Richard King (Arizona)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Richard King

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

High school

Rosemead High School

Bachelor's

DeVry University, 1999

Personal

Birthplace

Arcadia, Calif.

Religion

Catholic

Profession

Healthcare professional

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal Facebook

Richard King (Republican Party) ran for election to the Arizona House of Representatives to represent District 6. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

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

Biography

Richard King was born in Arcadia, California. He earned a high school diploma from Rosemead High School and a bachelor's degree from DeVry University in 1999. His career experience includes working in healthcare management.

Elections

2024

See also: Arizona House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Arizona House of Representatives District 6 (2 seats)

Incumbent Myron Tsosie and incumbent Mae Peshlakai defeated Richard King and Lloyd Johnson in the general election for Arizona House of Representatives District 6 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Myron Tsosie (D)	34.8	56,332
✔		Mae Peshlakai (D)	33.5	54,241
		Richard King (R)	15.9	25,743
		Lloyd Johnson (R)	15.9	25,685

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 162,001
= 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 6 (2 seats)

Incumbent Myron Tsosie and incumbent Mae Peshlakai defeated Angela Maloney in the Democratic primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 6 on July 30, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Myron Tsosie	40.2	15,958
✔		Mae Peshlakai	39.2	15,537
	Submit photo	Angela Maloney	20.6	8,166

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 39,661
= 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 6 (2 seats)

Richard King and Lloyd Johnson advanced from the Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 6 on July 30, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Richard King	50.1	7,291
✔		Lloyd Johnson	49.9	7,259

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 14,550
= 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.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for King in this election.

Pledges

King signed the following pledges.

• U.S. Term Limits

2022

See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Arizona State Senate District 6

Incumbent Theresa Hatathlie defeated Richard King in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 6 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Theresa Hatathlie (D)	94.8	58,830
		Richard King (R) (Write-in)	5.2	3,199

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 62,029
= 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

• Jeff Daniels (L)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 6

Incumbent Theresa Hatathlie advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 6 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Theresa Hatathlie	100.0	29,059

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 29,059
= 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

• Wendy Rogers (R)

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for Arizona State Senate District 6

Jeff Daniels advanced from the Libertarian primary for Arizona State Senate District 6 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Jeff Daniels (Write-in)	100.0	33

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 33
= 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

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

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

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Hi, my name is Rich King and my family and I live in the White Mountains of Arizona. I am married to my amazing wife for 29 years. We have four wonderful boys and we have been blessed with a grandson.

I am a first generation to graduate from college. I achieved my bachelor's degree in Election Engineering back in 1999. Since graduating from college, I have been working in the medical equipment service field. During my career, I have worked for large corporations such as GE Healthcare, Siemens, Beckman Coulter and Banner Health. I worked my way up from technician to managing multimillion-dollar businesses.

As you can see, I have never been in politics and never thought I would. I decided to get into it as I am like everyone else. I am fed up with our politicians today and how things are being run or should I say not being run. I felt that it is time that we have someone that will represent us "The People." As of right now, we do not have this type of representation.

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?

• I am here to bring change to our district. This change is for someone like me to represent you, your family and our rural communities. I will represent "The People" as it is "The People" that put me in office as they expect me to represent them.
• I will protect our freedoms, our values and the constitution. It has been demonstrated that not many are willing to do this, but I will stand up for our rights.
• Time and time again we have politicians that refuse to be transparent with us "The People" I on the other hand, will be transparent as much as I can. I will hold town halls meeting throughout out the district. These meeting are to inform you and our communities of things that are going on in our state and to get feedback on bills that are sitting on my desk to vote on. Since I work for you, I strongly believe that we all should be aware of bills that are going through that will impact us.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

There are many areas that I would be interested in such as small business and energy independence. As of right now in our rural communities of Apache and Navajo County, they are under siege with these wind turbines company. The people in these counties do not want them there and I will do what I can to stop this from happening. So, getting a policy in place to stop this from happening is a main focus of mine.

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

For me, I want someone like me who will stand for our constitution and for "The People."

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Honesty, transparency and someone with integrity.

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

I was 25 years old when my wife and I had our first child. Being new to this was scary and exciting all tied up into one. The moment I saw my son being born and looking into his eyes, all fear of being a father went out the window and emotions started to flow. It was a beautiful moment that I will never forget.

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

My very first job was when I was in high school. I worked for In-n-Out Burger and was a big part of who I am today. It was a great company to work for as it helped me get out of my shell as I was a quiet and shy young man. I have worked there for 3 years I believe and it was one of the best jobs I have had.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and state legislature?

Idea relationship should be very strong and bipartisan, but I do not thing this will happen anytime soon. This county and state are so divided that I do not see that happening, unless we start electing officials that will stand for our constitution and start representing "The People"

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

The biggest challenges I see is Arizona being self-sustaining on both power and water. With the push to close all of our coal power plants and no plan to back fill them with newer power plants. We are going to be relying on other states for our power, which mean the cost of our power will go up. Secondly, we rely too much on getting water from other states. We need to have a plan that will ensure that we can sustain enough water for all of our residence here in Az. Our state is growing rapidly and with no plan in place that will ensure we have enough water and power, will be very costly to us. We will lose our ability to be energy independent.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

I strongly believe we need a mixture of season legislators and people with no experience. Reason why is that we need people that can bring in fresh ideas to the table and that brings in common sense. Not to say that all legislators have this issue, I just believe that some can fall into what their party wants them to believe in and they forget what common sense is.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

I believe that collaboration with other legislators is very important to making the right decisions for "The People." With these relationships, things will never get done in the office and that is not what our constituents put us there. They expect us to represent us "The People."

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Since all elected officials and State is being funded by us the taxpayers, then the state/ government should be very transparent.

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

Richard King completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by King's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Hi my name Richard King, I have 4 children and been married to my wife for 27 years. I have been in the Heathcare business sector for over 22 years where I manage business for GE, Siemens, and Sodexo.

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?

• With the Democratic party just allowing the people and drugs to come across our borders, I am here to work on Securing our Borders. Bring it back to how President Trump had it. Finish the wall and allow legal process for people to come to the US. We are being overrun by drugs that is killing the American people and we need to stop it. I will work to get that done and secure our borders.
• With this big push of CRT being pushed out onto our children at their schools, I will work with our local government and other Senators to ensure that this doesn't get into our schools in Arizona. We need to bring our rights as parents back to us in regards to what is being taught with your children. With this being in place, I will fight to keep our children safe by pushing for a bill to put safety officers at each school facility or a former/ retired officer and or military personal.
• Keep a strong Police force and supporting them in additional funding to provide them the training they need and equipment they need to help keep us all safe. A long with this I will fight and stand up for our second amendment rights as I feel very strongly that this right should never be taken away from us.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am very passionate about our 2nd Amendment rights. This is under attack by the Democrat party. They want to take our rights and they will stop at nothing to do so. By electing me Rich King. I will fight for our rights and not allow them to pass through any bills that will infringe on our rights. There is so much going on in our country today that we need to elect more republicans that will fight for the people. I am not here to gain anything from this, I am here because I love my country and I have to do something about it.

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

When growing up, I looked up to a few people in life. Since I loved watching Bonanza and Hoss Cartwright was a person who at the time I looked up to. I love his persona, his calm nature, how he treated people and how he stood up when he had to for his loved ones. In the current state I still keep my values like him, but President Trump is someone who I have looked up to as how he runs a business and how he gets things done. Him and his children are very business savvy bu watching how they work has help me in my own professional career.

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

1. Knowing that they are here for their constituent not for political gains.

2. Not in it for gain financials gains and going with companies and or organizations that buy you out.

3. Willing to work with other Senators to challenge them to stay do what their constituents needs are.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

1. One I am easy to get along with.

2. I fight for what best for my team (in this case my constituents.)
3. I have a great personality.
4. I do not let people intimidate me so they can get what they want.

5. I am always going to do what's right for the American people

What legacy would you like to leave?

My goal is to leave one that say Rich King impacted our country by standing up for what is right and what needs to be done for the American people. He was not one who gave in for money or for political power. He sure wasn't a push over.

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

I was 13 years old when I accepted god as my savior and I accepted him into my heart. I have been blessed ever since I did this.

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

My very first job was many years ago. I worked at a Mobile gas station as a pump attendant pumping gas for people. I was only there for a short period of time as I got a job that I really wanted while I was in high school which was In-n-Out Burger. I worked there on and off for 3 years. One of the best jobs I had where I learn how to work hard and efficient and most importantly, is where I learned great customer service.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Brightside by Mark Tullius.

It was a very interesting read about people being able to read other minds and the government moved all of these people to an Island where they cannot affect other.

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

I would want to be a Sheriff in the 1800's

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

I love this bar by Toby Keith

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

To be honest here it is getting my kids to do something without asking them multiple times. I sure wish they can just get up and do it.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Our greatest challenge today are many things. See below:

1. Bring down the inflation rate. It is out of control right now and no one has a plan to pull us out of it.
2. Boarder security - To many drugs and people coming to the US and being release out to states. We need to board this up to stop this from happening. The drugs alone is killing hundreds of thousand Americans and this needs to be stopped.
3. The brain washing of our children. - I am shocked to see and hear that our schools in this country is teaching our childing things that the parents should be teaching them. The schools are not made to brainwash our children they are to teach them Math, Science, history, how to read and write.
4. Stop other politicians in infringing on our rights. From lock downs, wearing mask all the time. Making our children sit in a box while they are trying to learn in school. trying to take our 2nd amendment rights and even our 1st amendment.

We have so many more that we can go on and on, we need a change in America, we need fresh blood who is not a politician. Someone who has manage business and knows what the people of this country want. That is why I am here.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

We should have term limits. politicians who are in there for 12 plus years need to move on. This should be no more than 3 terms being served. We need fresh ideas and fresh people in office to keep up with the changes in society.

What qualities does the U.S. Senate possess that makes it unique as an institution?

I am just an average guy making the best that I can for my family. I work hard to support them and my children and also teach them the way. My children will always understand that a dollar made is much more appreciated than a dollar giving to them. I not only love my family, but I also love our county. I want us to get back into being a strong country. Economic security, border security and in global strength. We are not what we use to be, and I will do what I can to bring us closer to where we once were under President Trump.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for senators to have previous experience in government or politics?

No I feel the complete opposite. This is the problem we have in America right now. We have a President who been in office for 40+ years and he is tearing our county apart. We need business leaders to run our country as our country is a business. The biggest business in the world.

What do you think of the filibuster?

I am for it as we need to have the 60 votes as if we didn't have this in place today. We would be in a bigger mess than we are.

What criteria would you apply when deciding whether to confirm presidential appointees?

I am looking for the following:

1. What business has this person managed. Such as being a CEO.
2. Was this person successful at his or her business.
3. Who would be the VP.
4. Does he or she follow the United States Constitution.
5. Someone who is looking out for the people of the United States.

6. Someone who does not have a personal agenda to be push down people thoarts.

If you are not a current senator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

I am not a senator currently and as for committees and being a part of. I would love to be on a committee that can help small business grow their business. I would love to get a round table with many small business owners with many CEOs of large corporation and help brainstorm on how they can provide ideals on growing their own business. Many leaders from large corporations have ideas that they have learned and sharing their best practices will help the smaller business owners.

If you are a current senator, why did you join your current committees?

NA

Is there a particular senator, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Honestly there are a few that I really like. With that said, I would say Senator Kenndy. He has such great one liner that crack me ups great. On top of that I see things like he does. Next to him would be Senator Cruz, and Senator Rubio are a few more examples .

Tell us your favorite joke.

Well, it would be from Adrew Dice Clay. Hate to say not to appropriate to put on here. But you get the idea.

How would you evaluate a judicial nominee?

Here are a few that I would use to evaluate one

1. Work experiences.
2. What they have done and how well respected they are.
3. Looking for someone that is with the constitution and follow it.
4. Look at their history on how they ruled on cases.

These are a few that I would use as my top evaluations.

What kind of relationships would you build with other senators?

Building relationship with other senators is very important. We all need to understand where we all stand on issues, and we need to also learn that we need to work together for the American people. Not for our own personal gain. So not working with other senators building strong relations not only in my own party but across the aisle. We all need to work as one in order to get things done.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

It depends on what we are trying to compromise on, but for the most part you do have to in some cases. The time that I would not compromise is when someone wants to pass a policy that is not for the American people and that I am strongly against. I will stand my ground and vote against it.

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

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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.

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Richard King campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Arizona House of Representatives District 6	Lost general	$2,882	$2,882
2022	Arizona State Senate District 6	Lost general	$0	$0
Grand total			$2,882	$2,882
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal 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

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Candidate

Arizona House of Representatives District 6

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Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Arizona House of Representatives

Leadership

Speaker of the House:Steve Montenegro

Majority Leader:Michael Carbone

Minority Leader:Oscar De Los Santos

Representatives

District 1

Selina Bliss (R)

Quang Nguyen (R)

District 2

Stephanie Simacek (D)

Justin Wilmeth (R)

District 3

Joseph Chaplik (R)

Alexander Kolodin (R)

District 4

Pamela Carter (R)

Matt Gress (R)

District 5

Sarah Liguori (D)

Aaron Marquez (D)

District 6

Mae Peshlakai (D)

Myron Tsosie (D)

District 7

Walter Blackman (R)

David Marshall (R)

District 8

Janeen Connolly (D)

Brian Garcia (D)

District 9

Lorena Austin (D)

Seth Blattman (D)

District 10

Ralph Heap (R)

Justin Olson (R)

District 11

Junelle Cavero (D)

Oscar De Los Santos (D)

District 12

Patricia Contreras (D)

Anastasia Travers (D)

District 13

Jeff Weninger (R)

Julie Willoughby (R)

District 14

Laurin Hendrix (R)

Khyl Powell (R)

District 15

Neal Carter (R)

Michael Way (R)

District 16

Chris Lopez (R)

Teresa Martinez (R)

District 17

Rachel Keshel (R)

Kevin Volk (D)

District 18

Nancy Gutierrez (D)

Christopher Mathis (D)

District 19

Lupe Diaz (R)

Gail Griffin (R)

District 20

Alma Hernandez (D)

Betty Villegas (D)

District 21

Consuelo Hernandez (D)

Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (D)

District 22

Lupe Contreras (D)

Elda Luna-Nájera (D)

District 23

Michele Pena (R)

Mariana Sandoval (D)

District 24

Anna Abeytia (D)

Lydia Hernandez (D)

District 25

Michael Carbone (R)

Nick Kupper (R)

District 26

Cesar Aguilar (D)

Quantá Crews (D)

District 27

Lisa Fink (R)

Tony Rivero (R)

District 28

David Livingston (R)

Beverly Pingerelli (R)

District 29

Steve Montenegro (R)

James Taylor (R)

District 30

Leo Biasiucci (R)

John Gillette (R)

Republican Party (33)

Democratic Party (27)