Olivia Cajero Bedford (August 15, 1938 – February 9, 2022) was an American politician who was a Democratic member of the

Arizona Senate The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figures). Members serve two-year terms w ...

, representing District 3 from 2013 to 2019. Cajero Bedford served consecutively in the

Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the s ...

from January 2003 until January 10, 2011, in the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Senate. The House convenes in the legislative chambers at the Arizona State C ...

District 27 seat, then in the Arizona Senate in the District 27 seat from January 10, 2011, until January 14, 2013.

Personal life

Cajero Bedford was born in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. She attended

Pima Community College Pima Community College (PCC) is a public community college in Pima County, Arizona. It serves the Tucson metropolitan area with a community college district consisting of five campuses, four education centers, and several adult education learnin ...

and the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. She died on February 9, 2022, at the age of 83. Her death was announced on the floor of the Arizona Senate the next day.

Electoral history

* 2000 To challenge incumbent Democratic Representatives Carmine Cardamone and Debora Norris, Cajero Bedford ran in the five-way September 12, 2000, Democratic Primary, but Representative Norris placed first and Representative Cardamone placed second; and won the November 7, 2000, General election where Representative Norris took the first seat and Representative Cardamone took the second seat ahead of

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

candidate Bill Moeller. * 2002 Redistricted to District 27, and with incumbent Democratic Representative

Meg Burton Cahill Margaret J. Burton Cahill (born March 8, 1954) is an American Democratic politician. She has served as Arizona State Senator for District 17 until 2011. Earlier she was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from 2000 through 2006. ...

and

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Representative

Laura Knaperek Laura Knaperek (July 12, 1955 – March 3, 2016) was an American Republican politician and public official from Arizona. She was first elected to the Arizona state House of Representatives in 1994. She compiled a conservative record while taking a ...

redistricted to District 17, Cajero Bedford ran in the six-way September 10, 2002, Democratic Primary, placing first with 4,436 votes; Cajero Bedford and fellow Democratic nominee

Phil Lopes Phil Lopes (born June 30, 1941) was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper hou ...

were unopposed for the November 5, 2002, General election, where Cajero Bedford took the first seat with 20,655 votes and Phil Lopes took the second seat. * 2004 Cajero Bedford and Representative Lopes were unopposed for both the September 7, 2004, Democratic Primary, where Cajero Bedford placed first with 5,968 votes, and the November 2, 2004, General election, where Cajero Bedford took the first seat with 35,507 votes and Representative Lopes took the second seat. * 2006 Cajero Bedford and Representative Lopes were unopposed for the September 12, 2006, Democratic Primary, where Cajero Bedford placed first with 7,639 votes, and won the three-way November 7, 2006, General election, where Cajero Bedford took the first seat with 24,756 votes and Representative Nichols took the second seat ahead of Republican nominee Gene Chewning. * 2008 Cajero Bedford and Representative Lopes were challenged for the three-way September 2, 2008 Democratic Primary, where Cajero Bedford placed first with 7,357 votes and Representative Lopes placed second, and won the five-way November 2, 2010, General election, where Cajero Bedford took the first seat with 35,010 votes and Representative Lopes took the second seat ahead of Republican nominee J. D. Schechter,

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

candidate Mark Phelps, and Green candidate Kent Solberg. Nichols left after the term, having served alongside Yarbrough from 2003 until 2011. * 2010 When Democratic Senator

Jorge Luis Garcia Jorge Luis Garcia (September 10, 1953 – October 15, 2010) was a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician. He served as Arizona State Senate, Arizona State Senator for District 27 beginning in 2003, where he held the title of Ass ...

ran for

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

and left the Senate District 27 seat open, Cajero Bedford was unopposed for the August 24, 2010, Democratic Primary, winning with 12,538 votes, and won the November 2, 2010, General election with 33,456 votes (99.7%) against two

write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

s. Senator Garcia died between the primary and general elections, and his widow Maria Garcia was appointed to the vacancy. * 2012 Redistricted to District 3, Cajero Bedford was challenged for the August 28, 2012, Democratic Primary by

's widow Maria Garcia, but Cajero Bedford placed first with 9,718 votes (66.8%), and was unopposed for the November 6, 2012, General election, winning with 43,084 votes.

References

External links

Official page
at the

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cajero Bedford, Olivia 1938 births 2022 deaths 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Democratic Party Arizona state senators Hispanic and Latino American women in politics Democratic Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives Pima Community College alumni Politicians from Tucson, Arizona University of Arizona alumni Women state legislators in Arizona