About Len

Len Munsil, a third-generation Arizonan, has an accomplished record as a public policy expert, a conservative organizational entrepreneur, a lawyer, a journalist, and an author.

In 2006 he won the Republican primary for Governor of Arizona, entering the race late and coming from far behind to upset the most famous name in Arizona political history – Goldwater – while receiving more than 51 percent of the vote in a four-way primary. In the general election he received more than half a million votes but lost to incumbent Janet Napolitano.

He has experience in all three branches of government, and has devoted nearly two decades to influencing public policy on behalf of children and families.

He was interviewed by The Arizona Republic as among 22 “integral” leaders in Arizona at the beginning of 2005. Munsil, 43, has been a licensed attorney for 18 years. He is admitted to practice in Arizona and federal courts, including eight U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal and the United States Supreme Court. He has authored numerous amicus curiae briefs for the U.S. Supreme Court.

He served a prestigious judicial clerkship for Judge Daniel A. Manion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

He was appointed by Gov. Fife Symington to the Arizona Juvenile Justice Advisory Council.
As founding President and General Counsel for The Center for Arizona Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization, he presided over CAP's rapid growth into one of the largest and most powerful state public policy organizations in the United States, with a staff of 18 and a 2005 budget of nearly 1.8 million. He drafted 7 new state laws protecting children and strengthening families, while helping lobby for another 40 laws through his organization.

During his tenure at The Center for Arizona Policy, he made hundreds of media appearances and spoke to thousands of Arizonans through public appearances annually. His daily radio commentaries have been heard multiple times each day on radio stations throughout Arizona by thousands of listeners. His e-mail updates have reached thousands of families each week.

He also founded a group dedicated to opposing judicial activism called “No Bad Judges,” and formerly led a national organization dedicated to fighting illegal child pornography and obscenity.

For his work on behalf of families, he has received national awards and recognition from the American Family Association, National Family Legal Foundation, The Center for Arizona Policy and Focus on the Family.

He is an Arizona native, graduating from Scottsdale High School and Arizona State University. At ASU, he served as Editor of the university's daily newspaper where he hired and supervised 40 paid student employees; he was named Outstanding Journalism Graduate of the Walter Cronkite School. From 1981 to 1985 he was a professional sportswriter for the Scottsdale Daily Progress (now Tribune). He has been an award-winning Sunday School teacher for children and for adults, and has served as chairman of the board of elders at a conservative Baptist church. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for Southwestern College.

Mr. Munsil and his wife, Tracy, have eight children. Tracy is a summa cum laude graduate of ASU and holds a Master's Degree in Political Science. She is also an Outstanding Journalism Graduate of the Walter Cronkite School at ASU, has served as a journalist in Washington D.C. and as a political media consultant to legislative candidates. She has served as Director of Research and Publications for The Center for Arizona Policy, and was editor of Arizona Citizen from 1993 to 2002.