“This time of year, you’re going to get a lot of people like me standing in front of you. You’re going to go, ‘Hey, that looks pretty good,’” Arizona State Sen. Steve Smith [R-District 11] said as he stood before an audience of the Mingus Mountain Republican Group at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in Cottonwood on June 12. Smith made a pitch for why the assembled should support his race for Congress.
“But they all sound the same, right? Because everybody’s a campaign conservative this time of year,” Smith said. “If you want my advice, because I’m a voter too, when you get somebody like me running for office, my advice is to just say, ‘Well, that sounds well, what have you actually done?’ Because talk is real cheap.”
Smith is one of three Republicans competing in the primary election to challenge incumbent Democrat Tom O’Halleran in the November general election for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. Like his two primary opponents — former Air Force pilot Wendy Rogers and activist Tiffany Shedd — Smith said he wants to convince GOP primary voters that he is the true conservative in the race.
“I’ve done it better than anyone else, whatever issue it is you care about,” Smith said.
Smith touted endorsements from conservatives in both Arizona and nationwide, such as Sen. Ted Cruz [R-Texas], U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs [R-District 5] and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, as well as organizations like the National Rifle Association and the National Border Patrol Council, the labor union for some Border Patrol agents and support staff.
“Border security is national security and nobody has been saying that longer than I have,” Smith said during the Mingus Mountain Republicans event.
As a member of the Arizona Legislature since 2010, Smith said his first bill as a state senator had been seeking a border fence, well before President Donald Trump made building a wall the centerpiece of his campaign in 2016.
Smith made his case that not only was he the best conservative seeking the nomination, but that he would be the one able to turn the blue district red in November.
Doing so could be a challenge. All across the country, Democrats have been over-performing in special elections and other races, leading election analysts to speculate about the possibility of a “blue wave” that could lead to Democrats taking Congress back from Republicans in November.
But Smith was bullish on his chances. Congressional District 1, which encompasses a large northeastern portion of Arizona and most of the Verde Valley — but not most of Cottonwood, including the VFW hall where Smith spoke — has been targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee as a top prospect for a Republican pickup. Even as O’Halleran, a Democrat, won in 2016 at the Congressional level, Trump won more votes than Hillary Clinton in the district, though by a smaller margin than Mitt Romney and John McCain had in years past.
Smith tried to position himself not just as a conservative, but as someone who, in the general election, could bring Democrats to his side. During his talk, he touted his own experience winning a race for state senate in the southern part of the district that frequently votes Democratic against a longtime incumbent. He claimed that in recent visits to the Navajo Nation, encompassed within the district, he had made a positive impression, especially by touting bills he had passed in the legislature aimed at helping the reservation.
Even as he highlighted conservative priorities — the Second Amendment, rolling back the Affordable Care Act and tough border policies — Smith made the argument that he could appeal to Democrats in the district on certain issues.
As the husband of a teacher, he celebrated the recent teacher raise passed by Arizona Legislature in the wake of the Red for Ed movement. He noted a bill he helped pass this year aimed at addressing the opioid crisis, and he expressed common cause with activists on the left on the issue of prison reform, expressing a desire to lock up fewer people and focus on rehabilitation and re-entry for those who go through the criminal justice system.
“When I campaign, I speak to a lot of Democrats,” Smith said. “And I can’t tell you the response that I get, even to this day.
“I think people just want someone who’s hardworking, who is going to explain to them and just say it straight to them, not tell you one thing and tell other people something else. And that’s what I’ve done. I’ve won in a Democratic district, but I’ve still been able to do it with my conservative principles.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
