Republican state Sen. Steve Smith, often named among the most conservative members of the Legislature, will face first-time candidate Ralph Atchue, a self-described moderate Democrat.
Mostly Republican District 11 includes Oro Valley and Marana. Smith lives in Maricopa and Atchue lives in Eloy.
Smith has raised about $26,200 for his campaign, including major donations from the political action committees of Pinnacle West and Sanofi.
Atchue has raised about $27,200, including major donations from Oro Valley Democrat Evelyn Lathram.
MEET THE CANDIDATES
Smith has served in office for six years in the state Senate and House.
He likes to email district residents about what bills are coming to the Senate in the next week. “It gives our constituency a head start … and I get so much feedback that way,” he said.
Smith said the job is often about helping constituents navigate government processes. He recently helped a veteran get an appointment at the VA, helped a mother enroll her children in the state’s Medicaid program, and helped a geocaching club change a State Land Department rule that previously banned the game. He also advocated for the University of Arizona’s new Oro Valley veterinary school in state budget talks.
“That’s where party lines dissolve,” Smith said. “That’s exactly why I’m there.”
Can an extremely conservative person represent all voters in the district? Smith says he knows it’s impossible to make everyone happy, but “the district has overwhelmingly elected me and others with a certain philosophy.”
Atchue says many voters are dissatisfied with that philosophy and with the Legislature’s actions on education issues, children’s services and working families’ issues. He called Smith a “Tea Party radical.”
“Their sign says ‘God, family, and country,’ but Steve Smith’s actions in the Legislature prove that’s just a hypocritical empty slogan,” Atchue said.
Smith has “let down the voters and families in so many different ways,” including cutting education funding and children’s services and cutting corporate taxes, which reduces revenue for state programs and burdens county and city budgets.
“They’ve treated Arizona as a bargain basement business and we’re getting bargain basement results,” Atchue said.
Smith said he’s voted against his own party plenty of times and doesn’t look at the party designations next to a lawmaker’s name on a bill. “Yes I’m a Republican, but I look for good legislation first,” he said.
EDUCATION FUNDING
Smith supported Proposition 123, the voter-approved measure meant to increase teacher pay and end a yearslong legal dispute between schools and the state.
Of the $9.6 billion state budget, more than half goes to education. “So when people say they want more money for education, how much would you like?” he said. “We have other things to pay for, including health care and law enforcement, and would you want to cut those, or raise taxes?”
Atchue voted against Prop. 123, equating it to blackmailing voters, who had earlier approved a measure to give regular budget increases to schools, which led to the legal dispute when the state didn’t make those payments.
“It’s not extreme to want a top-notch education system where we don’t have to decide between paying teachers and fixing the roof,” he said.
KIDSCARE
Smith voted against KidsCare because the population of about 30,000 children was covered in the Medicaid expansion related to Obamacare, he said. He also voted against the Medicaid expansion a couple of years ago.
Atchue supports more spending on social services, saying it’s more cost effective to provide the services to children and their families than to deal with an economic or mental health crisis that could come from not having services.
He said the state should pay for it by stopping corporate tax cuts that erode revenue, sometimes with no measurable economic benefit. “It’s not extreme to say everyone should be paying their fair share of taxes,” Atchue said.
“I’m not saying let’s instantly start raising taxes … but if we need to take a look at other tax issues, then we should,” he said.
Smith said people need more choices when it comes to healthcare providers. He said the state also needs a better way to track the cost to taxpayers of providing healthcare to illegal immigrants.
