Don Goldwater

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Don Goldwater is an Arizona Republican Party activist, and the nephew of the late senator and U.S. presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.

Goldwater serves as the Legislative District 16 Chairman for the Arizona Republican Party. He is also the Second Vice-Chairman for the Arizona PAChyderm Coalition. In 2004, Goldwater served as a delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention.

On August 2, 2005, Goldwater announced he would be a candidate for Governor of Arizona in the Arizona gubernatorial election, 2006. He stated his intention to run on a platform highlighting border security, educational reform, tax and spending reductions, water conservation, and healthy forests. [1]

On June 27, 2006, The Arizona Republic reported Goldwater with a double digit lead for the Republican gubernatorial primary. [2] However, according to Goldwater's Primary Election opponent Len Munsil, Goldwater's delay in qualifying for Clean Elections funding indicated a lack of grassroots political support.

Don Goldwater engendered controversy when he was quoted by EFE, a national news agency of Spain, saying that undocumented immigrants should be placed in forced labor camps and be used "as labor in the construction of a wall and to clean the areas of the Arizona desert that they're polluting." [3] Goldwater maintained that he had been misquoted. Since then, the EFE has apologized to Goldwater due to inaccurate reporting by one of their freelance writers. [4]

Goldwater ultimately lost to Munsil in the Republican Primary Election September 12, garnering 40.7% of the vote to Munsil's 49.4%.

[edit] Political history

In 1992, Don Goldwater was a Republican candidate in the Primary Election for Arizona State Senate in what was then Legislative District 6. Although he ran a well funded and well regarded campaign, Goldwater lost by over 24% to a popular former Chandler, Arizona City Councilman, John Huppenthal. [5]