Third-party gubernatorial candidate Hugh Lytle will be on the ballot this year after a judge tossed out a challenge against him on Wednesday.
Lytle is running under the banner of the No Labels Party, which was recently known as the Arizona Independent Party.
He fended off two unsuccessful challenges that were consolidated into one court case this week.
One challenge came from Lytle’s primary opponent — Teri Ann Hourihan. The other came from a Democrat named Craig Beckman. He used to be a chair of the Legislative District 2 Democratic Party and was represented in the case by a law firm tied to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
The firm, Coppersmith Brockelman, has represented Hobbs in other cases. Hobbs' former general counsel, Bo Dul, is also a partner with the firm.
Both challenges hinged on the fact that Lytle used the address of a UPS store on his nomination papers, instead of his residential address.
Both addresses are in Scottsdale, but they’re in different legislative districts. But, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Mandell ruled that because Lytle is running for a statewide office, it doesn’t matter which area of the state he lives in.
“The Court is not persuaded that the different legislative districts or ZIP codes compel a different result. Those facts may have carried greater significance had Mr. Lytle sought a district based office. But this case concerns a statewide race,” Mandell wrote. “For that reason, the differences between Legislative District 3 and Legislative District 4, and between ZIP codes 85255 and 85250, do not reasonably suggest that electors could have been misled about whether Mr. Lytle was eligible to run for Governor of Arizona.”
Lytle bashed Hobbs in a statement on Wednesday and claimed she feels threatened by his candidacy.
“The judge’s decision is not a personal win for me. It’s a win for the voters, for democracy and for Arizona’s growing Independent movement which gains momentum every day. Perhaps that’s why Gov. Hobbs is afraid to face me in an election,” Lytle said.
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Find everything you need to know about elections in Arizona and Maricopa County from KJZZ's politics team. -
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