Last week, conservative Sen. Ted Cruz endorsed Doug Ducey in Arizona’s GOP gubernatorial primary:
The crisis at America’s border is a defining issue in the coming election, especially in Arizona. I’m supporting Doug Ducey for Arizona governor because he is the best candidate to help secure the border, protect the people, and enforce the law. He has the most serious and credible plan to address the border crisis.
As the CEO of a successful Arizona business, Doug also knows how jobs are created, and he’ll be a champion of opportunity and growth across the state. In a crowded primary field, he stands out as a consistent voice for limited government, individual liberty, and respect for the Constitution. If Republicans in Congress are going to prevail against the lawless overreach of President Obama, we need courageous and capable allies like Doug Ducey in the states. I urge all Arizonans to give Doug your vote.
The endorsement was considered a major coup for Ducey, who is distrusted by some Arizona conservatives.
In the wake of Cruz’s endorsement, tweets posted early last year by Ducey’s political director, Anson Clarkson, are receiving renewed attention. This one, now deleted, calls anti-amnesty members of the Arizona Right “closet racists”:
According to Sonoran News, Clarkson made his name working for liberal Arizona Republicans:
Recently, conservatives got some bad news from Doug Ducey’s campaign in the form of an email touting endorsements from Sal DiCiccio and Trent Franks. Don’t get us wrong, DiCiccio and Franks are great endorsements. Conservatives probably loved hearing about those two. But the email was signed by Ducey’s new Political Director Anson Clarkson. Yes, the same Anson Clarkson who ran the State Senate campaign of Rich Crandall, the State Senate’s leading liberal Republican until he abandoned his office to take a better paying job in Wyoming. [Editor’s note: More on Crandall here.] The same Anson Clarkson whose career defining moment was working with Arizona’s leading liberal and race-baiter Randy Parraz to take down Republican Senate President Russell Pearce and replace him with the liberal Republican Jerry Lewis.
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Clarkson clearly has a problem with conservatives who oppose amnesty. Here he slams Twitchy founder and former CEO Michelle Malkin, whom he accuses of marginalizing Latinos and using “trite sound bites” in her opposition to amnesty:
https://twitter.com/amattclarkson/status/295974801279971328
Here he blames GOP losses on Malkin and calls for a “change in tone” on immigration:
https://twitter.com/amattclarkson/status/296044841056468995
And here he is a year and a half later trying to win over conservatives, presumably including the anti-amnesty “closet racists” he decried earlier:
https://twitter.com/amattclarkson/status/494530532110508033
https://twitter.com/amattclarkson/status/486267862848651266
Informed Arizona conservatives know where Clarkson stands:
https://twitter.com/AZConservative1/status/495617947503587328
https://twitter.com/ArizonaLuke/status/494547184478457856
https://twitter.com/ArizonaLuke/status/494549094241931264
Good question. The Arizona primary is August 26th.
Related:
Ted Cruz’s Endorsement of Doug Ducey Should Raise Questions for Arizona Conservatives
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