The Resurrection of Evan Mecham

Six years after the California gubernatorial defeat that had seemingly ended his political career, Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States. In what could be the greatest comeback since Nixon’s, Evan Mecham, one year after his removal from the Arizona governor’s office by a State Senate court of impeachment, declared his intention to return to that office in 1990. Right now, he’s the favorite to win the Republican primary.

The story of his first rise and fall made national headlines. In the 1986 GOP primary, Mecham, an auto-dealer and perennial candidate, was the surprise winner over an establishment opponent. Then the general election turned into a three-way race, with a second Democrat running as an independent. Mecham won the election with 40 per cent of the vote. He then became a “national outrage” with choice comments on religion, his political opponents, and anything else that came to mind, and for opposing Martin Luther King Day. Within months, he was the target of a massive recall drive, six felony indictments by a state grand jury, and the impeachment proceedings—the only governor in American history to face simultaneously all three methods of removal from office.

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Kenneth V. Smith

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Six years after the California gubernatorial defeat that had seemingly ended his political career, Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States. In what could be the greatest comeback since Nixon’s, Evan Mecham, one year after his removal from the Arizona governor’s office by a State Senate court of impeachment, declared his intention to return to that office in 1990. Right now, he’s the favorite to win the Republican primary.

The story of his first rise and fall made national headlines. In the 1986 GOP primary, Mecham, an auto-dealer and perennial candidate, was the surprise winner over an establishment opponent. Then the general election turned into a three-way race, with a second Democrat running as an independent. Mecham won the election with 40 per cent of the vote. He then became a “national outrage” with choice comments on religion, his political opponents, and anything else that came to mind, and for opposing Martin Luther King Day. Within months, he was the target of a massive recall drive, six felony indictments by a state grand jury, and the impeachment proceedings—the only governor in American history to face simultaneously all three methods of removal from office.