A U.S. Marine prone to quoting Ronald Reagan and who once said ābrass is coolā has now officially earned more votes than any other candidate for his office in Arizona history, as he easily won election to the Grand Canyon Stateās Office of Mine Inspector.
Even as Republicans are still struggling in Arizonaās interminable, and outrageously flawed ā some might say corrupt ā vote counting, GOP State Mine Inspector Paul Marsh won his election with more than 1,400,000 votes.
It turns out that his vote total amounts to more votes than any other candidate has ever received.
There can be no doubt that Marsh is excited about the metals, ores, and gems that are mined in his western land. Last week he was thrilled to report that a rare stone was unearthed in Arizona, and he also noted in another Tweet that ābrass is cool.ā
The stateās mine chief is also quick to quote Republican hero Ronald Reagan.
On the Marine Corpsā Nov. 10 anniversary, he quoted Reaganās famous compliment to the Corps, and a few days before that he plied Reaganās warning that āFreedom is never more than one generation away from extinction,ā on Election Day.
First appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey to finish the previous inspectorās unfinished term in 2021, Marsh will now continue his work to make sure Arizonaās mining laws are followed and mine work is safe and profitable after winning his election in his own right.
Of course, Marsh was so much the obvious candidate that the Democrats didnāt even bother running anyone against him!
But his win was an important part of the effort to turn Arizona red. Even as the stateās other top posts seem destined to go blue, Marsh was part of at least a few success stories in Arizona, along with a House seat that the GOP flipped red.
While all the votes are not yet counted, it appears likely that Arizona will now be sending five Republicans and four Democrats to the House, whereas the last election saw the party count switched, after Republican Eli Crane took the 2nd District seat away from the Democrats this year.
Craneās campaign website describes the former Navy SEAL as āa combat veteran, small-business owner, husband, father and native Arizonan.ā
Craneās win put the Republicans one step closer to taking the majority in the House in Washington and Marshās win was an important effort to keep at least some Republicans in the stateās top offices. And if one of the other GOP candidates can squeak out a win as Arizona counts, and counts, and counts, that will just be gravy.
But even as Arizonaās election chaos is making the state look foolish and eroding Americaās faith in our democratic process, to boot, State Mine Inspector Paul Marsh was one bright exception. Congratulations, Mr. Marsh.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.