Via White Mountain Independent
Tiffany Shedd says she is running for Congress because she is a rural resident who understands rural issues facing an overwhelmingly rural district.
Shedd, a Republican from Eloy, will face state Sen. Steve Smith of Maricopa and retired U.S. Air Force Pilot Wendy Rogers in the August primary. Rogers finished third in a six-way CD-1 Republican primary in 2016.
The winner will likely face the Democratic incumbent Rep. Tom O’Halleran, of Sedona, for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives — although O’ Halleran is facing a primary challenger, Coolidge resident Miguel Olivas.
The sprawling District 1 covers much of the state, from the Four Corners region in the northeast, across north-central Arizona almost to the Nevada border, and south to Clifton on the east side to Pima County on the south.
Shedd stopped by the office of The Independent on Friday, April 6, before a meeting at Licano’s steakhouse later in the evening, hosted by former Navajo County Supervisor Dave Tenney.
She is an attorney and a cotton and wheat farmer from Eloy, with deep roots in Arizona — her grandparents were in the state during the Territorial period. She is also familiar with the White Mountain region, as her family has owned a cabin the in area since the 1980s. And although she has never held a county or statewide office, she says her experience with the people and issues of District 1 make her uniquely qualified.
Shedd’s law practice has focused on natural resource and agricultural issues, such as water law and policy. According to her campaign material, Shedd considers herself a constitutional conservative who supports the Second Amendment, but she is deeply focused on rural problems, and she feels areas such as District 1 have been “forgotten.”
“This district to me really boils down to rural versus urban,” she explained. Shedd feels that with the resources and natural beauty of the district, it should be more prosperous. “This should be a powerhouse of a district,” she said. “When our state gets resources, they don’t come to rural Arizona,” she added.
O’Halleran, she feels, is not bringing the results that the residents of the district deserve. “Our current congressman is not really showing up,” she said.
Shedd is meeting with stakeholders and is learning the issues in the district, such as forest issues and natural resource utilization. But one topics she’s acutely familiar with is water.
As an attorney, Shedd has worked on and been familiar with key water settlements, and said she would be a strong advocate for water rights. She noted that the state needs to think ahead when it comes water policy.
“We used to think big, that’s why we have Lake Powell, Roosevelt Lake and the Salt River Project,” she said. “At some point we’re going to be limited by the amount of water we have,” she stated, noting that the state needs to do more. Shedd said that there is 1.4 million acre-feet of water that may be available to the state through “actual projects that are almost technologically possible.”
Shedd said she is also interested in bringing more resources to the district for forest restoration, fighting fires, clean coal and hydropower.
She also says she is interested in building a new model for outreach and service to her district, with more offices in local communities and internship programs for youth.
Shedd will face an uphill climb to out-raise O’Halleran — the incumbent raised $1,057,964, to Shedd’s $224,759, according to the most recent campaign finance reporting published by the Federal Election Commission. But, according to Shedd, much of the Republican funding will come after the primary, and Shedd has raised the most amongst Republicans, with Sen. Smith coming in second at $200,784.
Shedd continues to garner endorsements from around the state and the district. Most notably, she has been endorsed by Michele Reagan, Arizona Secretary of State, state representative Tim Dunn (R-Yuma), Bas Aja, the executive vice president of the Cattle Feeders Association and locally by Pinetop-Lakeside Vice Mayor Jerry Smith and former Navajo County Supervisor Dave Tenney.
Shedd says she has momentum and that she is a fighter.