City races:
Ortega in Scottsdale and Peterson in
Gilbert lead in heavily contested mayoral races.
Gilbert and Scottsdale’s process to elect new mayors kicked off Tuesday with a string of candidates in both communities.
Five Scottsdale candidates hope to replace Mayor Jim Lane, who has hit the city’s three-term limit. Former Councilman David Ortega was leading, followed by Council member Virginia Korte in a tight race among all five candidates, according to the initial results released by the Maricopa County Elections Department on Tuesday.
The initial results include nearly all ballots cast before election day and mail-in ballots, apart from those dropped off at the polls on Tuesday.
In Gilbert, where Mayor Jenn Daniels did not seek reelection, four candidates are competing for the post. Former Council member Brigette Peterson held a slight lead over candidates Lynn King Smith and Matt Nielsen in the initial vote count.
If mayoral candidates don’t snag enough votes to win outright in Tuesday’s election, the top two vote-getters in each race will face one another in November runoffs.
Leaders elected in Scottsdale and Gilbert — both municipalities of about 250,000 residents — will grapple with issues related to growth. Scottsdale faces high-profile controversies over redevelopment, while Gilbert faces traffic and other growing pains that accompany rapid expansion.
Leaders in Scottsdale, Gilbert and other cities also are navigating the COVID-19 outbreak, from enforcing restrictions to ensure public health to deciding how to use federal relief funds. As new elected leaders are seated in early 2021, they will continue to face the ongoing effects of the pandemic.
Other mayoral and council seats in the Valley also were up for grabs. Twoway races for mayor played out in Mesa, Glendale, Surprise and Cave Creek, with uncontested mayoral races in Avondale, Buckeye, Carefree, Fountain Hills, Paradise Valley and Tolleson.
Crowded Scottsdale ballot
Scottsdale had a crowded ballot, between the five mayoral contenders and nine candidates running for three open City Council seats.
When candidates announced their runs in early 2020, the public sphere was filled with debate over development. Two mayoral candidates, Ortega and Bob Littlefield, participated in a successful effort to put Southbridge II on the ballot. The referendum sought to overturn the City Council’s approval of the massive development that would have built taller buildings in Old Town. Council members Korte and Suzanne Klapp and Korte, both running for mayor, had voted for the project.
The Southbridge II developer withdrew his plans in April, making the referendum moot. But the case illustrates the divide over the type of development envisioned for the city.
A fifth mayoral candidate, Lisa Borowsky, also mentioned the contentious project as one of the reasons she got in the race.
Lane, whose third term as mayor ends in January, has endorsed Klapp.
Early returns in an all around tight race showed Ortega in the lead, followed by Korte, Borowsky, Littlefield and Klapp.
Choices on Gilbert ballot
The Gilbert race was expected to be an easy win for Daniels, who was first elected in 2016. Then, in February, she announced she wouldn’t run.
Peterson filed paperwork to run less than 30 minutes after Daniels’s announcement. Three other candidates also jumped into the mayoral race: King Smith, Nielsen and write-in candidate Joshua Lipscomb.
Daniels has not endorsed a mayoral candidate.
Early results show Peterson with a slight lead, followed by King Smith and Nielsen. Lipscomb trailed far behind.
The busy ballot extended to Town Council races, where eight candidates vied for three open seats.
Mayoral contests from Glendale to Mesa
In Mesa, Mayor John Giles carried a wide lead over challenger Verl Farnsworth, according to the initial results. Giles was first elected in 2014 to lead Arizona’s third-largest city, which faces the challenge of maintaining momentum on downtown redevelopment.
In Glendale, Jerry Weiers led challenger Michelle Robertson in the early vote tallies, but by a closer margin. Weiers was first elected in 2012 and has spent much of his tenure working with City Council members to restore the city’s financial footing. Public safety unions and organizations have criticized Weiers and endorsed Robertson.
Surprise Mayor Skip Hall was handily leading write-in challenger Cheryl Packham, while Cave Creek Mayor Ernie Bunch slightly trailed challenger Eileen Wright in a tight race, early returns show.
In the southwest Valley, Buckeye and Tolleson will elect new mayors despite a lack of competition. Buckeye Council member Eric Orsborn came forward as the only candidate to replace political mainstay Jackie Meck, who served as mayor in the 1970s and returned in 2008.
Tolleson Vice Mayor Juan Rodriguez was the only candidate for the city’s top elected post as Mayor Anna Tovar ran for the Arizona Corporation Commission.
In Avondale, Carefree, Guadalupe, Fountain Hills and Paradise Valley, incumbents Kenn Weiss, Les Peterson, Valerie Molina, Ginny Dickey and Jerry Bien-Willner ran unopposed.
Republic reporters Joshua Bowling and Jen Fifield contributed to this article.
Reach Scottsdale reporter Lorraine Longhi at llonghi@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @lolonghi. Reach reporter Alison Steinbach at Alison.Steinbach@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter @alisteinbach.