Council OKs election canvass; Gusse will not contest results

Candidates are now set for the General Election after the approval of the canvass from the August primary by both Pinal County Board of Supervisors and Maricopa City Council.

At the local level, two of the six candidates for Maricopa City Council were elected outright. Vice Mayor Nancy Smith and Bob Marsh received a plurality of the votes to be guaranteed their seats. Two other candidates will contend in November. According to the canvass, that will be Amber Liermann and Andre LaFond.

Councilwoman Julia Gusse, who officially finished 15 votes behind LaFond, contended a county-level technical glitch may not have been fully rectified during early balloting. She said county officials refused to give her attorney an answer regarding the number of affected ballots.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, she was the lone vote against accepting the canvass. City attorney Denis Fitzgibbons said there was no conflict for Gusse and Smith to vote on the issue because the canvass was merely numbers provided by the county.

Gusse announced on her social media Wednesday she would not contest the results of the election. She is finishing her second term on council.

At the county level, Jeffrey McClure of Saddlebrook had a walkover in the Republican primary for the District 4 seat on the Board of Supervisors. In the General Election, he faces independent Marlene Pearce of Maricopa.

In the race for state legislator from District 11, JoAnna Mendoza defeated her Democratic rival, Linda Patterson, and will take on incumbent Sen. Vince Leach in the General Election.

Running unopposed in their primary race for two seats, incumbent Republican Representatives Bret Roberts and Mark Finchem will face Democrat Felipe Perez.

At the state level, in the race for three seats on the Corporation Commission, Democrats Bill Mundell, Shea Stanfield and Anna Tovar will face Republicans Lea Marquez Peterson and Eric Sloan, plus write-in Republican Jim O’Connor.

At the federal level, incumbent District 1 Congressman Tom O’Halleran will face Republican challenger Tiffany Shedd. Democrat Mark Kelly will challenge incumbent Sen. Martha McSally.

Meanwhile, Mayor Christian Price ran unopposed in seeking his fourth term.

In Pinal County voting, incumbent Assessor Douglas Wolf defeated his Republican challenger, Mike Cruz. He has no opposition in the General Election. Incumbents in other county-level positions such as sheriff, county attorney and superintendent, had no challengers to their re-election.