"Van the Radio Man" is running as a Republican for U.S. Senate.
Clair Van Steenwyk, 65, is a retired food industry executive who now hosts a political talk radio show in Phoenix. He earned his catchy nickname in 2010 from then-U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth, who called him that at an event Van Steenwyk was emceeing. The moniker stuck, and now he uses it in his campaign materials. He even plays off it, asking voters to "Join the Van Wagon."
Van Steenwyk considers himself a "Christian Constitutional Republican," explaining he believes it's his duty to protect what God started in the country, and a U.S. senator should only vote for measures that are constitutional.
His campaign flier proposes closing the departments of Education and Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Internal Revenue Service.
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"Our government is slowly taking away every freedom the American public has," he said. "And Congress is aiding and abetting it."
He decided to run because he doesn't think the other candidates on the ballot for GOP U.S. senator are conservatives or constitutionalists, he said. He's running against U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, wealthy Mesa businessman Wil Cardon and former Youngtown Mayor Bryan Hackbarth.
Van Steenwyk faces a stiff challenge in competing with the two big-money candidates, Flake and Cardon. He has raised $7,499 through March and has $458 cash on hand, Federal Election Commission information shows.
By comparison, Flake has $3 million cash on hand and Cardon has nearly $3.4 million in his campaign coffers, having lent himself $4.2 million.
This is Van Steenwyk's first run for public office, though he says he's been urged to run by friends throughout his life, which has included stints living in California, Iowa, Idaho and Arizona. He's lived in the Grand Canyon State for the past five years, he said.
Van Steenwyk says he can compete because of the connections he's made doing his radio show, traveling the state with other campaigns in the past two election cycles and being active in the Phoenix Tea Party movement.
"I'm a Tea Party activist, but I wouldn't consider myself a Tea Party candidate," Van Steenwyk said. "I'm an American running for office. That's the problem - we are getting defined by what party we belong to or what group rather than who we really are as a people."
Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com
