Yesterday, August 30th, Phoenix voters went to the polls to pick a new mayor as well as five council members (out of eight).
Well, the results are in.
Turnout was estimated to be in the 23-25% range, with 16% counted so far.
Mayor
Wes Gullett (lobbyist extraordinaire) and Greg Stanton (non-Tea Partier sane candidate) will face off in a November runoff. Stanton managed to get about 38% of the vote, with Gullett pulling ahead of the Tea Party pack with only 20%. The only other moderate candidate in the race was Claude Mattox- who placed fourth with 12% of the vote.
Tea Party extremists Anna Brennan (5%), Jennifer Wright (11%), and Peggy Neely(12%) seemed to help in splitting the TEA vote. Conservatives cost themselves another election.
Looking forward to November, we have to wonder whether the TEA vote will be there for lobbyist Gullett, who supported the SEIU in a lobbying agreement. He was pounded pretty hard by his teahadist opponents, with his campaign signs ringed with "<- Gullett Union Lobbyist" signs at every intersection (a trick from the 2010 races that was pulled on former Congressman Harry Mitchell). If Gullett manages to pull all of the TEA vote, he'll come out at about 48%. He'll need to pick up 3% of Mattox' moderates and conservatives as well. Stanton, on the other hand, will need to perform quite well in getting out more Democrats and moderates, or count on the TEA vote to stay home. Option 2 may be the most likely- if the Tea Partiers can be convinced that a vote for Gullett is a vote for more lobbying and unions.
See my other posts for some more information on the Mayor race:
McCain v Tea Party (For those keeping score at home, it now stands McCain 1, TP 0)
Smears on Stanton
Gullett's lobbyist past
Council Races
Four council incumbents are "safe", fending off challenges from the activist teahadist wing. The election was littered with "union thug" scaremongering, and general bashing of city employees. It was... just great. /Sarcasm, I haz it.
The "one to watch" was the District 2 race, where native son Bryan Jeffries- a Mesa firefighter and union leader- was up against Jim Waring, former member of the Arizona legislature.
Waring openly identified as a Republican in this conservative district (which covers most of Ben Quayle's north Phoenix AZ-03), and it seems to have paid off. Waring is now carrying over 50% of the vote, with Jeffries trailing at 38%. The anti-union rhetoric seemed to pay off here at least, with the battle between Waring and Jeffries being spun as a victory over the unions organizing here in AZ (at least in some comment boards at azCentral and azFamily).
Look for the Council to become more polarized and partisan because of Waring's election.
See these past posts for background:
Partisans and Puppets- Waring and Jeffries
Getting the news early, AZ Republic covers partisanship
November
So the runoff is going to be in November. We'll see where that gets us. This is the first contested Mayor's race in as long as I've lived in this state, possibly longer. In any case, the Tea Party lost big in this round. Let's hope they keep eating the Republican party alive.
8:50 AM PT: Just a quick "bug": The DK Elections guys covered a mayoral race the other day in the digest. Well, Phoenix is America's SIXTH largest city. Isn't that a bit important, too?