Supporters of the Democratic candidate for Maricopa County recorder are trying to persuade Republicans to vote for him over his GOP opponent, mirroring efforts made by Democrats at the top of the ticket.
Mesa Councilwoman Julie Spilsbury and Bettina Nava, a former aide to longtime GOP Sen. John McCain, spoke at press conference on Monday to urge their fellow Republicans to support Democrat Tim Stringham over Republican Justin Heap to be the next Maricopa County recorder, an office that administers early voting and voter registration in Maricopa County.
Spilsbury, a longtime Republican, said she supported current Republican Recorder Stephen Richer, who lost to Heap in the GOP primary in July.
“Our form of government only works when leaders respect certain boundaries, like understanding and honoring the rule of law, respecting the balance of power, telling the truth, and treating people with basic respect,” Spilsbury said. “And Stephen Richer did this, and when I talked to Tim Stringham, he also gave me the confidence that he will do this as well.”
Spillsbury and Nava criticized Heap for refusing to say whether the 2020 or 2022 elections were stolen and for his close ties to politicians like Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, who has spread election fraud conspiracy theories to explain her loss to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial election.
“We need a county recorder like Tim Stringham that is not an extremist and is not here to play political games,” Nava said. “He's here to just simply be a professional, and we've had professionals in our history, so let's bring one back.”
Heap has built his recorder campaign on allegations that voters are not confident in the county’s elections, calling election integrity “the civil rights issue of our time.” He’s stopped short of saying past elections were stolen, but has endorsements from high-profile figures like Lake and former President Donald Trump, who have made those disproven claims.
Republicans outnumber Democrats in Maricopa County by more than 176,000 voters, but a September poll by Noble Predictive Insights found Stringham with a 4% lead in the race with 22% of respondents still undecided. Pollster Mike Noble said moderate Republicans and independents — who make up over a third of the electorate — will likely decide which candidate wins the election.
The effort by Stringham’s allies to woo those voters is similar to a larger effort at the top of the ticket that has seen prominent current and former Republican elected officials endorse Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
But the Republicans for Stringham effort, thus far, is less robust as Nava and Spilsbury don’t have the same name recognition Valley-wide as some of the GOP surrogates backing Harris, like former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and former U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake.
“I hope that there are more illustrious business leaders and/or elected and former elected that get off the sidelines and come out and support Tim Stringham to help educate people and cut through the clutter, because there are so many races that are being run right now and it's difficult for people to be educated about the entire ballot,” Nava said.
Heap, too, said he is making efforts to reach out to woo voters of all stripes, saying his campaign “ has dozens of volunteers from across the political spectrum knocking doors, phone banking, and messaging with independent and Democrat voters all over Maricopa County.”
“Since ballots went out, we've made more than half a million voter contacts to non-Republicans, and we couldn't be more encouraged by the responses we're receiving,” Heap said in a statement. “No matter what Party they come from, voters are tired of the hypercharged election rhetoric, and agree that we need faster election results and more transparency in the process.”
However, he has also skipped out on several opportunities to sell himself to those voters, including two debates against Stringham.
After skipping one of those debates in September, Heap posted a photo to social media showing he chose to attend a local Republican Party meeting in Scottsdale instead.
