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Arizona Congressional candidate's name stirs controversy

Posted at 7:29 PM, Jan 29, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-29 21:29:24-05

A widow of a well-known Arizona politician is accusing a GOP candidate of misleading voters by using her late husband's name.

Candidate Bob Stump is running for the Eighth Congressional District seat to replace Trent Franks.

Back in the 1990's, candidate Bob Stump went by the name Christopher Stump. In 1997, he used it as his reporter byline in the Weekly Standard.

Sometime after that, and before Stump ran for public office in Arizona, he started calling himself 'Bob' Stump, which happened to be the exact same name as then-Congressman Bob Stump.

Congressman Stump represented Arizona for more than 20 years.

In 2003, Congressman Stump passed away.

Fast forward to 2018, Congressman Stump's widow is fighting back.

In a letter released to the media she wrote, "There is an individual who is misleading the voters of the 8th Congressional district by insinuating he is somehow related to my late husband. He is not."

Hours later, candidate Stump's mom, Jane, released her own letter regarding Nancy's statement that reads in part:

"I, too, want to set the record straight: There is not, as Mrs. Stump put 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. This name has been in our family since at least the 19th century."