Arizona voters had their primary election last week with voters given the option to vote on several offices and propositions, some more interesting than others but all were important. This being the primary means that voters selected their favorite candidate from their party to move on to the general election. However, there were some city elections that happened that were not primaries and were in fact the final election for those offices.
Winslow did not hold a primary election and also chose to have their mayor and council elections during the general election in November.
Holbrook had the mayor’s slot and three council seats up for election. Incumbent Kathleen Smith handily won the race for mayor over current council member Tim Dixon, with 451 votes to Dixon’s 174. Incumbent council members Teri Tafoya and Mike Nilsson retained their seats, with Tafoya garnering 493 votes and Nilsson 438 votes. Tamera Church will fill the third vacancy with 309 votes. There were no other candidates. Church will be seated on the council to replace Dixon after the canvassing of the General Election in November. Holbrook also had two propositions on the ballot. Proposition 433 was to allow Holbrook to have an alternative expenditure limitation, which passed with 375 votes in favor and 177 against. Proposition 434, allowing a franchise to be granted to Arizona Public Service passed with 426 in favor and 87 votes against.
In Snowflake, there are four seats to be filled with incumbent Joseph Bjornn garnering 1,077 votes, Travis Kay 1,015 votes, Mark Sheen 883 votes and Reid Stinnett 852 votes. Incumbent Joanne Guderian received 761 votes. Proposition 436, which proposed an extension of the alternative expenditure limitation received strong support with 1,048 votes in favor and 425 votes against.
The Town of Taylor had three seats to fill with those going to incumbent Kris Neff with 701 votes, current mayor Shawn Palmer 673 votes and April Williams 482 votes. Jack Babb received 403 votes. Proposition 435, proposing an extension of the alternative expenditure limitation passed with 658 votes in favor and 193 votes against.
Of the 66,207 registered voters in Navajo County 22,634 residents made sure their opinions were heard in this election.
District 3 Supervisor Jason Whiting narrowly retained his seat with 2,247 votes to Jim Vance’s 2,076 votes. Supervisor District 1 Fern Benally retained her seat with an overwhelming 2,247 votes, with the next highest contender being Thomas Walker Jr. with 520 votes. Supervisor District 2 Alberto Peshlakai and Supervisor District 4 Daryl Seymore retained their seats. Only Supervisor District 5 will have candidates in the General Election with incumbent Dawnafe Whitsinger (D) and Robert “Scott” Waddle (R).
Republican Danielle Earl had a narrow victory for the county treasurer’s seat for her party with 5,572 votes over Charles Webber’s 5,272 votes.
Those running unopposed in this year’s election cycle are incumbents County Attorney Brad Carlson, Superior Court Judge Division II Melinda Hardy, Superior Court Judge Division III Jon Saline, Superior Court Judge Michala Ruechel and Sheriff David Clouse. Those who have competition for the General Election will be announced later this year.
Local elections were not the only thing on the ballot, Navajo County voters also filled their ballot for bigger offices like Arizona’s open seat for the US Senate and the US House of Representatives. As noted in the graphic for the Republicans, Kari Lake had a close race against Mark Lamb for the Republican senate race, while the Democrats had an unopposed Ruben Gallego to vote for.
The district’s two seats for the US House race were not as close for Republicans. Incumbent Eli Crane surpassed opponent Jack Smith by more than 8,000 votes, with just over 13,000 votes being cast. Those were the only national level offices with more than one candidate presented on Navajo County ballots.
The Republican primary for the Arizona state senate District 7 on the other hand was a narrow lead among voters in the county, with incumbent Wendy Rogers only taking home about 500 more votes than her opponent David Cook. Although Rogers beat Cook by a larger margin among all District 7 voters.
Another state-wide primary was for the Republican Corporation Commissioner spot. Voters had to pick three candidates and only three were presented, however even with that it appears Navajo County chose Rachel Walden as their favorite of the bunch.
The Democrats had a primary race for state senate District 7, with voters choosing Haley Creighton as the favorite and for the same legislative body but for District 6, voters were able to select two choices with the overwhelming votes going to incumbent Mae Peshlakai and Myron Tsosie.
Although all the votes have been counted, the election has not been certified so these results are still unofficial. It is unlikely there would be any large changes to any of the results but The Tribune will update as the information becomes available. To view the full data you can visit the Navajo County Election Results page on their website, navajocountyaz.gov.
