Two East Valley City Council members seek to represent their areas on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in a race that will determine which political party controls the agency that oversees election administration, public health and other vital services. are fighting over it.

Joel Navarro, a Tempe Democrat, and Mark Stewart, a Chandler Republican, are running to replace incumbent Republican Supervisor Jack Sellers, who lost to Stewart in July’s District 1 Republican primary.

County elections, and whether they were fair, were key issues in the primary.

Sellers and his fellow executives became targets of Republicans aligned with former President Donald Trump after the 2020 election, when the county became the epicenter of election fraud conspiracy theories.

He blamed that faction for his loss to Stewart, who received 66% of the Republican primary vote.

“At some point, you will be held accountable for your efforts to undermine our democracy,” Sellers said in a statement to “election deniers” after his defeat.

Sean Bowie, a moderate Democrat and former East Valley councilman, said he believes candidates’ positions in county races will have an impact on the general election.

“So I think there’s going to be some concern about candidates who come forward and say they’re going to do something drastic. [Stewart] They’re trying to get away with it and haven’t said anything definitive, but the people who are making those claims are supporting him,” Bowie said.

Stewart said he believes the county’s elections are fair, but the answer comes with a caveat.

Ahead of the July primary, Stewart refused to report to Santan Sun News whether he certified previous elections; He also criticized the board’s election administration for high-profile failures, including issues with the 2022 ballot.

But after the primary, Stewart said the county’s elections were “absolutely” fair.

“The biggest thing that happened was that we got through the primary without any complications like printer failures or ballot size issues,” Stewart said. “These are first-principles, functional issues as a business owner, right? You look at the root causes that are causing the problem, right? And it looks like the Board of Supervisors and the Recorder have actually done that.”

Meanwhile, Navarro, a Democrat, said he believes the county’s elections are fair.

“I believe they are fair and I think they have been for a long time,” Navarro said. “And like anything else, you always want things to get better over time, but more efficiency, more opportunities, all those good things, and something that’s safe and secure. I always want to make it happen.”

Mr. Sellers, already a Republican incumbent, rebelled against his party over election issues and endorsed Mr. Navarro.

“The future of our democracy will be on the ballot this November,” Sellers said in a statement. “As a member of the Board of Supervisors, I am proud of our work in overseeing and supporting the safe, secure and accurate administration of elections.We will continue to protect Maricopa County voters by eliminating lies and We need public officials who are willing to stand up against misinformation, and Joel Navarro is one of those leaders.”

But the Board of Supervisors is responsible for more than just county elections.

Both Stewart and Navarro intend to use their experience as City Council members to help the county provide quality and efficient services to its residents, and to address issues facing the county such as public safety and economic development. They said they generally agreed on the most pressing concerns.

Stewart said he wants to bring Chandler’s innovative approach to government to the county, noting decisions he made while in the city such as courting Waymo’s self-driving cars.

“It’s a very positive thing to think about bringing and testing self-driving cars in one of only five cities in the world,” Stewart said. “You mean cutting edge, right?”

Navarro, the Phoenix firefighter, said he plans to replicate Tempe’s early childhood education program at the county level and focus on the county’s role in public health.

“I was in an area where we had previously experienced inefficiency, particularly in public health, perhaps public safety, and in an area where we could do things better and more efficiently,” he said.

Navarro and Stewart also said they want to make sure the county is offering competitive salaries to retain employees, especially sheriff’s deputies.

“This county is not in competition with other counties,” he said. “Counties are competing with cities, so when we talk about jobs and pay and benefits, we want to make sure that counties are within the competitive range of other cities.”

Stewart, who says he approaches government like a business, agreed, saying the county invests a lot of money in training its deputies.

“We’re seeing other cities poaching councilors, and that’s not a good thing,” Stewart said. “We want to stick close to our legislators and make sure they are compensated appropriately, but we also want to make sure that their burdens are not reduced too much.”

It’s no surprise that Mr. Navarro and Mr. Stewart share many issues, but residents care more about the efficient running of their government than which party controls the board. said Stewart.

“I know it’s a cliché, but I don’t care about holes.” [Republican or Democrat]” he said. “You know, a properly funded police force; [Republican or Democrat]investments in parks are [Republican or Democrat] That’s a problem, right?

Not surprisingly, Navarro agreed.

“For me, it’s not about parties,” Navarro said. “It’s not about playing politics. It’s about looking at the information and making logical decisions.”

Bowie, a former Democratic congressman, said they may be on to something.

Bowie said he voted for Republican Sellers four years ago, and they believe Bowie models the type of candidate voters are looking for in the general election.

“I think people like him represent the East Valley well in terms of not being overly partisan,” he says. “Someone who doesn’t flatter extremists and is just focused on doing their job.”

Republicans have a 37 to 28 percentage point advantage over Democrats in voter registration in the 1st District, and a significant portion of the district’s voters (about 34%) are independents.

Data Analyst Garrett Archer, ABC 15 In recent elections, voters in this district were reported to support both Republicans and Democrats.including Republican state Treasurer Kimberly Yee and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in 2022.