Lewis, Pittinsky, Sharkey lead in SUSD vote

Nov. 13—The most unusual — and expensive — school board race Scottsdale has seen is nearing the finish line.

Though one team of three held a strong lead in early voting, with thousands of votes still to be counted at this edition's deadline, it remained "too close to call" days after polls closed.

Six candidates — Jeanne Beasley, Drew Hassler, Gretchen Jacobs, Donna Lewis, Matt Pittinsky and Mike Sharkey — are battling for three Scottsdale Unified School District seats.

While Scottsdale voters were asked to select up to three individuals, the six formed two de facto teams.

Two nights after the polls closed, tentative results from Maricopa County Elections showed Lewis in the lead at 19.1%, followed by Pittinsky, 18.1%, and Sharkey, 17.9%. Next came Beasley, 15.6%, Jacobs, 15.2%, and Hassler, 14.1%.

Lobbyist Jacobs, paralegal Beasley and Coach House bartender/owner Hassler are running as "JBH" — with the slogan "Just Be Honest."

The three told the Progress they are "hybrid" (Jacobs) and conservatives (Beasley and Hassler).

Going by "SLP" are Sharkey, an Arizona State University executive director; Lewis, former superintendent of Cave Creek Unified School District; and education software entrepreneur Pittinsky.

They identified to the Progress as "centrist" (Lewis) or "moderates" (Pittinsky and Sharkey).

Though school board races are nonpartisan, the JBH trio received financial backing from conservative groups and endorsements from local Republican organizations while the SLP three receiving funding from liberal/progressive groups and endorsements from local Democratic organizations.

All six SUSD board candidates this year raised nearly as much as the collective field of six that ran in 2020 — with three 2024 individual candidates topping the collective fundraising of board candidates four years ago.

And campaign finance reports show huge political action committee funds are flooding the Scottsdale public school race.

The Virginia-based conservative organization the 1776 Project backed team JBH trio with mailers and $57,000 total support — while Arizona advocacy group Stand For Children pushed $140,000-plus to the SLP team.

Individually, all six candidates raised at least $30,000 — with the members of SLP each topping $50,000.

County, state races

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has all five seats up for election.

In county District 2, which includes Scottsdale, early voting shows incumbent Thomas Galvin, a Republican, as the likely winner.

At 58%, Galvin had a huge lead over Julie Cieniawski's 42%.

Cieniawski, a Democrat, is a member of the SUSD Governing Board.

LD 4

Carine Werner, who has often traded barbs with Cieniawski at SUSD meetings, won the Republican primary for the Senate District 4 nomination, which includes part of Scottsdale.

School board members are permitted to have other elected positions.

Early voting showed Werner at 51%, leading Democrat Christine Marsh's 49%.

Republican Matt Gress — who clashed with Mayor David Ortega over Scottsdale's use of a hotel to house homeless people — is running for re-election to represent District 4, which includes most of Scottsdale. With four candidates going for two LD 4 representative seats, Gress was leading the pack with 27.1%, followed by Pamela Carter, 24.9%, Kelli Butler, 24.4%, and Karen Gresham, 23.6%.

Republican Carter unsuccessfully ran for Scottsdale City Council in 2022. Gresham and Butler are Democrats.

Democrat Laura Terech, who holds the other District 4 House of Representatives seat, did not file for re-election.

LD 3

Parts of North Scottsdale are included in District 3, where Republican John Kavanagh is the incumbent senator and Republicans Alexander Kolodin and Joseph Chaplik the representatives; all are up for reelection.

Richard Corles is the lone Democrat on the ballot for representative of District 3.

Kavanagh was a walk-in winner, facing no challengers for his seat.

In the race for the two LD 3 representative seats, Chaplik, 39%, and Kolodin, 37%, had strong leads, with Corles likely out at 24%.

Paradise Valley

In the race to be mayor of Paradise Valley, Mark Stanton had a strong lead, with 52.6% of the votes. Anna Thom — asson was trailing at 45.8%.

Stanton, currently a councilman with Paradise Valley, is president and CEO of the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce.