Supporters of the Democratic candidate for Maricopa County Recorder are trying to convince Republican lawmakers to vote for him instead of his Republican opponent, mirroring efforts by the leading Democratic candidate. There is.
Mesa City Councilwoman Julie Spilsbury and Bettina Nava, a longtime Republican and former aide to Republican Sen. John McCain, announced at a press conference Monday that Republican Justin Heap will be the next Maricopa County Recorder. He urged Republicans to support Democrat Tim Stringham instead. Manage early voting and voter registration in Maricopa County.
Spilsbury, a longtime Republican, said he supports current Republican Rep. Stephen Richer, who lost to Heap in July’s Republican primary.
“Our form of government requires leaders to respect certain boundaries, understand and respect the rule of law, respect the balance of power, tell the truth, and treat people with basic respect. It only works if you do it,” Spilsbury said. “And Stephen Richer did this. When I talked to Tim Stringham, he gave me the confidence to do this too.”
Mr. Spilsbury and Mr. Nava noted that Mr. Heap refused to say whether the 2020 or 2022 election was stolen and promoted election fraud conspiracy theories to explain his loss to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. He criticized his close ties to politicians such as Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake. 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election.
“We need a county recorder like Tim Stringham who is not an extremist and who is not here to play political games,” Nava said. “He came here just to be a professional. We’ve had professionals in our history. So let’s get one back.”
Heap based his recorder campaign on the argument that voters lack confidence in their county’s elections, calling election integrity “a modern-day civil rights issue.” Although he stopped short of saying past elections were stolen, he has received support from other prominent figures who have made such disproven claims, including Lake and former President Donald Trump.
Republicans lead Democrats by more than 176,000 voters in Maricopa County, but a September poll by Noble Predictive Insights found that 22% of respondents were still undecided, with Stringham leading the race by 4%. It turned out that he was in the lead. Pollster Mike Noble said moderate Republicans and independents, who make up more than a third of voters, are likely to decide which candidate wins the election.
Mr. Stringham’s allies’ efforts to woo these voters are part of a larger effort at the top, where prominent current and former Republicans have supported Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. similar to
But so far, Republican efforts to back Stringham have not been as strong because Nava and Spilsbury don’t have as much valley-wide name recognition as some of the Republican surrogates who support Harris. Former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and Former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake.
“I wish more prominent business leaders and elected officials and former elected officials would step out from the sidelines and support Tim Stringham to educate people and break through the mess. I hope so, because there are so many races that are run correctly. It’s hard for people to be educated about the whole ballot thing right now,” Nava said.
Heap also said he is trying to reach voters from all walks of life, saying his campaign has “dozens of volunteers from across the political spectrum going through the doors with independents and Democratic voters across Maricopa County.” “They’re knocking, they’re phone banking, they’re texting.” ”
“We have reached out to more than 500,000 non-Republican voters since the ballots were issued, and we couldn’t be more encouraged by the response we’ve gotten,” Heap said in a statement. . “Voters of all political parties are tired of the election rhetoric and agree that we need faster election results and more transparency in the process.”
But he has also missed several opportunities to market himself to those voters, including two debates against Stringham.
After skipping one of those debates in September, the heap I posted the photo on social media He indicated he chose to attend a local Republican Party meeting in Scottsdale instead.
