Ken Bennett
Ken Bennett (Republican Party) was a member of the Arizona State Senate, representing District 1. He assumed office on January 9, 2023. He left office on January 13, 2025.
Bennett (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Arizona State Senate to represent District 1. He lost in the Republican primary on July 30, 2024.
Bennett completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Ken Bennett was born in Tucson, Arizona. Bennett graduated from Prescott High School in 1977. He earned a B.S. in accounting from Arizona State University in 1984. Bennett's career experience includes working as the CEO of Bennett Oil Company, as a missionary in southern Japan, and with companies dealing with energy technologies. Bennett has served on the Education Leaders Council, the Arizona State Board of Education, and the Arizona State Charters School Board.[1][2]
Political career
Arizona Secretary of State (2009-2015)
- See also: Ballotpedia Q&A with Bennett
Upon transitioning into the office of Arizona Governor in January 2009, Jan Brewer (R) appointed Bennett to succeed her as secretary of state. Bennett was elected to a full term in 2010.[3]
According to the line of gubernatorial succession in Arizona, the secretary of state takes over the position of governor if it becomes vacant. As of Bennett's time in office, this had happened already five times, most recently with Jan Brewer, who went from secretary of state to governor in 2009 following the mid-term resignation of former Governor Janet Napolitano (D).[4]
Presidential preference
2012
Ken Bennett endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.[5]
Arizona State Senate (1999-2007)
Bennett served four terms in the Arizona Senate from 1999-2007. In 2002, Bennett was the Republican floor leader for the Arizona State Senate; from 2003-2007, he served as Senate president. Bennett left the legislature in 2007, having reached the office's four-term term limit.[1]
Arizona House of Representatives (1998-1999)
Bennett was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 1998 as the representative of Legislative District 1.[1]
Arizona State Board of Education (1992-1998)
Bennett was appointed to the Arizona State Board of Education in 1992. He served as president in 1996 and again in 1998 before his election to the Arizona State Legislature.
Prescott Municipal Government (1985-1992)
Bennett was elected to the Prescott City Council in 1985. He served as Mayor pro tempore in 1988.[1]
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Bennett was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Appropriations Committee
- Senate Education and Transportation Committee, Chair
- Senate Elections Committee (Decommissioned), Vice Chair
- Joint Committee on Capital Review (Decommissioned)
- Joint Legislative Budget Committee
Elections
2024
See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Arizona State Senate District 1
Mark Finchem defeated Mike Fogel in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 1 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mark Finchem (R) | 65.9 | 94,947 |
 | Mike Fogel (D) | 34.1 | 49,108 | |
| Total votes: 144,055 | |||
 = 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 State Senate District 1
Mike Fogel advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 1 on July 30, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mike Fogel | 100.0 | 17,334 |
| Total votes: 17,334 | |||
| = 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 1
Mark Finchem defeated incumbent Ken Bennett and Steve Zipperman in the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 1 on July 30, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mark Finchem | 48.4 | 26,660 |
 | Ken Bennett | 33.3 | 18,356 | |
 | Steve Zipperman | 18.3 | 10,081 | |
| Total votes: 55,097 | |||
| = 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
To view Bennett's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bennett in this election.
2022
See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Arizona State Senate District 1
Ken Bennett defeated Mike Fogel in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 1 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ken Bennett (R) | 67.2 | 82,234 |
| Mike Fogel (D) | 32.8 | 40,056 | |
| Total votes: 122,290 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 1
Mike Fogel advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 1 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mike Fogel | 100.0 | 20,939 |
| Total votes: 20,939 | |||
| = 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 1
Ken Bennett defeated Steve Zipperman in the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 1 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ken Bennett | 50.2 | 28,357 |
| Steve Zipperman | 49.8 | 28,101 | |
| Total votes: 56,458 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Anne Marie Ward (R)
- Noel Campbell (R)
Campaign finance
2018
- See also: Arizona gubernatorial election, 2018
General election
General election for Governor of Arizona
Incumbent Doug Ducey defeated David Garcia and Angel Torres in the general election for Governor of Arizona on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Doug Ducey (R) | 56.0 | 1,330,863 |
 | David Garcia (D) | 41.8 | 994,341 | |
 | Angel Torres (G) | 2.1 | 50,962 | |
| Total votes: 2,376,166 (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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Noah Dyer (Independent)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Governor of Arizona
David Garcia defeated Steve Farley and Kelly Fryer in the Democratic primary for Governor of Arizona on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | David Garcia | 50.6 | 255,555 |
 | Steve Farley | 32.3 | 163,072 | |
 | Kelly Fryer | 17.2 | 86,810 | |
| Total votes: 505,437 (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 Governor of Arizona
Incumbent Doug Ducey defeated Ken Bennett in the Republican primary for Governor of Arizona on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Doug Ducey | 70.7 | 463,672 |
| Ken Bennett | 29.3 | 191,775 | |
| Total votes: 655,447 (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. | ||||
Libertarian primary election
No Libertarian candidates ran in the primary.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Barry J. Hess (L)
- Merissa Hamilton (L)
- Jeff Funicello (L)
- Kevin McCormick (L)
2016
Arizona's 1st Congressional District was a battleground district in 2016. Incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick (D) chose not to seek re-election to pursue a U.S. Senate bid. Tom O'Halleran (D) defeated Paul Babeu (R), Kim Allen (L write-in), and Ray Parrish (G) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Babeu defeated Ken Bennett, Gary Kiehne, Wendy Rogers, Shawn Redd, and David Gowan in the Republican primary, while O'Halleran defeated Miguel Olivas to win the Democratic nomination. The primary elections took place on August 30, 2016.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Tom O'Halleran |
50.7% | 142,219 | |
| Republican | Paul Babeu | 43.4% | 121,745 | |
| Green | Ray Parrish | 6% | 16,746 | |
| Total Votes | 280,710 | |||
| Source: Arizona Secretary of State | ||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paul Babeu |
30.8% | 19,533 | ||
| Gary Kiehne | 23.4% | 14,854 | ||
| Wendy Rogers | 22.4% | 14,222 | ||
| Ken Bennett | 16.7% | 10,578 | ||
| Shawn Redd | 3.3% | 2,098 | ||
| David Gowan | 3.3% | 2,091 | ||
| Total Votes | 63,376 | |||
| Source: Arizona Secretary of State |
||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tom O'Halleran |
58.8% | 30,833 | ||
| Miguel Olivas | 41.2% | 21,632 | ||
| Total Votes | 52,465 | |||
| Source: Arizona Secretary of State |
||||
Bennett was a member of the NRCC's Young Guns Program in 2016. The Young Guns program "supports and mentors challenger and open-seat candidates in races across the country."[16]
2014
- See also: Arizona Gubernatorial election, 2014
Barred by term limits from running for re-election as secretary of state, Bennett began laying the groundwork for a 2014 bid to replace term-limited Republican incumbent Gov. Jan Brewer back in 2011. He redirected his 2010 campaign website to Bennett2014.com, through which his campaign committee got an early start organizing events, volunteers and fundraising. Bennett formed an exploratory committee for the open-seat governor's race in the summer of 2013 and finally declared his candidacy on September 18, 2013. Per Arizona election law, the outgoing secretary of state was required to wait until 2014 to file for the election, which he did in April.[17][18] He did not win the Republican nomination in the primary on August 26, 2014. The general election took place on November 4, 2014.
Primary election - August 26, 2014
| Governor of Arizona Republican Primary, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
| Doug Ducey |
37.2% | 200,607 | ||
| Scott Smith | 22.1% | 119,107 | ||
| Christine Jones | 16.7% | 89,922 | ||
| Ken Bennett | 11.5% | 62,010 | ||
| Andrew Thomas | 8.1% | 43,822 | ||
| Frank Riggs | 4.5% | 24,168 | ||
| Mike Aloisi (Write-in) | 0% | 27 | ||
| Alice Lukasik (Write-in) | 0% | 27 | ||
| Total Votes | 539,690 | |||
| Election results via Arizona Secretary of State. | ||||
2010
- 2010 Race for Secretary of State - Republican Primary
- Ken Bennett ran unopposed in this contest
| Arizona Secretary of State, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Ken Bennett Incumbent |
60.1% | 966,934 | |
| Democratic | Chris Deschene | 39.9% | 641,131 | |
| Total Votes | 1,608,065 | |||
| Election results via Arizona Secretary of State | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ken Bennett completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bennett's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- SECURITY Secure our country's borders. Secure our elections. Secure our God-given rights. Secure the life and well-being of our most vulnerable. Secure our economy and provide opportunity for all. Secure our State finances.
- TRANSPARENCY Make government open and transparent to it citizens. Transparent and verifiable elections. Transparency and choice in our education systems. Transparency in government spending and taxation to keep government within it Constitutional limits.
- ACCOUNTABILITY Government serves the people, NOT the other way around. Make government more efficient and effective.
Humility and a willingness to listen and learn.
Integrity and honesty.
Constituent Service
Tenacity
Election Integrity
Education choice and academic focus
Financial stability
Elections
Appropriations
Natural Resources
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.
2022
Ken Bennett did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
The themes below were taken from Bennett's 2018 campaign website.
Why I’m Running for Governor
As you’ve likely heard, I am running to be Governor of Arizona in the Republican primary. Why? There are several reasons to run but the final straw was after months of Ducey saying there was no way the state of Arizona could afford a 20% increase for teachers throughout the state he suddenly flip flopped and said we could. Ducey’s education plan Prop123 failed and when he was confronted he panicked and rushed out a new bad plan.
Ducey’s new bad budget is unsustainable and pretty much all agree it is only a matter of when Arizona will be $1 billion in debt. His accounting tricks include sweeping funds from departments, carryforwards and even new taxes (a Ducey ‘fee’). He is increasing the Medicaid Expansion tax so he can sweep it to pay for teacher salaries. How can one believe he wants a repeal of Obamacare when such a repeal would put the state into a financial crisis? And he likes that idea so much he is copying it over at the Department of Transportation – letting them increase a fee so he can sweep that also!
- I will put Arizona back on a fiscally sound track by doing the following:
- Base revenue projections on the ‘average’ amount and eliminate one time funding and rollovers.
- Have $1 billion in the rainy day fund.
- Reform the tax code system with a flatter, lower, broader base system that will flow with the economic cycles. debt.
- Demand a structurally balanced budget.[19]
2016
Campaign website
Bennett's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
|
” |
| —Ken Bennett's campaign website (2016)[21] | ||
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.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Arizona scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
In 2024, the Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 8 to June 15.
- Legislators are scored on their stances on economic issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to family issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues.
- Legislators are scored on their stances on animal issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their stances on secular policy.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental policy.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic policy.
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 9 to July 31.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ken Bennett for SoS, "Timeline," accessed February 14, 2012(Archived)
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "Ken Bennett," accessed March 18, 2023
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs nameditsken - ↑ AZ Central, "Republican Ken Bennett defeats Chris Deschene," Nov 3, 2013
- ↑ Mitt Romney for President, "Mitt Romney Announces Support of Additional Arizona Elected Officials," February 2, 2012
- ↑ Azcentral, "Tom O’Halleran running for Congress as Democrat," August 4, 2015
- ↑ Casa Grande Dispatch, "Coolidge man makes another run for Congress," November 28, 2015
- ↑ WMIcentral.com, "White Mountains’ James Maloney announces bid for Congress," December 14, 2015
- ↑ Southern Arizona News-Examiner, "Republican Gary Kiehne will run again in 2016 for CD1," February 11, 2015
- ↑ Azcentral, "Bennett to run for Congress in 1st District," July 13, 2015
- ↑ Roll Call, "Arizona Sheriff Babeu Enters Race for Kirkpatrick’s Seat," October 5, 2015
- ↑ Azcentral, "Wendy Rogers launches third bid for Congress," January 13, 2016
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "2016 Primary Candidates," accessed June 2, 2016
- ↑ Politico, " Arizona House Primaries Results," August 30, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Election Results," accessed November 8, 2016
- ↑ NRCC, "32 Congressional Candidates Announced “On the Radar” as Part of NRCC’s Young Guns Program," November 19, 2015
- ↑ Bennett for Governor, "Exploratory Committee," accessed July 31, 2013
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedgovrun14 - ↑ Facebook, "Ken Bennett on Facebook," accessed June 26, 2018
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ken Bennett's campaign website, “Issues,” accessed May 30, 2018(Archived)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Karen Fann (R) |
Arizona State Senate District 1 2023-2025 |
Succeeded by Mark Finchem (R) |
| Preceded by - |
Arizona Secretary of State 2009-2015 |
Succeeded by Michele Reagan (R) |
| Preceded by - |
Arizona State Senate District 1 1999-2007 |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Arizona State Board of Education 1992-1998 |
Succeeded by - |
