Ducey tie haunts Dist. 27 candidate

The race in Legislative District 27 won’t make much of a difference to flip the Arizona House to Democrats — on paper anyway.

Catherine Miranda, who’s challenging the House incumbents, may be a registered Democrat but is a “Republican-lite,” says a progressive group blasting her in fliers sent to voters.

“Are you voting for a Democrat who endorsed Republican governor Doug Ducey?” asks the fliers that ProgressNow Arizona sent to voters in District 27, which covers south Phoenix, parts of Guadalupe and Tempe.

It’s true that Miranda, who has served in the state House and Senate, endorsed the Republican Ducey and has been haunted by that ever since.

“I am proud to endorse Doug Ducey,” she wrote in 2014. “Doug Ducey is the only candidate with a proven record and the capability to unify our residents behind a singular vision.”

In 2020, most Arizonans would disagree with that assessment. Ducey has done anything but unify residents, and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been a disaster. To Miranda’s credit, she too, has been critical of Ducey’s job.

“Governor Ducey missed an opportunity to work with me back then, and the decisions he has made since have been disappointing and ones I don’t support,” she told me when asked about the ProgressNow Arizona campaign mailers.

Miranda, who describes herself as pro-life, also endorsed Republican Michele Reagan for secretary of state in 2014.

I get Miranda’s point. Often support is conditional to a specific issue, task or behavior at a particular moment.

She is making a bid to unseat one of the Democratic incumbents, Reginald Bolding and Diego Rodriguez.

Bolding is an African American and Rodriguez a Latino. Only two candidates from each party advance to the general election. Tatiana Peña is the only Republican on the Aug. 4 primary ballot.

“I am a proud Democrat and will always remain a Democrat,” she said.

But will voters give Miranda the benefit of the doubt? That Ducey endorsement stunned so many in the mostly Latino and African American district that it may be just too difficult to forget.

She angered too many people, and I even predicted she would switch political allegiance to join the Ducey administration as a Republican. She didn’t, of course.

She was first elected to the state House in 2011 and in 2015 moved over to the Senate.

She left the Senate to challenge U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego. Gallego, who also accused her of being a Republican and easily defeated her.

Miranda now says voters should look at her “voting record for unions, working families and standing alongside the teachers during Red for Ed.”

That might be the case. But she’s a lightning rod with a knack for controversy.

The

Ducey

endorsement

isn’t

the only thing that grabbed headlines:

In 2012, her campaign was accused of forging voter signatures. The state’s attorney general closed the case after then husband Ben Miranda died. ProgressNow Arizona is reminding voters of that this election cycle.

In 2016, she defeated her stepdaughter in the Senate race but not without drama.

In 2017, she drew headlines with bizarre claims. She suggested without proof that a political rival left a bloody glove on her doorsteps and that her Senate office had been broken into.

In late 2019, another family controversy brewed when her ex-husband Roberto Sanchez Garcia filed paperwork to run for a District 27 House seat. That face-off didn’t materialize.

In the end, convincing enough voters to pull off a victory will be nothing short of a miracle or the most stunning redemption for Miranda.

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