Todd Clodfelter was in danger of becoming the Harold Stassen of Tucson — the guy who runs again and again but keeps on losing.
This year was 59-year-old Clodfelter’s fourth run for office, the first three of which were unsuccessful. Stassen ran for the Republican nomination for president nine times during the 20th century and never won.
But on Nov. 8, something surprising happened: Clodfelter won.
Clodfelter, a mustachioed Republican from Tucson’s east side, seems certain to have defeated incumbent Democratic State Rep. Stefanie Mach in Legislative District 10, though the vote count has not been finalized. The only real question in the race is whether newcomer Kirsten Engel, a newcomer and Democrat, or Clodfelter won more votes.
The top two of the three general-election candidates win seats, and Mach appears to have finished a narrow third. As of Thursday afternoon, Engel had 44,211 votes, or 33.5 percent; Clodfelter had 44,187, or 33.48 percent of the vote; and Mach had 43,581 votes, or 33.02 percent. In short, a very close race.
It was a surprising finish to me, because I watched Mach after writing a profile of her in 2013 and saw her grow from a green legislator that year to a sophisticated one in her second term, which she won in 2014. Also, Democrats hold a 37 percent to 32 percent lead in voter registration in the district.
When I talked with him Wednesday, Clodfelter wasn’t sure what to attribute his victory to.
“I just think that we did some different campaigning stuff and it caught some traction,” he said.
Clodfelter first ran for office in 1995, when he lost the GOP primary race for the seat eventually won by Democrat Shirley Scott. Then came his consecutive runs for state House: In 2012, 2014 and 2016.
This year, he said, “My wife considered me not running, but ... I needed to do it one more time.”
Perhaps the most compelling difference between this year’s legislative race and past ones is that Clodfelter was the only Republican on the ballot. That’s a useful strategy for candidates in districts where their party is not dominant. It can lead to Republicans, in this case, voting for just one candidate — a “single shot” to use the political phrase — instead of diluting their votes with additional candidates.
“LD 10 is a swing district in which a single-shot Republican has a real chance,” outgoing Democratic State Rep. Bruce Wheeler said. “That’s the bottom line.”
Of course, being on the ballot all those times has also built name recognition for Clodfelter, who owns a graphic design and printing company, Ace Graphics.
Another compelling factor: money. Engel, a UA Law School professor, far outraised the other two, pulling in $84,634 as a traditional candidate. Clodfelter used the Clean Elections system and brought in $47,730. Mach ran as a traditional candidate and raised $41,528.
“I’m proud to get to know my district the way I did,” Mach said. “I’m proud of the work I did. If that’s all I get for now, then I’m fine.”
For Clodfelter’s part, he was off to Phoenix Thursday and Friday for a variety of pre-session meetings.
“I’ve been working on this for five years,” he said. “I’m really enthusiastic, really eager to do what I can. I want to prove to the people who voted for me that I’m the right guy.”
Tucsonan’s anti-Semitism
Not even a week had passed after the presidential election when envelopes began arriving in the home mailboxes of Jewish writers in the Washington, D.C., area.
Their return address: Brian Clayton Charles, Prophetic Ministry, using a mailbox at a UPS Store at 1505 W. St. Mary’s Road in Tucson.
The content: conspiracy leaflets with an unhealthy dose of anti-Semitism.
The first page features stereotypical images of a Jewish man with a skull cap and a hooked nose. The text is about a conspiracy to put Americans in concentration camps. The second page is headed, “The prophetic judgment of Judaism and all false religions and orders.”
Most of the text in the four-page document is of Biblical passages. But the bizarre mailer was enough to upset the recipients. One of them, Lee Drutman, told me the letter he received was postmarked Nov. 10, two days after the election.
“I’d never received anything like this in my life, and I’ve been Jewish my entire life,” Drutman told me. His conclusion: “People around the country who hold these views feel empowered in a way they haven’t before.”
Drutman wrote an article about receiving the mailing for Vox.com headlined, “Anti-Semitic propaganda was mailed to me at my home. This is not normal.”
I asked the owner of the UPS Store about Charles, but he said the man only makes rare appearances to pick up his returned mail. FBI agents have also come asking about him.
Charles, 48, was convicted of criminal damage, aggravated assault and burglary in 1996 for walking into a Tempe Planned Parenthood clinic and smashing computers with a golf club. He later said he was following God’s orders. He served almost two years in prison for that.
Cochise voting problems
Voters waited hours to cast a ballot in some Cochise County locations, such as Sierra Vista and Douglas. The blame lies with the Board of Supervisors and the elections department, longtime County Recorder Christine Rhodes said.
It was the last election of Rhodes’ 44 years as county recorder, a job she won when she was 23 years old.
“There were an inadequate number of vote centers,” Rhodes said. “When I came to the job, there were 64 polling locations. Two years ago there were 49 locations. This year, the board reduced it to 18 vote centers.”
Take Douglas, for example: “Many years ago it had 11 polling locations,” Rhodes said. “Two years ago, it had six. This year, they decided to open just one vote center.”
That number could work for a special election like the one we had in May over Proposition 123, she said, but it’s insufficient for a presidential election.
GOP leader leaving
Bill Beard, the chairman of the Pima County GOP, will not be running for the job again, he announced this week. Beard, who has held the post for two years, cited the time commitments of the unpaid position. It will be filled at a meeting in December.
Jo Holt, the chair of the Pima County Democratic Party, has only been on the job for a year, having taken over halfway through the latest term. She plans to run for re-election when the Dems meet in January.
