Republican vs Republican in 2024

VIA SBINSIDER ANALYSIS| December 30th, 2024

One of the characteristics of conservatives it seems is that unlike the liberals, they are willing to enter a primary race to try and defeat an incumbent in their party. 2024 appears to be no different.

Congressman Juan Ciscomani (CD-6) is being challenged by Kathleen Winn whom he defeated easily in the 2022 primary. Grumbling among conservatives that Ciscomani is too comfy with the DC swamp monsters and has gone native with some of his votes; For the renewal of the FISA court and a new $300 million dollar building for the FBI. Before being ousted as Speaker by his own party, Kevin McCarthy gave Ciscomani two high profile committee seats, Appropriations (which usually requires years of tenure) and Veteran’s Affairs. These seats give him leverage to fund projects in his district and to pay special attention the numerous veterans in southern Arizona. Winn is trying to appeal to those disaffected conservatives and has the support of a formerly Tucson-based talk radio host, but has never held elective office.

County Seats and Supervisors

Arizona election laws require that incumbents and challengers collect petition signatures to access the primary ballot, this year scheduled for August 6th. For county wide seats such as the Assessor, Treasurer, Recorder, Sheriff, County Attorney and County Superintendent of Schools, the number is over a thousand signatures from registered Republicans, PND’s (Prefer Not to Disclose) or independents.

The County Supervisors have to collect far fewer signatures as they individually represent about 20% of the voters while the other candidates represent every citizen in Pinal.

The due date for signatures is in March. If the signatures requirement is met and are all valid, (they can be challenged by opposing candidates)  that candidate is added to the ballot for August. With the number of signatures required for county wide seats, this is a daunting barrier to challengers.

Pinal County Board of Supervisors

SaddleBrooke is represented on the Board of Supervisors by Jeffrey McClure, (District 4) first elected in 2020. Two other candidates have filed statements of interest which means they can collect signatures. They are Johnie Mendoza and Peter Sabin, both Republicans. McClure was formerly an Oracle School Board member.

District 1 is currently represented by Kevin Cavanaugh who has decided he cannot hold that seat and has jumped into the Sheriff’s race. In his place, two Republicans, Rich Vitello and Barry McCain have filed their statements. Vitello is currently serving as member of the Maricopa City Council. A Democrat has also filed, George Arredondo Sr. who likely will be on the November ballot unless another Democrat files.

District 2 is represented by Republican Mike Goodman and has no challenger.

District 3 is represented by Stephen Miller and is currently unopposed.

District 5 has four Republicans filed, including incumbent Jeff Serdy. He is in a re-match with former Supervisor Todd House and two other Republicans are Rhonda Mattachione and David Malton.

The county-wide races will be detailed in a later edition of SBINSIDER.