Local politicians plan to challenge Republicans for each of the five Mojave County Council seats, with Democrats hoping to gain a foothold in western Arizona this year.
At a rally of Democratic candidates and supporters in Lake Havasu City on Saturday, these candidates said not only change is needed, but change may be needed among Mohave County residents. suggested. But that change will not come easily because the county has strong Republican leadership and a conservative majority.
Candidates gathered Saturday for a “Blue Wave” luncheon with local supporters at Shugrue's restaurant overlooking London Bridge. The event provided an opportunity for liberal voters to meet the candidates in this year's election as Democratic leaders encourage them to rally to their supporters this election period.
Democrats are trying to gain support from disaffected independents.
Former Seattle politician and Buckskin Fire Chief Brian McMahan spoke to Today's News Herald at the event. McMahan is expected to face Mohave County District 5 Supervisor Ron Gould, a former Arizona state senator who oversees a district that includes North Havasu and Mojave Valley, this year.
“We are hopeful that change is possible,” McMahan said. “I think people are ready for change. Mohave County is home to a lot of registered Republicans, but from what we've seen, people want change.”
As of January 1, there are 78,243 active registered Republicans living in Mohave County, compared to 19,164. But an additional 47,399 voters remain registered as independents or “other,” and reaching these voters could be the deciding factor in whether Democrats win this year's elections. There is.
But McMahan said the county's independents may be just as dissatisfied with Republican leadership as Democrats in recent years.
“People are tired of the same fights, the same complaining, the complaining attitude,” McMahan said. “They want change. I have 15 years of political experience and have participated in many campaigns. In a few months I will have been a firefighter for 40 years. I’ve seen it run efficiently, but I’ve also seen it run inefficiently.”
McMahan criticized what he saw as non-elected county positions and micromanagement of county functions after the County Board of Supervisors enacted travel and hiring restrictions on county employees this year.
These restrictions were approved by the board last year as a cost-cutting measure as the board prepares to face a projected $18.5 million budget deficit in fiscal year 2025. McMahan questioned the county's efforts to seek alternative revenue to overcome budget shortfalls and said Saturday he would seek economic development and expansion of post-high school education and training for college-going Mohave County residents. .
“I'm looking for solutions and I'm bringing solutions,” McMahan told supporters at the event. “And what I really want is good government for everyone. I've worked in government for about 40 years. I've worked in good government, I've worked in bad government. I've worked in mediocre government. I know what good government looks like, and I plan to bring that to Mohave County.”
Democratic Party cites 'conspiracy theory' as cause of dissatisfaction
This year, incumbent Mohave County District 3 Supervisor Buster Johnson is expected to face outgoing Arizona Sen. Sonny Borelli in the Republican primary. The winner of this election will face Havasu Democrat Paul Smith for Johnson's seat on the county governing board.
“When you run for supervisor, you run to represent the people,” Smith told supporters Saturday. “It’s not about being a micromanager, it’s about listening to your constituents and making sure their concerns are addressed.”
Smith expressed disappointment in the recent County Board of Supervisors meeting, which included discussion of the possibility of hand counting in the 2024 election. The proposed head count could have cost the county more than $1 million, and the Arizona Attorney General's Office warned it could face legal action. The proposed staffing numbers were defeated by a narrow 3-2 vote by the board in November, despite Borrelli's vocal support.
“If there's a problem with the elections department, it's the (supervisor's) responsibility to address it,” Smith said. “But to take a party platform and bring it into the county building and spend the county’s money, resources and time… that’s wrong.”
He also criticized recent decisions by the board, including voting 3-2 to end a state reimbursement agreement that provides coronavirus vaccines to uninsured residents in Mohave County. Smith also opposed the possibility of a formal objection by the county to the Burge-Nwavjo-Ita Kukuveni National Monument on the west side of the Grand Canyon, which President Biden designated in August. Supervisors will decide at a board meeting in Kingman next week whether to approve the counterproposal to the monument or possible legal action against the Biden administration.
But on Saturday, Smith questioned whether supervisors are currently voting on behalf of Mohave County residents or on behalf of the Republican Party.
“(Voters) just want someone to represent their interests on the board,” Smith said. “It should be a bipartisan seat to begin with, but it's not.”
Morgaine to pursue Senate seat again as candidates aim to win in county
With third-term Arizona Sen. Sonny Borelli leaving Congress later this year, Kingman resident and prominent Kingman Democrat Jamie Morgaine is aiming to fill the soon-to-be-vacant Phoenix seat. There is.
Morgaine, director of Mohave County's nonpartisan Real Change PAC, won 24.7% of the vote in Arizona's former 5th Senate District in 2018, but lost to Borrelli. This year, she will run against Mohave County Supervisor Hildy Angius of Bullhead City to represent the state's 30th Legislative District.
“I didn't think you could say there's no worse player than Sonny Borrelli,” Morgaine said Saturday. “But Sonny Borrelli is not as good as (Angius).”
Morgaine did not elaborate on the reason for his apparent dislike of Angius when he spoke to supporters on Saturday.
At a rally this weekend, Morgaine emphasized that he intends to hold a “clean” election and has been appealing for donations throughout Mohave County since last summer.
“(Mohave County Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary McCord Robinson) and I were out on the streets here in Lake Havasu, where it's 122 degrees and humid,” Morgaine said. “We didn't even feel like people. We were like slimy geckos outside knocking on doors, because that's what we had to do. But we got clean money.”
And unless money comes from such efforts, rather than large donations from corporations and other private interests, campaign finance is too much for elected politicians' ability to vote, according to Morgaine. It is said to have the potential to have a major impact.
“We want to take that influence out of the vote, so we're running scot-free,” Morgaine said. “We want to make it possible for you, the people, to vote in the interests of the people, not the interests of corporations or the interests of developers.”
In addition to this year's Mohave County Board of Supervisors elections and efforts in Phoenix and Washington, D.C., the Mohave County Democratic Party announced Saturday that the Arizona Democratic Party's Young Democrats organization may open a Mohave County chapter in the near future.
