Profile: Eric Clingan, 67th District Delegate Candidate

At a Glance

• Born: Anaheim, Calif.
• Education: University of Arizona for bachelor's and law degrees
• Family: No children
• Occupation: Lawyer
• Public office: None

Eric Clingan has been interested in politics since he was a young boy. Raised in a conservative household, he began following politics at 12 years old, the same year Ronald Reagan was first elected president.

Now Clingan is 43, a Democrat and still just as interested in the power of politics as he ever was, but now moving into the spotlight as he makes his first run for public office in his challenge to Del. Jim LeMunyon (R) for the 67th District seat. He said he's ready to get off the sidelines and start taking action.

"Frankly, there is a point where you have to actually get on the field and that's what I'm doing now," Clingan said. "I'm on the field and I'm looking to score and score big."

He likes that not only is politics about finding solutions to a problem, but also communicating that knowledge to others.

"When you see the light bulb sort of go off, you see the look in their face where they get it ... and they say to you, 'I never saw it that way before. Oh, I never thought of it that way,' there is something to gain personally from that," Clingan said.

Clingan himself has had his mind changed on issues. Following in his parents' footsteps, he registered as a Republican and actively voiced his opinions as a columnist for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, the student publication at the University of Arizona, where Clingan attended undergraduate and law school after serving in the U.S. Air Force.

But after becoming fed up with George W. Bush's policies — namely the handling of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Bush tax cuts — he found the Democratic party to be a better fit for his principles and switched his party affiliation in 2004.

He stands by many of his pieces from his former weekly column "The Provocateur," especially the ones where he aimed to expose the hypocrisy within both sides of political arguments. But in the ones where he advocates for specific policies, he rejects many of his past positions calling some "abhorrent."

"My editor said ... 'Write me a column that gets me letters.' That's what editors want," he said. "... I did utilize, as I say, bombastic rhetoric. I used, you know, enough words and enough flowery language that my editor was satisfied. With that said, it was 15 years ago."

Now he would call himself a moderate, which he says better reflects the 67th District than the conservative policies of his opponent. He touts fiscal responsibility, while also boasting left-leaning social principles.

"I'm the right person for this role because the person who is currently in the position is aligned with a far right-wing group and our district is a 50-50 district," Clingan said. "In fact, it's a 33-33-33 district. If you run the polls, it's 33 percent Republican, 33 percent Democrat and 33 percent Independent."

His biggest motivation for running for the seat is to see progress: "The primary reason is I've been in this area for 10 years, and I've seen little or no movement," he said.

He said he takes the title of delegate seriously and sees it as more than a job one takes for two months each year. Instead, it's a year-round job in order to not only find solutions, but also to gain input and knowledge from the constituents.

If elected, he aims to focus on transportation, education and unification among the Northern Virginia delegation, which he said has been lacking because of partisanship and the tendency to roll over when facing resistance from southern delegations.

"Down south they use a divide and conquer strategy that seems to work every year with Northern Virginia's delegation," Clingan said. "I'd like to be a strong voice and a constant voice to keep that from happening."