Small race, big stakes: 4 Republicans run for county supervisor in the East Valley

In the East Valley, a battle is underway over a Maricopa County supervisor position.

Just one seat is up for grabs in the Aug. 2 election, but the race to control conservative-leaning District 2 could disrupt the Board of Supervisors' unified stance on election integrity and foreshadow what other supervisors may face in 2024.

Four Republicans — and no Democrats — are running to represent the vast district, which encompasses Carefree, Cave Creek, Fountain Hills, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and much of Scottsdale and Mesa, as well as parts of Apache Junction, Gilbert, Paradise Valley and east Phoenix.

Incumbent Tom Galvin of Phoenix, a land use attorney, is seeking to keep the spot he was appointed to last year. 

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Also vying for the seat are:

• Doug Little of Scottsdale, a former member of the Arizona Corporation Commission who recently spent time in Washington, DC, at the Department of Energy.

• Gail Golec of Scottsdale, a realtor who has spread election conspiracy theories and made numerous unproven allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

• Thayer Verschoor of Gilbert, a former state lawmaker who was appointed to the Department of Veterans' Affairs by former President Donald Trump. Verschoor has echoed false allegations that there was widespread fraud in Arizona during the 2020 presidential election.

Whoever wins the upcoming election will serve until January 2025.

The ghost of unfounded election allegations

Galvin was appointed to his position after former Supervisor Steve Chucri was caught on tape expressing unfounded suspicions of voter fraud and slamming his colleagues in the aftermath of the November 2020 election. Chucri later said he doesn't believe fraud changed the outcome of the election, apologized for his comments and resigned.

At the time Galvin joined the board, it was under intense scrutiny amid the fallout of the Arizona Senate's discredited audit of the 2020 presidential results in Maricopa County. On the same day he was appointed, Galvin made clear that he believed the county's election was fair and would stand with his colleagues against the Senate review, a position he continues to uphold, even though he "lost friends over it."

"There's only five members of the board," Galvin said. "They deserve to have five strong members, and someone who treats everyone the same, Republican, Democrat or independent."

The specter of unsubstantiated election fraud allegations loom large over the District 2 race. Verschoor told The Arizona Republic that election integrity is "one of the main reasons" he is running for office and that he believes Trump is the rightful president of the United States.

Verschoor is calling for ballot drop boxes to be supervised, a hand count of ballots within 24 hours of an election and eliminating mail-in voting, except in limited situations to address health issues and absences.

Those proposals echo failed bills put forth in the state Legislature in January. Two, led by Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, would have banned the placement of ballot drop boxes except in official election facilities and prohibited schools and cities from using mail-in ballots in their elections. Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, proposed a bill that would have mandated hand counts of all ballots in primary and general elections.

Finchem also filed a lawsuit with Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake to ban electronic vote counting in Arizona, and the state Republican Party unsuccessfully brought a lawsuit earlier this year to eliminate mail-in voting.

None of the bills made it to Gov. Doug Ducey's desk. Finchem's lawsuit is ongoing.

Claims of widespread election fraud were dismissed in dozens of courtrooms in Arizona and around the country and the Senate Republican-ordered ballot review and hand recount attempted to raise questions but found no widespread fraud. The review actually found President Joe Biden won the county by a slightly larger margin.

When pressed about the lack of evidence supporting widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election, Verschoor said "other people can believe what they want to believe."

"I'm not really arguing on what you believe versus what I believe," he said. "What I'm saying is that moving forward especially, these are measures ... that would go a long way in restoring trust and confidence in the elections that are coming up."

Little and Golec declined interview requests, however, both of their campaign websites list election integrity as key parts of their platforms.

Little's site states that he "saw the abuses of the election system in 2020 in many states, including Arizona." He supports voter identification requirements for every ballot cast and a review of current election procedures.

Arizona voters must show a form of identification when they vote in person. Mail-in ballots are verified through signed affidavits, which election workers compare to known signatures for each voter. Those who cast their ballots by mail also must provide identification and proof of residency when registering to vote.

"While we cannot turn back the clock on the 2020 election, we must do everything possible to prevent it from ever happening again," Little's website reads.

Golec has consistently amplified false allegations of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election. She is active on social media and shares information via her Telegram channel and Rumble account, where she has repeated unfounded claims that the election was stolen.

Her website states that she is an "American patriot" at the "forefront of exposing and fighting for election integrity," and pledges to "protect our sacred American vote."

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An array of other platform issues

Outside of election integrity, all of the candidates list supporting police and public safety as one of their main priorities.

"Violent crime is on the rise and Maricopa County is no exception," Galvin said, adding that he has good working relationships with Maricopa County Attorney General Rachel Mitchell and Sheriff Paul Penzone.

Verschoor said public safety ties into his concerns about border security, and he wants to see more support and resources for public safety on the county level.

"I see the police under attack on the streets and I see the police under attack in the council chambers and that bothers me," he said.

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Galvin, Golec and Little also mention the importance of reliable water supply, and Little and Galvin both address economic development, pledging to create jobs and reduce taxes.

But while the rest of Galvin's campaign focuses around issues like inflation, transportation funding and improving Highway 60, his opponents pin their platforms on protecting gun rights and limiting school instruction about race.

It's unclear how they would have significant power to make changes in those areas as a county supervisor. Nevertheless, Little pledges to get rid of "progressive programming" in schools. Golec's website declares that she will "restore parental rights" by ending so-called critical race theory, and Verschoor said on his website that parents should be the "primary decision makers for their children’s education."

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Neither county supervisors or the county school superintendent have any power over school curriculums, according to Tim Sifert, a spokesperson at the Maricopa County Superintendent's Office.

Standards for education are set by the State Board of Education, and individual school boards are responsible for setting curriculums in line with those expectations, Sifert said.

"They could pass a resolution; they could create a code," Sifert said. "They could do something in the future. But that's not how it's been in the past, and I'm not an attorney, but I don't know if the county would try to exert that kind of authority legally over school boards and its jurisdiction."

Sifert also serves as a treasurer on Little's campaign. The city of Phoenix has policies preventing its employees from participating in the management of campaigns for mayor and council positions, and the state of Arizona has similar restrictions for its employees around managing campaigns for state offices. But Maricopa County allows it as long as employees do not use county resources for their side work and keep campaign involvement outside of county work hours.

Sifert said employees serving on election campaigns are required to notify their departments of their work and receive authorization. He said he isn't involved with marketing of Little's campaign, his policy points or anything except for "the accounting side" of Little's committee.

Verschoor has additional platform points supporting benefits and services for veterans. He also said he is a "smaller government guy" who supports auditing all the programs that the county runs and examining where he can cut taxpayer costs.

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"I believe Maricopa County government is bloated," Verschoor said.

He and Golec maintain anti-vaccination and anti-mask stances. Both pledge to vote against any future mandates related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Galvin said his platform "addresses the issues the county supervisor actually has to work with and deal with."

"I want to show the voters of Maricopa County and District 2 that I'm not going to insult their intelligence," he said. "Someone can just grab buzzwords after watching cable news and think that's the only way they can get votes, but I think voters understand the role that a county supervisor has."

None of candidates directly mention housing affordability in their online platforms, a rapidly growing issue in Maricopa County. When asked about the issue, Verschoor said he doesn't support subsidized housing and favors a free market approach to create a business-friendly environment that helps more homes be built.

Galvin said he regularly talks about housing with his constituents and in his job as a land use attorney. He supports building more housing, but doing so with the concerns of the community in mind.

"One of the things I always say is that I'm not pro-developer, I'm pro-market," Galvin said. "But I think we need to understand that more housing needs to be built."

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Out-of-county money and 'MyPillow' guy endorsement

Every candidate except Little has accepted at least $1,000 in out-of-county contributions.

Little appears to be self-funding his campaign as of March 31, the end of the first reporting quarter, which are the most recent finance documents available for all of the candidates. He has put about $10,000 into his supervisor run.

Golec has the smallest campaign fund, with just over $6,000 in the bank. Individuals contributed $5,658, but nearly a third of it — just under $1,900 — flowed in from outside Maricopa County.

People contributed to Golec from Tucson and eight states besides Arizona: California, Ohio, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, West Virginia and Tennessee.

Galvin has the largest war chest, raising $114,350. Of that, $111,750 came from individuals, with about $6,000 coming from outside the county, including several donations from Tucson, Yuma and Sedona and $4,200 from contributors in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Utah and Washington, DC.

Verschoor's fund of roughly $25,000 includes a personal contribution of $10,000. He also took individual contributions totaling $14,375, with $1,350 from outside the county. That number includes a $1,000 donation from Dewey, Arizona, and several smaller out-of-state contributions from Virginia, North Carolina and Idaho.

Some candidates have racked up endorsements from non-local figures and political leaders in federal positions. Verschoor, for instance, is endorsed by Republican Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona's fifth congressional district, which covers a portion of District 2.

Golec touts an endorsement from Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow and an adherent to the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. Lindell lives in Minnesota.

Golec also claims on her campaign website that she has been endorsed by Trump, however, his office has not issued any public acknowledgement of her campaign. Her website features a video that shows a brief interaction between her and Trump in May, where he makes a spontaneous comment about endorsement but never mentions Golec by name.

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For some, past controversies

Two of the candidates have previously come under fire in past political roles.

In 2014, Little faced a brutal Republican primary while running for the Arizona Corporation Commission. His campaign was supported by $3.2 million in "dark money," much of which is widely believed to have come from the Arizona Public Service Co., the largest company regulated by the commission.

Little later voted alongside three of his colleagues to pass a rate hike that allowed the company to increase the average household bill by $6 per month.

APS has not denied its involvement in Little's past campaign and has chosen to disclose any money spent on such elections since then.

In 2016, Verschoor shared conspiracy theories online about former President Barack Obama and anti-Muslim remarks while working for Trump’s campaign. He said the statements he shared, which were part of a list of reasons to vote for Trump, weren't originally authored by him and that it was information that he "passed along" during the election. He also said conservatives are often "pinned" as being "phobic."

The statements included references to a "Muslim problem in this nation" and allegations that "Obama's birth certificate is a fraud." While speaking with The Republic, Verschoor refused to denounce the claims.

"What I do stand by is that there is a problem with Islamic fascism, that there are people who are out there who are extremists, and that was what I was talking about," Verschoor said.

Verschoor also refused to acknowledge that the information he spread about Obama's birth certificate was false.

"Whether Obama is or isn't — that issue, I think, is from the past," Verschoor said. "I think that question has been asked and I don't see any point in rehashing that anymore."

Reach reporter Sasha Hupka at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter: @SashaHupka.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Maricopa County's District 2 county supervisor up for grabs