Richard Carmona for U.S. Senate
Living in Arizona, caring about politics can sometimes be depressing, but I am actively excited about the Democrat candidate for U.S. Senator: Dr. Richard Carmona*. I know I’m always going to be pretty far left of any major candidate running for national office, but being raised with para-governmental social justice advocates gave me a strong appreciation for thinking about politics pragmatically.
Lucky for me, even though Carmona is super centrist, he does care about issues I’m motivated by:
“I’ve known my whole life that I am not a perfect fit in either party, because I am truly independent,” Carmona told Bloomberg News during an interview between town halls this past weekend. “I looked to see where Republicans are in my state on issues like women’s health, access to health, immigration issues. I couldn’t support what the state Republicans are doing.” (from Crawford at Bloomberg.com)
Even though I don’t plan on using this blog to talk about candidate often (ever again? who knows …), I know some of my Democrat Arizona buddies read this and may not think their vote counts because Arizona will go red in the presidential election. But while Flake initially led the polls by double digits, the two candidates are now within the margin of error (some have Carmona ahead, some have Flake ahead). In other words, for the first time in a very very long time, Arizona could have a Democratic Senator – but only if Democrats turn out to vote.
You can read more about Carmona at the New York Times, his campaign website, or you know, just use the Googles.
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* I wasn’t sure what kind of title to give him – I could have also gone with “Former Surgeon General,” “Vice Admiral,” and “Professor” at my very own University of Arizona.
Sam Grace 