Political Notebook: GOP Senate candidate's eligibility challenged in court

Supporters of Sen. Vince Leach are challenging the eligibility of the candidate who beat him in the Republican primary, Justine Wadsack.

Edward and Onita Davis, of Oro Valley, filed a lawsuit Aug. 17 arguing that Wadsack lives at a home she and her husband own on East Sixth Street in midtown Tucson, not at the address she claims as a residence, on East Oakbrook Street on Tucson’s far east side.

The midtown address is not in Legislative District 17, where Wadsack won the Aug. 2 primary election, but the east side address is. Wadsack won 41% of the vote in the primary to Leach’s 35% and Robert Barr’s 24%.

“The only discernible connections of Wadsack to the Oakbrook Residence stem merely from Wadsack’s own claims to reside there,” the lawsuit says.

It argues that because Leach got the most votes among legally eligible candidates, he should be declared the winner of the primary. The Republican will face Democratic candidate Mike Nickerson in the general election.

Reached by text message on Thursday, Wadsack scoffed at the suit.

“Leach is out of his mind,” she wrote. “It’s a desperate move. I can hear Leach saying, ‘If I can’t win, SHE can’t win.’ “

Wadsack was the Republican nominee for state Senate in Legislative District 10 in 2020. That district covered much of midtown Tucson and the near east side. During that 2020 race, Wadsack used her East Sixth Street address, which is in the old LD 10.

After redistricting, Wadsack’s midtown home became part of a district, Legislative District 20, with a vast Democratic advantage, the lawsuit notes. LD 17, on the other hand, was drawn to give a registration advantage to Republicans.

While Wadsack and her husband still own the East Sixth Street home, she said Thursday she now lives in the Oakbrook residence, which is owned by a woman named Rosa Alfonso. Alfonso contributed $50 to Wadsack’s campaign in January.

Asked what her connection is to the Oakbrook address, Wadsack responded Thursday “I live here.”

She said she lives with Alfonso and has “for more than 6 months under a lease.”

Wadsack changed her voter registration to the Oakbrook residence in February, the lawsuit notes.

Chris Baker, Leach’s campaign consultant, said the campaign didn’t have any hard facts, beyond rumor, about Wadsack’s residence until about a week before the primary election.

Baker acknowledged that it is notoriously difficult to have candidates removed for residency reasons under Arizona’s lenient laws and court rulings, but he said he thinks this case is different.

The campaign investigated her residence and, Baker said, “I could not find a single connection to the Oakbrook address that she’s registered to vote at.”

A trial on the case has been set for 1:30 p.m. Monday at Pima County Superior Court before Judge Richard Gordon.

Big spending on PCC race

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Demion Clinco, an incumbent member of the Pima Community College board, has apparently smashed fundraising records for his reelection campaign to the traditionally low-key position.

As of the last campaign-finance report, filed in July, Clinco had raise $156,026. That compares to $11,010 raised by his opponent, Theresa Riel.

What explains the massive haul is that word spread in local business circles earlier this year that Chancellor Lee Lambert’s job was in danger if Clinco is not reelected. The divided five-member board has a 3-2 majority that supports Lambert, with the two-member minority wanting to replace him.

“It’s about controlling that board,” explained Fletcher McCusker, who gave the maximum $6,450 to Clinco’s campaign. “Everybody from SALC (Southern Arizona Leadership Council) to the Chamber has got on board to support Lee Lambert.”

Among the local people who have donated the maximum to Clinco’s campaign:

Rob Draper, president of O’Reilly Automotive

Humberto Lopez, founder of HSL properties, and his wife Czarina

Sarah Smallhouse, president of the Thomas Brown Foundation

Jim Click, the automotive dealer, and his wife Vicki

Reached Thursday, Clinco said “I think there’s a lot of concern this election could tip the scale and derail the positive work that’s gotten extraordinary national attention.”

For her part, Riel said she does not want to fire Lambert. She taught math at Pima Community College for more than 25 years and questions whether the board is making decisions based on accurate information.

“I don’t think the board has much autonomy,” she said. “It seems like a lot of the decisions they make are working for the chancellor, instead of the chancellor working for the board.”

She said the financial disadvantage simply means she’ll have to walk door-to-door more than Clinco, who can use mailers.

RNC opens Hispanic center

The Republican National Committee has opened a Tucson office to help the party’s outreach efforts to Hispanic voters.

The RNC Hispanic Community Center, at 1790 E River Road, opened on Friday Aug. 17. U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters, U.S. House candidate Juan Ciscomani and Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward all spoke at the event.

Polls and some election results are showing that some Hispanic voters are drifting away from their traditional home in the Democratic Party to the GOP.

The Tucson center is the RNC’s first in Arizona and it’s 37th minority outreach center nationwide, the committee said in a press release.