By Hank Stephenson | Arizona Capitol Times
On Election Night 2016, Ben Scheel was one of the few winners in what was otherwise a losing night for Democrats.
Scheel was the campaign manager for Democratic House candidate Mitzi Epstein, who, along with her Democratic counterpart running for the Senate, swept two seats previously held by Republicans in Legislative District 18.
Arizona Democrats had hoped 2016 would be their year – they had dreams of splitting the state Senate 15 to 15, or possibly even snagging a majority of the 30 seats. In the House, Democrats also had high hopes of picking up more of the chamber’s 60 seats, though most acknowledged a majority was outside the realm of possibility.