Arizona’s ‘Cesar Chavez’ Faces Legal Challenge To Congressional Candidacy

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The grandson of Hispanic labor and civil rights icon Cesar Chavez filed a lawsuit Tuesday in an attempt to take a man who adopted his grandfather’s name off the ballot in Arizona’s 7th congressional district.

The Arizona Capitol Times reported that Alejandro Chavez brought a challenge against the candidate formerly known as Scott Fistler, who legally changed his name to Cesar Chavez last November. The suit alleges that Chavez adopted that name to confuse and mislead voters in the heavily Hispanic district.

Chavez, who previously launched two unsuccessful bids for public office as a Republican, had previously drawn scrutiny from the state Democratic Party because he filed to run for Congress as a Democrat in February before officially changing his party affiliation in April.

The suit alleges that Chavez misled voters who signed his petition to get on the ballot because he hadn’t yet registered as a Democrat, according to the Capitol Times. It also contends that those signatures Chavez gathered prior to registering as a Democrat should be ruled invalid.

Arizona law states that such corruption of electors is a class 2 misdemeanor.

The chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, DJ Quinlan, previously told the Capitol Times that the party was weighing whether to bring a legal challenge against Chavez.

“He’s either trying to make a mockery of the system, or of Democrats, or of the Hispanic community,” Quinlan said at the time.

h/t Politico

Images via Tea Party Cheer

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