Catherine Ripley

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Catherine Ripley

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Pima Community College District 1

Successor: Wade McLean

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Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

U.S. Naval Academy, 1982

Graduate

Naval Postgraduate School, 1992

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Navy

Years of service

1982 - 2008

Personal

Birthplace

Minneapolis, Minn.

Contact

Campaign website

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Catherine Ripley was a member of the Pima Community College District in Arizona, representing District 1. She assumed office on January 1, 2021. She left office in 2022.

Ripley ran for election to the Pima Community College District to represent District 1 in Arizona. She won in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Ripley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Ripley was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1982 and a master's degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1992. She served in the U.S. Navy from 1982 to 2008.

Elections

2020

See also: Municipal elections in Pima County, Arizona (2020)

General election

General election for Pima Community College District 1

Catherine Ripley defeated Ethan Orr in the general election for Pima Community College District 1 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Catherine Ripley (Nonpartisan)	58.9	59,166
		Ethan Orr (Nonpartisan)	40.5	40,692
		Other/Write-in votes	0.5	521

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 100,379
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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2018

See also: Arizona House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Arizona House of Representatives District 10 (2 seats)

Incumbent Kirsten Engel and Domingo DeGrazia defeated incumbent Todd Clodfelter and Joshua Reilly in the general election for Arizona House of Representatives District 10 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kirsten Engel (D)	35.5	49,163
✔		Domingo DeGrazia (D)	30.8	42,716
		Todd Clodfelter (R)	27.9	38,697
	Submit photo	Joshua Reilly (G)	5.7	7,896

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 138,472
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 10 (2 seats)

Incumbent Kirsten Engel and Domingo DeGrazia defeated Nikki Lee and Catherine Ripley in the Democratic primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 10 on August 28, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kirsten Engel	39.4	16,895
✔		Domingo DeGrazia	21.0	9,000
		Nikki Lee	20.0	8,585
		Catherine Ripley	19.6	8,421

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 42,901 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 10 (2 seats)

Incumbent Todd Clodfelter advanced from the Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 10 on August 28, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Todd Clodfelter	100.0	18,673

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,673 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Green primary election

Green primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 10 (2 seats)

Joshua Reilly advanced from the Green primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 10 on August 28, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Joshua Reilly	100.0	25

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 25 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Catherine Ripley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ripley's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Catherine Ripley, Retired U.S. Naval Officer,

Former U.S. Diplomat, Teacher & Mom Catherine Ripley's unique background in leadership began as one of the first women to attend the U.S. Naval Academy and spans a 26-year career as a Naval Officer and U.S. Diplomat, six years as an International Business Executive in the aerospace industry, and continues today as an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Pima Community College. Catherine's experience in higher education also includes four years as Assistant Professor at M.I.T., Harvard and Boston University where she taught Leadership and Military History. As a trailblazer for women, Catherine worked in all corners of the world providing humanitarian assistance as well as her counter-terrorism expertise in order to negotiate peaceful partnerships in warring nations. For the past year, Catherine served as the Executive Director of the Pima County Democratic Party, where she built the foundations for the 2020 election year and fundraised hundreds of thousands of dollars. She has two grown children, Candace Ripley, age 31, and Alexander Ripley, age 30, and has lived and worked in southern Arizona for ten years.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Keep COMMUNITY in Pima Community College
• Workforce Development Pipeline and Scholarships. Create strong and sustainable partnerships with our largest employers.
• Affordability and Accessibility. Reverse the course of rising tuition and dwindling enrollment with a robust recruitment and retention program through formal partnerships with local high schools, the JTED program and the Earn the Learn programs.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am most interested in public education. With the rise of for-profit K-12 and higher education institutions, our communities are suffering from both debt and inferior education. With the call for more online for-profit colleges, we are diminishing and diluting the quality of education for an entire generation of students-especially in the Liberal Arts. The Arizona State constitution states that public education should be as nearly close to free as possible. Community Colleges are an oasis and a way out of poverty and lower-class living conditions for people who can not afford to go to a university or state college or do not have the grades to get in. Community Colleges must be bolstered and funded by the state government to ensure Arizonans have a fair shot at economic recovery when the pandemic ends. Pima Community College currently receives zero funding from the state.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I am in awe of our late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her life's work had and continues to have a profound impact on the lives of women everywhere. Her legacy will live forever. As a role model for women, she embodied the perfect and unique combination of both grace and power. She was impeccable with her word and followed through with everything she was committed to. She championed the weak and those who had no voice. And she never compromised her ethics and standards.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

In a representative democracy, elected officials are obligated to represent their constituency by listening and following through with their requests and desires, so long as they are legal and fair.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I remember as a child, watching the funeral procession of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the television.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job as an adult was as a U.S. Naval Officer working in Hawaii hunting for Soviet submarines.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Lara Croft

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

The primary job of the governing board is to work as a team to ensure the policies and programs at the college are always written and executed with the greater good of the school always at the forefront. Additionally, it is the board's responsibility to act as checks and balances for the Chancellor and their staff.

Who are your constituents?

District 1 in Pima County-all voters who have an interest in keeping Pima Community College thriving and successful while serving the entire community and especially its most vulnerable population.

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

I would ensure that there are mandatory professional development programs provided to all staff and faculty to educate them on the tenets and importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion. I would ensure that the board act to monitor the curriculum and courses to ensure any content that was racist or sexist or homophobic would be eliminated.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Pima County, Arizona