Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The state's Republican establishment newspaper, The Arizona Republic, today endorsed David Schapira in the CD 9 Democratic primary. I am not sure if that hurts or helps. Schapira stands out in Dem field:
Three of the party's young, bright stars are competing fiercely and, at times, brutally. Each is intelligent, articulate and accomplished. Each has compelling personal stories of perseverance and determination, of American dreams made real.
Andrei Cherny, Kyrsten Sinema and David Schapira are winners by many measures. It's such a shame for the party that two leading lights must lose.
Voters in the Democratic primary, however, can't lose.
[Whaaaa? The state's Republican establishment newspaper is praising Democrats?]
We recommend Schapira, a candidate with the leadership skills and political mooring that Democratic and independent voters may want and a natural affinity for the district, which includes central Phoenix, Tempe and Ahwatukee as well as parts of Mesa, Chandler and Scottsdale.
Schapira, a small-business owner and faculty associate at Arizona State University, has lived his entire life in District 9. He serves a large portion of it passionately and effectively as a school-board member and minority leader in the state Senate.
Schapira, a father of two young children, is genuine, transparent and accessible. What you see is what you get, and it's difficult to not like what you see. His near-centrist politics would translate to pragmatic solutions to issues, particularly in education.
* * *
We recommend the candidate who trails his opponents in campaign money, post-graduate degrees and book authorship, but who shines in honesty, integrity and commitment to the district: David Schapira.
That's a bit of a backhanded endorsement. Praising Democrats is new to them; they just couldn't help themselves.
In the CD 9 Republican primary, The Arizona Republic endorsed Martin Sepulveda as the least offensive among this GOP clown car primary. Sepulveda gets nod in GOP race.
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I am extremely disappointed that any Democrat would endorse the Top Two Primary fraud. I rarely agree with Robert Robb, but his recent analysis correctly pointed out that the unintended consequences of this initiative — which is directed at the radical right of the GOP — would be to negatively impact Democratic candidates far more. It’s the law of unintended consequences that good government types (Goo-Goos) never think about.
I went to the KJZZ CD 9 Democratic Party forum earlier this week and while I was at time impressed with the candidates I also was disappointed anew with the ability of Democrats to endorse ideas that either have proved to not work or ideas that promise one thing and deliver another.
In the end I wish I could have been impressed enough with one of the candidates as being far better than the other two but in the end I was not.
Two of the three candidates (Shapira and Sinema) took the time to endorse passing a new Assault Weapons Ban. Two of the candidates (Shapira and Cherny) endorsed the Top Two initiative.
I will note that Shapira and Simema both advocated for a reduced US occupation footprint. Unless Cherny prevails in the Democratic Party primary I predict that the new CD 9 US House member will not have a [D] after his name. I was Cherny’s opponent in 2010 for State Treasurer and am quite familiar with his positions and I still find the idea of him as a US House member to be a painful. He is the a believer of scientific socialism and is more than willing to cheer lead ideas such as Top Two whose effects are nothing like what its promoters promise. At best I could hope that he would be a Bernie Sanders or Dennis Kucinich type Democrat but I have little hope of that as I presume all his vaunted principles would quickly be washed away in a river of pragmatic compromises if he were to be elected.
I think both the Republic endorsement and Harry Mitchell’s blessing help David a lot. They demonstrate he’s the real hometown guy with deep roots in the community.