GOVERNMENT
VOTER TURNOUT AROUND ARIZONA
Liermann’s campaign raised $3,806. Of that, a paltry $355 came from donors, including $100 from fellow City Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr. Liermann at one time paid the campaign $2,341 from her personal account. Willis’ campaign raised $1,231, with $991 from his own bank account and the remainder from his campaign manager, Aubrey Morris. Only O’Jon grazed the deep pockets of an out- of-town PAC, getting a $1,000 nod from Our Voice Our Vote organization in Phoenix. The local org that has donated most to Joe Biden “is the largest Black organizing group in the state,” said spokesperson Rachel Needham. Sena Mohammed, executive director of OVOV, said her goal is “to support progressive Black leaders running for elected office in local, state and national races.” Calling support of O’Jon a “natural choice,” Mohammed said the candidate from Senita “first got our attention when she founded the Black Maricopa Chamber of Commerce and has consistently demonstrated that she has what it takes to be a local leader and to fight for our shared goals.” Mohammed said O’Jon would have “truly made a difference” for Black people in Maricopa. InMaricopa contacted O’Jon July 24 for comment about the endorsement. She never responded. O’Jon paid two of her own nonprofits with money from her campaign coffers — $972 to the Black Maricopa Chamber of Commerce and the Maricopa Debutante Organization, a teen mentorship outfit. Diversity, equity and delusion OVOV liked O’Jon because she represented diversity, in the traditional sense. Experts like Coughlin say a lack of diversity could be a factor in hampering voter turnout, but not the kind you’d think. In the Scottsdale City Council election, it was a crowded field of nine aged 21 to 79 representing starkly opposing factions. Among them, a former Arizona House rep, a former Arizona Republican Party state treasurer, a Fox News personality, two high- ranking corporate executives and two former city commissioners. Diversity of age? Check. Diversity of thought? Check. Leadership experience? Check. Together, the candidates raised $1,004,307. Some touted their governing experience motivated people to vote — and to spend.
56%
FOUNTAIN HILLS CAREFREE CAVE CREEK WICKENBURG APACHE JUNCTION PARADISE VALLEY SCOTTSDALE LITCHFIELD PARK SURPRISE QUEEN CREEK FLAGSTAFF METRO PHOENIX CHANDLER GOODYEAR MESA PINAL COUNTY MARICOPA (CITY)
55%
51%
50%
44%
41%
40%
38%
33%
32%
31% 31%
30% 30% 30%
29%
22%
0
0.15
0.3
0.45
0.6
July 30, 2024, Arizona Primary Election data. Source: Arizona Secretary of State
Table 1
Even in tiny Fountain Hills the incumbent Mayor Ginny Dickey is a former assistant director of the U.S. Department of Environmental Quality with a 40-year government tenure to boot. She faces Gerry Friedel, another experienced politician, in a November runoff. In the primary election, she bested Joe Arpaio, the longtime Maricopa County Sheriff and former U.S. Senate candidate. Dickey was endorsed by virtually every top local official in the metro — the mayors of Phoenix, Avondale, Mesa, Tempe, Apache Junction, Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Carefree, to name a few. In Maricopa’s race for mayor, a city more than triple the size of Fountain Hills, no candidate was endorsed by any such person. Neither candidate filed a campaign finance report. “I think you are on to something with the funds raised being related to turnout,” Dickey told InMaricopa during an Aug. 21 interview. “If people care enough to donate, they will vote.” And the inverse is true. Case in point. Challengers in Maricopa elections were a college student with no political experience, a retired grade-school teacher who lied about serving in the U.S. Air Force — also with no political experience — and a tax preparer 2023 FOUNTAIN HILLS 56% CAREFREE CAVE CREEK WICKENBURG 55% 51% 50% APACHE JUNCTION PARADISE VALLEY 44% 41% SCOTTSDALE 40% LITCHFIELD PARK 38% SURPRISE 33% QUEEN CREEK 32% FLAGSTAFF 31% METRO PHOENIX 31%
who was elected to the city council more than a decade ago and quit halfway through his term. All seven municipal candidates were old enough to be AARP members. As Coughlin says: “Inexperience begets inexperience.” Just like high school No wonder, then, why all the city council hopefuls together raised less than one-sixth of the money pulled in by a single candidate for the same office in a nearby town three times smaller. “I take it as a serious job,” said Maricopa City Councilmember Vincent Manfredi. “Other people take it as a hobby.”
1
If people care enough to donate, they will vote.” GINNY DICKEY, FOUNTAIN HILLS INCUMBENT MAYOR
InMaricopa.com | October 2024
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