Who will you vote for?
Most of the national news has already begun to focus on the 2020 Presidential Election, almost as if the 2018 Mid-Term elections have been finalized. Voters across Arizona will head to the polls on Tuesday, November 6th to cast their votes for many state wide and local offices. The last day to register to vote in the upcoming elections is Tuesday, Oct. 9. Early ballots will be mailed on Oct. 10. The last day to request an absentee ballot is Friday, Oct. 26, 2018.
Governor Doug Ducey will face Democratic candidate David Garcia. Arizona will be electing its first female United States Senator as Kirsten Sinema the Democratic candidate will face Martha McSally the Republican contender. Congressional District One, Congressman Tom O’Halleran will run against Republican Wendy Rodgers to keep his seat.
For the Copper Corridor, the Legislative District 8 Senate and House of Representative seats will be up for election. Senator Frank Pratt will run against Sharon Girard who won the Democratic spot on the ballot. She is from the Eloy area. Rep. TJ Shope and Rep. David Cook, both Republicans, will be running against Carmen Casillas and Linda Gross – both are Democrats out of Globe.
Countywide, one of the biggest contests locally was the race for Justice of the Peace for District 5. With the combination of the JP Courts, Judge Larry Bravo of the Superior/Kearny Court faced Judge Arnold Estrada from the Mammoth/San Manuel Court. With all votes cast, the Democratic voters of the combined JP District 5 which now spans from Oracle to Superior elected Judge Arnold Estrada; he will face Republican Judge Nancy Discher from the Oracle/SaddleBrooke court.
The combination of the Justice Courts have also called for the consolidation of the Constable Duties. Democrat Christopher Alvarado of Kearny will face Republican Mike Sloan of the San Manuel area for the position of Constable.
The Superior Chamber of Commerce has invited the JP, Constable and Legislative District 8 Candidates to their September Luncheon. If you are interested in listening to the candidates and attending the luncheon, please contact Sue Anderson at 602-625-3151.
In local municipal elections, races were mostly decided during the September primaries and the local town governments will not need to call for general election run-off races.
Kearny: Mayor Debra Sommers will remain as Mayor; she ran unopposed and will serve another two year term. Incumbent council members Rudy Flores, Nancy Hinojos and Daniel Radcliffe were all re-elected. They will be sworn into their next terms in January.
Hayden: Councilmember Dean Hetrick ran unopposed for the position of Mayor. Mayor Bobby Smith chose to run for a council seat and was elected to serve a four year term as a Councilmember. This leaves four council seats open in Hayden. Current council members Bernardino Cruz and Thomas Lagunas are expected to apply to be appointed by the Council. This leaves two seats vacant, as Vice Mayor Maria Munoz did not seek re-election and there has been a vacant seat for two years. Officials at the Town of Hayden expect that the council will seek out applications from interested residents to be appointed to those seats.
Superior: Mayor Mila Besich-Lira ran unopposed for a four year term as Mayor of Superior. Three council seats were open in Superior: the two incumbent candidates Michael Alonzo and Stephen Estatico both ran unopposed. The Council will take applications from local residents in January for the third seat which is being vacated by Councilmember Gilbert Aguilar. Aguilar did not seek re-election.
Winkelman: There were three council seats open for election this year. Three candidates sought election to serve on the Winkelman Town Council. Incumbents Felix Marques and Nolberto Wadell were re-elected and Joe Marin, a new face to the council, was elected. All three will begin their new four year terms in January.
Mammoth: At press time, the lead vote getters for the Mammoth Town Council were Ernest Bustamante, Annie Martinez and Rogina Medina. It was still being determined if these candidates received enough votes to avoid a run off election at the general election in November. Arizona state law requires the candidates in municipal elections receive 50% plus one of the votes cast.