Christy wins reelection to Pima County Board of Supervisors

Republican Supervisor Steve Christy stacked up even more votes over Democratic challenger Vanessa Bechtol on Tuesday, giving his reelection bid a wide lead even as Democrats were walking away with all of the other county races.

Pima County’s updated election results on Tuesday evening showed the Republican incumbent was up by 5,097 votes, continuing to add to his margin as more ballots are tabulated.

Christy had 58,791 votes to Bechtol’s 53,694, giving him a lead of more than 4 percentage points.

Despite his wide lead, Christy said Tuesday that he didn’t want to declare victory because votes are still being counted and he hasn’t heard from Bechtol.

“Protocol calls for a concession call, and I want to give my opponent a chance,” he said.

Christy said he was “not surprised by the closeness,” of the vote count so far. The effort for Bechtol  was  part of “all hands on deck” by the Pima County Democrats who “rolled out very highly respected big guns” to campaign against him. He said Bechtol raised a lot of money, as well.

“They definitely had me politically targeted as way to get that uniformity on the board,” he added, telling Tucson Sentinel that he is the only supervisor preventing the Democrats on the board from passing a countywide sales tax. 

“They threw everything they had at me with respect to civility and professionalism, but nevertheless, they made it clear, there was countywide goals of removing me from office,” Christy said. “I’m more and more surprised by the amount of votes that I have over my opponent.”

An estimated 42,228 ballots remained to be tallied across the county, although not all are from District 4. Bechtol would need to be the choice of voters who cast upwards of 80% of the remaining ballots to pull out a narrow win. Christy has been leading in each of the ballot updates since Election Day.

Pima County reported counting a total of 481,807 ballots as of Tuesday, with an overall voter turnout of 73 percent.

Christy had trailed in the first returns on election night, which were early ballots returned before Tuesday, but the trend has moved in his direction since then.

District 4 includes Tucson’s
East Side, Mount Lemmon, Vail, Corona de Tucson, Saguaro National Park
East, Green Valley and the La Cienegas National Conservation Area. The
district leans Republican, with 36 percent of voters registered as
Republicans, 31 percent registered as Democrats and 33 percent not
registered with either party.

Despite
that voter-registration advantage, Democratic strategists saw Christy
as vulnerable because Democrats such as Gov. Katie Hobbs and U.S. Sen.
Mark Kelly won the district in 2022.

County officials, who were tabulating ballots on Veterans Day, say the tabulation should be done this week.

On Saturday, the county completed a hand-count audit of the results by comparing random batches of ballots against the machine totals. The process included representatives from political parties who were chosen by party leadership. 

County officials said the results of the nine-hour audit were “within the legal allowable limits.”

In the other races for Board of Supervisors, the Democratic candidates, including three incumbents, have insurmountable leads based on the votes that were counted as of Sunday afternoon.

District 1: Scott declares victory

In the District 1 race incumbent Democrat Rex Scott declared victory over GOP challenger Steve Spain Friday morning, saying he was “deeply grateful and truly humbled” that voters had reelected him to a second term.

“My thanks to Steve Spain for putting his name forth and engaging in our democratic process,” Scott said in a statement on his website. “Although we disagreed on many things, we offered the voters of District 1 a clear choice in direction. I promise his voters and supporters that I will be mindful of my duty to be their supervisor as well.”

Scott added that the election season had been “divisive.”

“Anyone entrusted with public office must act to begin the healing we need as a people and a community,” Scott said. “All of us love Pima County. Each of us want it to be a place of peace, prosperity and potential, especially for our children. I will always remember and never forget that it is an essential charge of leadership to find ways to bring people together.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, Scott had captured 54 percent of the vote against Spain.

The race is a rematch of the 2020 contest, which saw Scott defeat Spain by 730 votes to become the first Democrat to win the District 1 seat in nearly half a century. As of Sunday afternoon, Scott was leading Spain by 9,236 votes.

Last Wednesday, Spain told the Sentinel he was spending the day removing his campaign signs but did not comment on the election results.

“I’m out taking down my signs and disappointed to find a few vandalized or stolen since yesterday,” he said via email. “I consider it part of being a responsible candidate to make an effort to clear my signs as quickly as possible, so I’m happy to pull them as fast as I can for District 1.”

District 1, which includes Oro Valley, parts of Marana, the Casas Adobes area and the Catalina Foothills, is a swing district, with 35 percent of voters registered Democrats, 33 percent registered Republicans and 32 percent not registered with either party.

District 2: Heinz thanks voters for giving him a second term

In the District 2 race, Democratic incumbent Matt Heinz won 62 percent of the vote against Republican challenger John D. Backer.

Heinz said it was an “honor” to win reelection.

“I really enjoy this work,” Heinz said. “I’ve been a legislator, I’ve been a high-level official in the Obama administration and I’ve had some amazing experiences but this has been some of the most rewarding work I’ve done. 

He said as board  supervisor, he can make a difference by helping to launch efforts like the Pima Early Education Program Scholarships, or the Emergency Eviction Legal Services program to help people. 

“Three of us can make an entirely new program like PEEPS or EELS, or whatever, and that becomes the standard for the county or state,” he said. “You can see results right away. People care about this stuff. It’s been really amazing.”

Heinz, who was first elected four years ago, was the favorite to win the district, which stretches from Midtown Tucson to Sahuarita. District 2 leans Democratic, as 41 percent of voters are registered Democrats, 22 percent are registered Republicans and 37 percent are not registered with either major party.

Backer said last week he was not ready to concede the race.

“I’m patiently waiting for the vote counts to be complete,” Backer said.

District 3: Allen says her team ‘confident in how this is going to wrap up’

In the District 3 race for an open seat on the board, Democrat Jen Allen won 53 percent of the vote against Republican challenger Janet “JL” Wittenbraker, who had 43 percent. Independent candidate Iman-Utopia Layjou Bah had won 4 percent of the vote.

“We’ve been holding a steady lead all along so we feel confident in how this is going to wrap up,” Allen said on Sunday morning.

In a speech supporters on Tuesday night at the Hotel Congress gathering, Allen said she had talked to many voters over the course of her campaign.

“Folks said that they want the freedom to make their own decisions about
their bodies and about their future,” Allen said. “They want compassion
for people living on the street. Folks said that they want health and
stability for people who are struggling with mental health and substance
abuse. … People want prosperity and opportunity, especially for working
families who are struggling to make ends meet. And people want
integrity to fight for our future and to stand up against fossil fuel
industry and corporate greed that is profiting instead of protecting our
Sonoran Desert, our precious water and the planet that generations rely
on. These are decisions that we make now that are going to impact
generations to come.”

Allen, a former executive with nonprofits such as the League of Conservation Voters and the Arizona branch of the ACLU, won a four-way primary in July to advance to the general election.

Wittenbraker, who won 32 percent of the vote in her political debut challenging Tucson Mayor Regina Romero last year, said Sunday that “it is too early to call” the outcome of her race but added that it was “realistic to note the current trend does not appear to favor the Republicans.”

She added that Democrats should be mindful that Republicans challengers got 40 percent or higher, indicating that a percentage of the electorate rejected the Democratic candidates.

“I hope those elected will heed this sentiment and focus on their responsibilities, ensuring budget balance, appropriate allocations of taxpayer funds for mandated services, cessation of wasteful expenditures enhanced oversight of our electoral processes, resulting in reduced errors and expedited election outcomes, and the enforcement of laws against those committing criminal acts,” Wittenbraker said via email.

District 3, which brushes up against the U.S.-Mexico border, includes parts of Midtown Tucson and Marana as well as rural communities such as Three Points, Ajo and Lukeville. It’s home to the Tohoho O’odham Nation, including the community of Sells, and federal lands including the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. Potentially a swing district, 36 percent of voters are registered Democrats, 28 percent are registered Republicans and 36 percent are not registered with either major political party.

District 5: Grijalva ‘thankful and appreciative’ to voters

In the District 5 race, Democratic Supervisor Adelita Grijalva was far ahead of her independent challenger, TUSD Boardmember Val Romero, with 74 percent of the vote.

“I’m really happy the work that we’re doing, and I’m looking forward to more years of getting more stuff done,” Grijalva said Tuesday after the Nov. 12 board meeting. “I’m really excited about it, and I’m honored that District 5 overwhelmingly picked me.”

Grijalva said she’ll continue serving as board chair through the end of the year, and then it’s up to the board, which will include new member Jen Allen “on who they want.”

“I’m happy to continue to serve, but there may be an interest of other board members, and I think that sharing leadership is okay,” she said..

Romero noted last week that his 26 percent of the vote was generally in line with the percentage that challengers to Democratic candidates in District 5 tend to win.

“Obviously, the results were not what we were looking for,” Romero said on Wednesday night.

District 5 stretches through Midtown Tucson from the West Side area of Tucson Mountain Park to East Side precincts around Wilmot Road. Nearly half the voters are registered Democrats — 49 percent — while 15 percent are registered Republicans and the remainder are independent of the two major parties.

Grijalva, a former TUSD Governing Board member and the daughter of U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, won election to the county board in 2020.