Richard Kimball | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Arizona Corporation Commission | |
| In office January 1983 –September 1985 | |
| Preceded by | Jim Weeks |
| Succeeded by | Sharon Megdal |
| Member of the Arizona Senate from the 21st district | |
| In office 1979–1983 | |
| Preceded by | Timothy D. Hayes |
| Succeeded by | Carl J. Kunasek |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1946 (age 78–79) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Parent | Bill Kimball |
| Alma mater | University of Arizona |
| Profession | Activist Politician |
Richard Kimball is an American politician who is the founder and president emeritus of the nonprofit voter education organization Vote Smart.
Kimball was born in Tucson,Arizona,in 1946. [1] He was the third son of Maxine and Bill Kimball. His father served as the Majority Leader in the Arizona State Senate and was a candidate for Governor of Arizona in 1954. [2] Kimball attended the University of Arizona where he studied political science. He was a staff assistant to Congressman Morris Udall and worked as a press secretary for Senators Walter Mondale and Daniel Moynihan. [3]
In 1978,Kimball was elected to represent an area of Phoenix in the Arizona Senate. In the 1982 general election,Kimball was elected to a six-year term on the Arizona Corporation Commission. In January 1984,his fellow commission members elected him the chairman of the board. [1] In September 1985,Kimball resigned from his position as a member of the commission. [4] Governor Bruce Babbitt appointed Sharon Megdal,a member of the University of Arizona's economics faculty,to the seat. [5]
After the expected Democratic candidate,Governor Bruce Babbitt,declined to run in favor of a presidential campaign,Kimball was nominated as the Democratic candidate against then-Congressman John McCain for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Barry Goldwater. [6] His campaign was subject to negative press from The Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette . One Gazette columnist described him as displaying "terminal weirdness." [7] McCain ultimately won the election by a margin of over 20 percent. [8] Kimball later said:"I joke that John McCain entered the Senate over my dead political body. I think that's pretty accurate." [9]
Twenty years later,Kimball commented on the campaign to a reporter from the Arizona Daily Star :"I was enormously depressed —not because I lost. It was because I spent all my time collecting money." He said that he spent the following months after the election traveling through Mexico,and then left politics to start Project Vote Smart. [10]
He is the former president and current president emeritus of the organization Vote Smart, [11] formerly known as Project Vote Smart. [12]