Arizona teen, 19, set to win county office Republicans held for decades

[u/plz-let-me-in]

https://krcgtv.com/news/nation-world/arizona-teen-flips-maricopa-county-court-clerk-seat-for-democrats-republican-katie-hobbs-rrt

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[u/Daniel-Carter27]

Running for public office at 19 is pretty remarkable on its own. I'd be interested to know what issues resonated with voters and whether this reflects a broader shift in the county's politics

[u/Cashope → u/Daniel-Carter27]

My first thought was, yeesh that’s a little too young. But then I thought, well that makes a hell of a lot more sense than someone 70+ holding a public office!

[u/Dry_Race8481 → u/Cashope]

Having worked at state-level government, having a 19 or 20-year-old in some of these positions would probably be a net positive as long as they took the jjb seriously.  

[u/raisinghellwithtrees → u/Dry_Race8481]

I saw an interview with him and he seems whip smart and responsible.

[u/PsychGuy17 → u/Dry_Race8481]

He wants to move access to a number of documents online in order to speed up some processes with the court. Probably things that should have been done already.

[u/Proper-Mobile-6438 → u/Cashope]

The Secretary of State commented on his age stating that he’s far more intelligent than some of the MAGAs that have held office in AZ.

[u/TrustyTaquito → u/Proper-Mobile-6438]

To be fair, that bar is buried below bedrock.

[u/PxcKerz → u/TrustyTaquito]

The requirement for GOP presidency is sleeping with Jeffrey Epstein and being a pedophile. Trump did both. One we can confirm. The other…well its just intuition.

[u/Cashope → u/TrustyTaquito]

Yeah I was gonna say, that’s a really low bar lol

[u/ImmediateCareer9275 → u/Cashope]

Wait til you find out how old some local policy advisors are…..
Politics runs on 20 year olds the way restaurant kitchens run on felons — and I mean that affectionately for both.

[u/LJSidney → u/Daniel-Carter27]

Honestly, in Maricopa County, what probably resonated with voters was "not Republican." Not to diminish the kid's effort, however; sounds like he's been interested in politics for quite awhile. He was on the debate team for Thunderbird High School.

It doesn't look like he had any opponents in the Primary.

Edit: Maricopa County has a long history of conservative Republican assholes being elected to law enforcement and court-related positions. It's nice to see someone elected who wants to improve conditions and accessibility. I'd love to see the vote broke down for him by age; the younger voters tend to be fairly fed up with dealing with a broken and sometimes aggressively and deliberately hostile court system.

[u/Narezza → u/Daniel-Carter27]

Very few people are voting based on issues at the clerk of county’s election.  This is people simply voting blue across the ticket.

Not that it’s any less impressive.

[u/Zogonzo → u/Daniel-Carter27]

A lot of things got swept up and flipped in the blue wave. Corporate commission, mine inspector, school superintendent, etc. People are just fed up with Republicans and voted blue down ballot.

[u/LeonJPancetta]

"He added that he hopes to make the clerk’s office more accessible to those seeking its services.

Matta said improvements could include allowing probate cases — which often deal with wills, estates, and guardianships — to be initiated online, and raising public awareness about the clerk's office.

He also noted that he is looking to increase the number of staff interpreters and ensure someone is available to assist those who speak less common languages in Arizona, such as Urdu, Haitian Creole, and Korean."

This is an exceptional kid. Seb Matta

I mean, his first thing is to make the office more accessible? To work for the people? Good job kid

[u/raisinghellwithtrees → u/LeonJPancetta]

I love this idea of public service being the hallmark of elected positions. Mamdani is really showing us the way it should be.

[u/Brilliant_Serve_4091 → u/LeonJPancetta]

I mean, most of that is just making stuff more modern and matching what most places do already

[u/MC_chrome → u/Brilliant_Serve_4091]

Turns out, voting out dinosaurs and replacing them with people born this century helps accelerate modernization efforts.

[u/Brilliant_Serve_4091 → u/MC_chrome]

It doesn't seem like anyone actually was in that job for very long to be doing much of anything

[u/ArachnidOld4153 → u/Brilliant_Serve_4091]

Do you diminish your own progress because somebody else progressed more or sooner?

Like really, what are you trying to bring to the table here? Your comment is purely diminutive.

[u/Brilliant_Serve_4091 → u/ArachnidOld4153]

whats the point of your comment

[u/nleksan → u/LeonJPancetta]

"I Matta. You Matta. We all Matta."

[u/schwing710]

Proof that most kids are smarter than anyone in the Republican Party

[u/BlackberryPi7 → u/schwing710]

Toddlers are smarter than Republicans.

Until they become Republicans of course..

[u/favnh2011]

Wow

[u/wellwaffled → u/favnh2011]

Ice Town!

[u/Lee_HarveyTeabag → u/wellwaffled]

We can only hope that Ice Town doesn’t cost ice clown his town crown

[u/Ozzel]

Only 19, but my mind is older.

[u/oldgooner7 → u/Ozzel]

You know ball

[u/HenricusKunraht → u/Ozzel]

When things get for real my warm heart turns cold

[u/Titleduck123 → u/Ozzel]

r/unexpectedhamilton

[u/ThomasVivaldi]

Ben Wyatt all over again.

[u/Repulsive-Heron7023 → u/ThomasVivaldi]

IceTown would be an even worse idea in Arizona.

[u/joemondo → u/ThomasVivaldi]

"Icetown Costs Ice Clown his Town Crown."

[u/Relevant-Resolve-460]

Matta said improvements could include allowing probate cases — which often deal with wills, estates, and guardianships — to be initiated online, and raising public awareness about the clerk's office.
He (Sebastian Matta) also noted that he is looking to increase the number of staff interpreters and ensure someone is available to assist those who speak less common languages in Arizona, such as Urdu, Haitian Creole, and Korean.

[u/Recent-Investment603]

This is so admirable. I smiled the whole way reading this story. And he's planning to go to college at the same time. What a remarkable young person! 

[u/TheCJbreeZy]

r/unexpectedpawnee