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Eric Stafford

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Eric Stafford
Image of Eric Stafford
Elections and appointments
Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

Other

Pima Medical Institute, 2018

Personal
Birthplace
Phoenix, Ariz.
Profession
Machinist
Contact

Eric Stafford (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Arizona State Senate to represent District 29. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Stafford completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Eric Stafford was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He graduated from the Western Maricopa Education Center in 2016 and from the Pima Medical Institute in 2018. His career experience includes working as a machinist, vet tech, and political organizer.[1]

Elections

2024

See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2024

General election

General election for Arizona State Senate District 29

Incumbent Janae Shamp defeated Eric Stafford in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 29 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Janae Shamp
Janae Shamp (R)
 
59.3
 
70,924
Image of Eric Stafford
Eric Stafford (D) Candidate Connection
 
40.7
 
48,608

Total votes: 119,532
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 29

Eric Stafford advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 29 on July 30, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Eric Stafford
Eric Stafford Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
13,498

Total votes: 13,498
Candidate Connection = 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 State Senate District 29

Incumbent Janae Shamp advanced from the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 29 on July 30, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Janae Shamp
Janae Shamp
 
100.0
 
25,306

Total votes: 25,306
Candidate Connection = 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 finance

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Stafford in this election.

Pledges

Stafford signed the following pledges.

  • U.S. Term Limits

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Eric Stafford completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Stafford's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I am Eric Stafford and I grew up in Goodyear, Arizona.

My mother is an Occupational Therapist by trade, and suffers from permanent heavy metal poisoning and brain damage from Wilson's disease due to being unable to afford her medicine in the US because of inflated costs and corporate greed.

I spent all my years in public school, and saw firsthand how amazing and useful it was for me, but also how obvious it was that our local schools needed more resources to really help kids like me flourish and not fall through the cracks.

In my last years of high school I enrolled in technical school for Aviation Maintenance and later the Manual & CNC machining where I achieved my Airframe & Powerplant License, and where I fell in love with making, and fixing things.

As I matured, I decided to shift my priorities and try a career that aligned more with my ethics and values. I studied to become a Vet Tech and immersed myself in the medical field before eventually delving into politics.

During 2022 I worked over 55 hours a week for 9 months as a field organizer in LD14 & 15 and realized through my years of blue collar work that the results matter much more than the team you are a part of, and now I am dedicating my energy to being on the team of progress and prosperity for all Arizonans.
  • Education: 92% of our children go to public schools and thanks to the over exploitation of key programs, our system is now Billions in debt, and our teachers and support staff barely make the money, nor have the support they need to stay in the field. Teachers are retiring en masse, kids reading comprehension is dropping, and teachers are being treated as babysitters and not as the highly qualified educators that they are.
  • Labor: Labor is the back bone of this country and I see that essential workers who help make the world go round are being underserved and under appreciated. For many, the current minimum wage is not adequate for them to feed, clothe and house themselves, let alone their families. Most people working a full time job cannot afford a home, and benefits such as pensions and 401Ks are largely no longer around. From a values perspective, I believe that all essential workers from teachers to pipe fitters, and servers to grocers can all earn enough money to not just live but thrive. I will push for this every step of the way to ensure Arizonans get the benefits and pay they deserve and that these values may preserve our economy prosperity.
  • Climate: I stand with further developing policies that help to preserve our groundwater, and invest in maintaining our aquifers and naturally occurring water not just for us, but for our ecosystem that we share our water with. I also would like to see a state with less childhood illnesses such as asthma by working to improve air quality statewide, and advocating for sustainable water-smart agriculture practices.
Expanding voting rights & Election Integrity In Arizona. The people of Arizona deserve useful and functional policies such as open primaries, RCV, and , automatic voter registration. It is already a challenge for many people to vote, including 34% of Arizonans who are registered independents in this state. We should have rules on the books today that make it easy and convenient for voters in this state to have a voice and make their choices.
Four people come to mind for me.

1. George Carlin for his creative wit, writing style, and political commentary that helped to get me passionate about politics.
2.Adam Savage for his willingness to share his wisdom and help others and creates beautiful art, as well as gives back to the world.
3. Bernie Sanders for being a man of unshakeable character who has embodied his morals and ethics for his entire career, and is no nonsense when he speaks about his passions.
4. Adrian Fontes for being a fearless leader, and man of great character and confidence who is knowledgeable and patient at times, and direct and blunt when needed. He faces opposition head on and is not afraid to talk to his constituents, and live a life of service and honor.

I want to embody the spirit of courage, levity, honor, and service that these people embody and become a great man myself with their inspiration.
I enjoyed "How to win friends and influence people" -Dale Carnegie

and

"Will War Ever End" -Paul K. Chappell
1. The ability to set aside your ego or ideologies to be able to change your mind if you are wrong.

2. Working in good-faith with your coworkers to compromise and get results.
3. To put your constituents first, and to have integrity in your decision-making
4. Never exploiting your status or position for personal, financial gain.

5. Legislating with love, and prioritizing holistic and human based decision-making for the benefit of Arizona as whole.
I am kind, and love to listen to other peoples stories and use them as fuel to keep my fire burning bright.

I believe our job as humans is to care for one another and our neighbors (plants, and animals included) and will do whatever it takes to preserve our prtecious planet and ecosystems.

I am able to change my mind, and comfortable with admitting when I am at fault or when I am wrong.

I know how to compromise and make concessions for the sake of prosperity and progress.

Overall, I am and will continue to try my best, and even when I fail you can count on the fact that I will rise even stronger because we need change now.
1. You should try your best to be well informed of every issue you take to vote.

2. Acting as an agent of good, and working to serve those who need help most.
3. Pushing for sound social and economic policy that benefits industry, while also serving people's quality of life.
4. Leaving Arizona a Better Place than How We Found It.

5. Being a team player, and trying to be respectful to your coworkers and constituents.
I want to leave a legacy of results, and help to mend the cracks in our already divided community. I want people to feel like politics is worth investing in, and politicians are good people who dedicate their life towards helping and serving. I want to see my friends and family be able to afford medical care, hosing, healthy food, and a good education. I dream of humanity learning to worship peace and kindness over war and profit, and I could care less if I am remembered, as long as I can help inspire people to keep living and not give up on caring and trying.
I was 5 when I remember hearing of the war and some things about George bush being our president on the radio driving home from phoenix and questioning my mom about this stuff for the first time.
I worked as a safety flagger for a go kart track during my last 2 summers of high school, and helped in some pretty brutal wrecks, and my first real big job was maintenance on Cirrus, fully composite aircraft, they have parachutes and are super awesome looking.
I'm not much for favorites, but enjoyed "Genghis khan", "The lord of flies", and the "Taming of the Shrew".
I always thought I was too cool for this as a kid, but I have learnt to love Superman and what his character embodies.
"Dirty" by Grandson.
Really gets me fired up before door knocking and events when I feel nervous.
I am a byproduct of childhood trauma, and of having undiagnosed ADHD that made school very difficult for me. These were pretty big setbacks in my life, but made me strong.
I prefer to side with working alongside the governor to help pool resources to make effective policy with adequate risk assessments and oversight. I do not think we have to align ideologically, but we have a mutual interest in serving Arizona.
Water availability, homelessness, and education funding
It is always beneficial to have experience, but I prefer to have people with heart, and good reasons for why they serve. All the greatest started at square one.
Yes. One should not polarize themselves against their own coworkers, and operating in good faith is important to me.
I admire aspects of many legislators, but am not close enough with them to say whether I would like to mirror myself after them. Not yet.
I am happy where I am, but will think about it when I have the time and energy to do so. Right now LD29 is my one and only.
Hearing the adversity that one of our LDs candidates faced from being a DACA recipient to a citizen pursuing her doctorate, Tanairi Ochoa Martinez's story is inspiring and compels me to be strong and brave.
"Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity" -George carlin

I don't really have a favorite, but love Bill Burr
Without context it is hard to say, but I would say yes, as in moments of immense crises we are better off being able to act swiftly and decicively.
A bill that would expand upon water treatment to clean our reclaimed water and recirculate it back into useful circulation.
1.AFSCME

2. Run for Something
3. American Promise
4. AFL-CIO

5. NOW PAC AZ
I will list top 5 in no specific order:

1. Natural Resources, Energy and Water
2.Transportation & Infrastructure
3.Education
4.Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs

5.Elections
I do not believe elected representatives should be allowed to participate in things such as insider trading, or taking contributions from special interest groups or corporations. I do not stand for anything that puts up barriers between the interests of constituents, and the interests of their elected candidates. I am running clean and believe everyone should.
I believe citizen initiatives are not accessible to normal people and believe in reforming so you do not need millions of dollars to put a bill up for a vote.

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.

Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Eric Stafford campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* Arizona State Senate District 29Lost general$59,127 $57,863
Grand total$59,127 $57,863
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 29, 2024


Current members of the Arizona State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:Warren Petersen
Majority Leader:Janae Shamp
Minority Leader:Priya Sundareshan
Senators
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
Eva Diaz (D)
District 23
District 24
District 25
Tim Dunn (R)
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
Republican Party (17)
Democratic Party (13)