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Fundraising in Maricopa County recorder's race nears $1 million

Justin Heap and Tim Stringham
Michael Chow, Cheryl Evans/pool photos
Justin Heap and Tim Stringham

The candidates for Maricopa County recorder have raised nearly $1 million for their campaigns, making it the county’s most expensive recorder race ever.

Democrat Tim Stringham and Republican Justin Heap raised a combined $965,000 as of Sept. 30, according to campaign finance reports filed on Oct. 15.

The lion’s share of that money was brought in by Stringham’s campaign, which has raised $612,000 over the course of the race. That haul nearly doubles the $353,000 raised by Heap’s campaign.

This year’s fundraising exceeds the previous high water mark set by Republican Recorder Stephen Richer and Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes when the two combined to raise $706,000 in the 2020 recorder’s race (Richer won that race despite raising around $90,000 less than Fontes).

And that itself dwarfed the fundraising in the previous election in 2016, when Fontes raised about $176,000 and defeated longtime Republican Recorder Helen Purcell, who raised just $28,000.

The fundraising spike is an indication of the spotlight that has been focused on the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office in recent years as it sits at the center of a larger tug of war over control of elections across the country by those defending the integrity of the country’s election systems and allies of former President Donald Trump, who promote disproven claims that previous elections were stolen.

Stringham, a military veteran who said he was running to block an election denier from taking over the office, has seen an influx in donations from donors outside of Arizona. The campaign raised $535,000 from July 14 to Sept. 30, including $157,000 that came from out-of-state donors.

Most of that money — about $332,000 — was paid to political consultants, including a $248,336 payment to Washington-based Purple State Strategies.

Heap, a state lawmaker who has Trump’s endorsement, took in about $215,000 between July and September, including $4,800 in out-of-state donations. His single largest expense was $94,385 for advertising paid to 1Ten, a company operated by state Sen. Jake Hoffman, the accused “fake elector” who recruited Heap to run for recorder.

Wayne Schutsky is a broadcast field correspondent covering Arizona politics on KJZZ. He has over a decade of experience as a journalist reporting on local communities in Arizona and the state Capitol.