Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (R) is touting a new endorsement one day before the 2018 midterm elections. The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson's main newspaper, endorsed Ducey in his reelection bid for governor.
The @TucsonStar endorsed @dougducey, the first time the Tucson paper has endorsed a Republican for governor in two decades #AZGov pic.twitter.com/vo36uKJVj9
— Doug Ducey for Governor (@TeamDucey) November 5, 2018
While this seems like a fairly standard endorsement, especially in a red state, it's not. Ducey's endorsement is the first time the Tucson-based paper has endorsed a Republican for Governor of Arizona in two decades.
The main reason the paper endorsed Ducey is because of his work on education. While the paper recognizes Democratic candidate David Garcia's stance education, the editorial board seems to think it's the only policy position he's been clear on.
From their editorial endorsement:
Although we believe, as he does, that education touches nearly every other challenge the state is facing, from economic development to public safety, the Garcia campaign stumbles in recognizing that the answer to every question can’t be “education.”
After much discussion, the Star is endorsing Doug Ducey for Arizona governor.
Ducey, running for his second term, may not be the kind of firebrand on education that many believe is needed — but he has shepherded funding increases through the Republican Legislature.
He pushed for extending Proposition 301, which protects a more than $600 million funding stream for Arizona schools, and led on Proposition 123, settling a long-running lawsuit and providing an estimated $3.5 billion over 10 years to public education.
Ducey is a shrewd enough politician to recognize that throngs of Arizona teachers walking out of their classrooms and converging on the state Capitol, as thousands did last spring, required a response. Before the walkout, and the public support for teachers became vocal, Ducey had said Arizona couldn’t afford more than less than 2 percent in raises. That changed with the growing public demonstrations — and, Ducey said, better-than-expected financial revenue reports, which he credits to his economic policies.
Interestingly enough, the paper also gives Ducey credit for understanding that Tucson's economy is directly tied to Mexico and applauds him for his efforts to mend broken relationships.
To his credit, Ducey has visited our region much more often than his recent predecessors and recognizes that the connection with Mexico is vital to the state’s economy — particularly Southern Arizona's.
During his first term, he mended a relationship that had fractured after Gov. Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 into law. He also never missed a meeting of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, was the first governor in almost a decade to visit Mexico City and has developed a friendship with Sonoran Gov. Claudia Pavlovich.
While the editorial board doesn't agree with all of his policy positions, they believe his "performance as governor merits another term."