J. Hubert Smith

Smith was born in Kingman, Arizona on July 21, 1887. He married his wife on December 25, 1910.[1][2]

Smith was an attorney in Kingman, Arizona, associated with the firm of Louis L. Wallace. In 1926 he ran unopposed for position of Mohave County attorney.[3][4] In 1928, he did not run for re-election, choosing to throw his hat in the ring for the state's attorney general position.[1] However, he came in a distant fourth in a four-man race in the Democrat primary behind A. R. Lynch, John L. Sullivan, and the eventual winner, K. Berry Peterson.[5]

In 1930, he was nominated by the Democrats to run for the Arizona State Senate, seeking the seat from Mohave County. He was unopposed in November's general election. Coincidently, his father, Anson Smith, was nominated to run for the lone seat in the Arizona House of Representatives from Mohave County. He also ran unopposed, so that both father and son served in the same session of the state legislature.[6][7] He ran for re-election in 1932, but was defeated in the Democrat primary by Kean St. Charles, who had held the seat during the 9th Arizona State Legislature. His father was also defeated in the primary.[8][9] In 1934 Smith once again faced off against St. Charles the Democrat's primary, but this time it was Smith who walked away with the victory.[10] He was unopposed in the general election.[11] He was re-elected in 1936, running unopposed in both the primary and general election.[12][13]

He did not run for re-election in 1938.[14] However, he did run in 1940, and faced his old rival, St. Charles, in the primary, defeating him 1,647 to 497.[15] He won in November's general election as well.[16] He ran for re-election in 1942, and was opposed by Frank Ricca, who he defeated in the primary by more than a 2-1 margin. He was unopposed in the general election.[17][18] He did not run for re-election in 1944.[19] Later that year, he was appointed as an assistant state attorney general by John L. Sullivan, who he had run against in the 1928 Democrat primary for State Attorney General.[20]

Smith died on February 4, 1978, in Kingman, Arizona.[21]