William A. Mundell is an American politician who served as a member of the

Arizona Corporation Commission The Arizona Corporation Commission is the Public Utilities Commission of the Arizona, State of Arizona, established by Article 15 of the Constitution of Arizona, Arizona Constitution. Arizona is one of only fourteen states with elected commission ...

from 1999 until 2009 and in the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Arizona Senate, Senate. The House convenes in the le ...

from 1986 to 1992 as a Republican. He left the party and ran for the former position in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

as a Democrat.

Early life and education

Mundell was born at

Elmendorf Air Force Base Elmendorf Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) facility in Anchorage, Alaska. Originally known as Elmendorf Field, it became Elmendorf Air Force Base after World War II. It is the home of the Headquarters, Alaskan Air Command ( ...

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the List of cities in Alaska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of ...

. His family moved to

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

in 1968. He graduated from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

in 1974 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from St. Mary's University, Texas in 1977.

Political career

Mundell practiced law in Chandler until he served as

presiding judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, the ...

of the Chandler Municipal Court from 1980 to 1986. He resigned from the role to successfully run for the

for the 30th district in 1986, succeeding James Sossaman and serving alongside Mark Killian. He chaired the House Environment Committee, where he sponsored legislation promoting protecting nature and recycling. He retired to run for the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. In 1999,

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Jane Dee Hull Jane Dee Hull (; August 8, 1935 – April 16, 2020) was an American politician and educator who was the 20th governor of Arizona from 1997 to 2003. She ascended to the office following the resignation of Fife Symington; Hull was elected in ...

appointed Mundell to the

. In 2006, Mundell co-authored renewable energy standards seeking to promote

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

in the state.

Party switch and later runs for office

2016

Mundell ran for his former position on the commission as a Democrat in

. Save Our AZ Solar, a group linked to

SolarCity SolarCity Corporation was a publicly traded company headquartered in Fremont, California, that sold and installed solar energy generation systems as well as other related products and services to residential, commercial, and industrial custom ...

spent most of its $2.4 million into backing Mundell. He ultimately lost to Republican candidates Bob Burns, Andy Tobin, and Boyd Dunn in the general election.

2018

Two years later, in 2018, he sought the position again but did not advance from the Democratic primary election, placing behind

Sandra Kennedy Sandra Kennedy (born December 25, 1957) is an American politician who served on the Arizona Corporation Commission from 2019 to 2023. Kennedy was first elected to the commission in 2008 but was defeated for re-election in 2012. She ran again for ...

and Kiana Sears respectively.

2020

He again ran for a position on the board in

, pledging to strengthen accountability on the board. He ultimately placed fifth in the general election.

Electoral history

2018

References

External links

* Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American politicians who switched parties Arizona Democrats Arizona Republicans 20th-century members of the Arizona State Legislature {{Arizona-politician-stub