Slade Mead is a former Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 State Senator and is Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 turned Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 who was challenging Tom Horne

Tom Horne

Thomas Charles "Tom" Horne is the current Arizona Attorney General. He served as the Arizona Department of Education Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2003 to 2011.-Early Life and Education:...

 to be the next Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, which is the head of the state's education department.

Family life

Mead was born on September 6, 1961 in Torrington, Connecticut

Torrington, Connecticut

Torrington is the largest city in Litchfield County, Connecticut and the northwestern Connecticut region. It is also the core city of the largest micropolitan area in the United States. The city population was 36,383 according to the 2010 census....

. Both of his parents were teachers, and later on his two siblings would become teachers as well. He graduated from Taft School, studied at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, where he was a member of Wolf's Head Society

Wolf's Head (secret society)

Wolf's Head Society is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. Membership is recomposed annually of fifteen or sixteen Yale University students, typically juniors from the college...

 and, for a year in between his undergraduate and law school education, taught high school as well.

In 1996, he and his wife, Alison, moved to Arizona with their two children, Lindsay and Sierra, from Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. His eldest daughter, Lindsay, is a special needs child with a rare form of epilepsy

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...

, a severe seizure disorder. It is his daughter that eventually drove Slade into the political arena.

Early political career

As a result of his daughter's disorder, Slade became involved in her school, which then evolved into a seat on his local site council and finally a seat on the Kyrene School Board. While on the Kyrene School Board, Mead became "frustrated and dismayed" by the state's funding of their public schools. He then became frustrated with his State Senator, Lori Daniels, who seemed "indifferent to the situation". He decided to run against her.

State Senate career

Mead managed to defeat Daniels in the Republican primary

Primary election

A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....

, and took her senate seat for District 20. He was Vice-Chairman of the Education Committee, and sat on the Appropriations and Government Committees as well.

In 2003, A fight ensued over the GOP's proposed budget. Mead eventually sided with the Democrats, citing a lack of funding for public education. This event resulted in Mead's exile from the party, and in 2004 State Representative John Huppenthal challenged him in the primary. After a bitterly fought campaign in which he was outspent, Mead lost.

Run for Superintendent

After his primary defeat, Mead was contacted by Governor Janet Napolitano

Janet Napolitano

Janet Napolitano is the third and current United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She is the fourth person to hold the position, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the 21st...

 and his then-senate colleague, former Arizona Democratic Party Chairman, and now-US House Representative Harry Mitchell

Harry Mitchell

Harry E. Mitchell is a former U.S. Representative who represented from 2007 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career :...

 to switch parties. His campaign for Superintendent began there, but he was defeated in the September 12th primary by Teach for America

Teach For America

Teach For America is an American non-profit organization that aims to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting the nation's most promising future leaders to teach for two or more years in low-income communities throughout the United States...

's Jason Williams in an upset. His political future is uncertain.

He is currently the college placement officer at the Trinity-Pawling Preparatory School in Pawling, New York.