Widow, Arizona candidate’s mother feuding over name Bob Stump
Jan 30, 2018, 1:59 PM
(Public Domain Image; AP Photo)
(Public Domain Image; AP Photo)
PHOENIX — A name change over a decade ago has finally ignited a feud between two Arizona political families named Stump.
The widow of longtime U.S. Rep. Bob Stump has accused Bob Stump, who is running to replace Trent Franks in the 8th Congressional District, of misleading voters into believing the men were related.
Nancy Stump’s letter, released Monday, said, “I want to set the record straight: There is only one Bob Stump and that was my late husband.”
Christopher Robert Stump has been an elected official in Arizona since 2008. He started going by Bob Stump in 2002, when he first ran for office.
The older Stump, a Phoenix native, represented Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District from 1977 to 2003, the year he died. The younger Stump served in the state House of Representatives from 2002 to 2008.
The younger Stump’s mother, Jane, wrote a defense of her son, a former Arizona Corporation commissioner, that the 46-year-old posted on Twitter.
Jane Stump responds to Nancy Stump. #AZ08 pic.twitter.com/MVTi4rLFkP
— Bob Stump (@BobStump) January 29, 2018
Jane Stump said, “I, too, want to set the record straight. There is not, as Mrs. Stump puts it, ‘only one Bob Stump, and that was my late husband.’
“My late husband was also named Bob Stump, as was my husband’s father. My husband and I had every right to name our son after him.”
She went to say that her husband called their son “Bob” and the her son has never implied she was related to the late congressman.
At least one primary opponent sides with candidate Stump.
Steve Montenegro’s tweet pointed out that he hadn’t met “a single voter” who confused the two Stumps.
