By Richard Wiebe
Midwesterners Maggie and Peter Winchell made Tucson their home for the same reasons many of us do: warm weather, warm people, and tamales that don’t come in a can.
The Winchell family had ties to Tucson before making the Catalina Foothills home in 2015. Their two sons attended UA, while Maggie worked as a CPA and Peter as a construction manager in Minneapolis.
Maggie earned her BA in Business and CPA at the University of Iowa, which paved the way for a career as an accounting consultant and manager for an architectural/engineering firm. She is a competitive tennis player and golfer.
Lucky for us, Maggie didn’t leave her skills and experience behind. She offered to help PCDP at a time when help was needed. Chair Alison Jones appointed Maggie PCDP’s treasurer in early 2019. She was elected to that position at the party’s annual meeting in December 2019.
“PCDP is in great shape,” Maggie said. “Thanks to the fundraising success of last year, we have the money for aggressive get-out-the-vote activities in 2020.”
As it did for many of our volunteers, the 2016 election inspired Maggie to get politically involved. She lives in LD9, where she’s a PC and precinct lead, emphasizing the importance of state and local elections over the presidential election. In addition to her treasurer responsibilities, she does voter registration, canvassing, and PC and volunteer training.
Maggie also does laundry on the night shift for Casas Alitas, which helps asylum seekers as they work to reunite with family members in the United States.
Maggie likes to spend time at PCDP headquarters observing the buzz of daily activities and challenges.
“Volunteers are doing great work in many ways to support the effort to turn Arizona blue. One can really get a sense of it at headquarters,” she said.
“I’m not a political person, but I strongly believe a rich country like ours should provide a solid safety net for all its people. I agree with Paul Wellstone [the late Minnesota senator] who said, ‘We all do better when we all do better.’ I am inspired by the number of people who are engaged and working hard to change things for the better.”
