gay
Ohio Ex City Counselor Jeff Crossman (Political Note #490) v Incumbent Dave Yost
Texas Attorney Rochelle Garza. (Political Note #472) v Incumbent Ken Paxton
Wisconsin Incumbent Josh Kaul (Political Note #367) v DA Eric Toney
Lt Governor Candidates (Really, only Texas has an independently powerful Lt. Governor)
Texas Education Advocate Mike Collier (Political Note #496) v Incumbent Dan Patrick
Gubernatorial candidates with projections from 538
- Michigan Incumbent Gretchen Whitmer defeats radio host Tudor Dixon by 13.1 points using the Deluxe model. By15.5 based on polls only.
- Connecticut Incumbent Ned Lamont defeats Businessman Bob Stefanowski by 9.9 using the Deluxe Model. By 10.5 based on polls only
- Minnesota Incumbent Tim Walz defeats ex State Senator Scott Jensen by 9.0 using the Deluxe Model, By only 7.5 points based on polls only
- Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro defeats State Senator Doug Mastriano by 6.8 points using the Deluxe Model. By 7.8. points based on polls only
- Wisconsin Incumbent Tony Evers defeats Businessman Tim Michels by 6.5 points using Deluxe Model. By 6.7 based on polls only.
- Maine Incumbent Janet Mills defeats ex Governor Paul LePage by 6.4 points using the Deluxe Model. By the same 6.4 points based on polls only.
- New Mexico Incumbent Michelle Lujan Grisham defeats TV Meteorologist Mark Ronchetti by 6.1 points using the Deluxe Model. By 3.9 based on polls only.
- Oregon State House Speaker Tina Kotek defeats State House Minority Leader Christine Drazin by 4.3 using the Deluxe Model. By 5.1 based on polls only
- Nevada Incumbent Steve Sisolak defeats Sheriff Joe Lombardo by 2.1 points using the Deluxe Model. By 2.2 based on polls only
- Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbes defeats ex Fox News Anchor Kari Lake by 1.5 points using the Deluxe Model. By 3.2 points based on polls only
- Kansas Incumbent Laura Kelly defeats Attorney General Derek Schmidt by .3 points using the Deluxe Model. By 2.1 points based on polls only
- Georgia Former State House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams loses to Incumbent Brian Kemp by 6.3 points using the Deluxe Model. By 4.5 based on polls only
- Florida Probable nominee Charlie Crist loses to Incumbent Ron DeSantis by 11.4 points using the Deluxe Model. By 7.7 based on polls only
- Texas Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke loses to Incumbent Doug Abbott by 12.4 points using the Deluxe Model. By only 7.5 points based on polls only
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