It’s in the FAMILY
Arizona could see more relatives serving together in government
Massachusetts politics has been long dominated by the Kennedy dynasty. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have run for president. Several generations of the Bush family have held the reins in Connecticut, Texas and Florida. Now it could be Arizona’s turn.
In elections for the Legislature and statewide office this year, at least eight people who will appear on ballots are closely related to another candidate. The primary election is Aug. 28; the general election is Nov. 6.
All those who are related are running as Republicans, and some have made campaigning a family affair.
If all are elected, there would be an unprecedented number of family members serving in Arizona state government at the same time, according to an annual political almanac published by the Arizona Capitol Times.
Numerous fathers and sons, for example, have served consecutive terms, but rarely have family members overlapped while in
“It’s never something that was planned because we’re family. It just is that we happen to be family, with both of us being in public service and having a lifetime of volunteerism.” Nora Ellen R-Chandler, Arizona House candidate and mother of House Speaker J.D. Mesnard
office. This year, a mother-son pair and married couple likely would be the first of their kind.
Most of the candidates said they don’t come from particularly political families. Politics was something they talked about occasionally, over dinner or while watching the evening news. All say they participated actively as engaged and informed voters.
But none says they expected to be where they are now: running for state office at the same time.
“We’d vote, and then if we didn’t like the results we were watching on the news, we’d yell at the TV,” House Speaker J.D. Mesnard said of his political engagement growing up. “We didn’t really actually get out and campaign or knock on doors or anything like that.”
After graduating from Arizona State University, Mesnard, R-Chandler, first got into politics as an intern at the Legislature. He moved on to a job as a policy staffer and in 2010 ran for a seat in the House, where he’s been ever since.
Having reached his term limit in the House, Mesnard is seeking to represent Legislative District 17 from the Senate.
The person running to fill the House seat Mesnard is leaving? His mother, Nora Ellen, a longtime political actor at the city level in Chandler.
They insist where they are today is due to individual “natural progression of getting more and more involved in the community,” Mesnard said.
“It’s never something that was planned because we’re family,” Ellen said. “It just is that we happen to be family, with both of us being in public service and having a lifetime of volunteerism.”
A second pair, Tracy and David Livingston, could become a political power couple, with David serving as chairman of the appropriations committee in the House and Tracy running for state superintendent of public instruction. Both are Peoria Republicans. They say politics was not at the fore of their family, either. With David coming from a financial advising background, budget planning was a dinner table topic just as much as the political news of the day.
Running for office was never something either Livingston had considered for themselves: instead, they say, people they trusted and worked with asked them to run, David for House in 2012 and now the Senate, and Tracy for the Peoria school board and Maricopa community college board, and now for state superintendent.
“Instead of having it as a bucket list or goal list for either one of us, it wasn’t,” David Livingston said. “It was people that we respected asked us to, and we were crazy enough to say yes.”
Vicki and David Alger, another married duo, say they have always been relatively political, although both are running for office for the first time: Vicki for Senate and David for House, both in District 24, which includes parts of Scottsdale and Phoenix.
The couple married in 2011 and have four teenage sons from David Alger’s previous marriage. They said they see themselves as “political animals” and hope running for office demonstrates to their family and friends the importance of getting out and getting involved.
The Speakmans, father-in-law Ray and daughter-in-law Rebecca, are vying for a House and Senate seat to represent parts of Tempe, Mesa, and Phoenix in Legislative District 26.
From the start, their campaign has been a family affair.
Ray said each of his eight grown children has helped campaign. His daughter and son roller-bladed around to collect signatures and donations, and grandchildren walked along with him to knock on doors.
Ray made his first run for state Legislature in 2012, and Rebecca said running for office was always something she’d considered. Yet it was only last year when Ray put the pieces together — deciding he would run and remembering that his daughter-in-law had previously said she’d be interested in running — that the duo came to fruition.
The Algers, too, have run their campaign as a family project, and said there’s been “a lot of enthusiasm” about their joint campaign.
“People are very, very happy that a husband and wife are interested in working together to try to improve the Legislature,” David Alger said.
The Livingstons, on the other hand, have tried to keep their campaigns as separate as possible, mentioning the challenges of one being in charge of the House budget and the other vying to be a voice for teachers. When one is speaking or attending an event, the other tries to just be a spouse, they said.
They’ve coined the slogan “Vote Livingston” to help get the word out, though.
“Politically, it’s wonderful,” David Livingston said. “You have to be remembered. They have to see the name, see the face, and then connect the dots to vote for you. And ‘Vote Livingston’ just works. We’re very blessed that way.”