By Jon Johnson
jonjohnsonnews@gmail.com
GRAHAM COUNTY — As election night results roll in across Graham County, local voters have cast their ballots on a bustling slate of municipal contests, school board battles, and high-profile statewide and local propositions. With all 23 precincts partially reporting early and provisional numbers, overall turnout reached 33.82% in the initial data dump, with 6,975 ballots cast out of 20,623 registered voters.
While major federal and state races take shape, local attention is heavily focused on tight school board races and critical policy decisions facing the community.
Local School Board Races
School board elections across Graham County’s districts are seeing active decisions from voters shaping the future of local education:
- Safford Unified School District No. 1 (Vote for 2): In the closely watched Safford district race, Mike Delao leads the field with 1,631 votes (29.19%), followed closely by Susan Lindsey with 1,512 votes (27.06%). Melissa Lines (17.25%), Petrea Kunz (14.55%), and Gideon Burrows (11.74%) round out the multi-way contest.
- Solomon Unified School District No. 5 (Vote for 2): Loren Blain leads with 183 votes (37.27%), followed by Chris Wolfe with 160 votes (32.59%) and Lorena Grindle with 143 votes (29.12%).
- Ft. Thomas Unified School District No. 7 (Vote for 2): Cindy Norton Pearson fronts the race with 126 votes (39.25%), alongside Elliot Talgo Sr. (22.43%) and Wilson Steve (18.38%).
- Bonita Unified School District No. 16 (Vote for 2): Megan Dunlap-Wells leads with 47 votes (43.93%), with Leslie Shannon taking 34 votes (31.78%) and Kolin Kramme securing 26 votes (24.30%).
- Klondyke Unified School District No. 9 (Vote for 1): John Franzone leads Thomas Herdman 27 votes to 15.
Additionally, in the race for the Hospital District Board (Vote for 3), Susan Jones leads the pack with 4,438 votes (28.54%), followed by Bart Carter (20.90%) and Clinton Damron (19.37%).
Key Propositions Explained
Graham County voters also decided several critical state and local propositions carrying direct impacts on taxation, governance, and local funding:
- Proposition 141 (Vehicle Mileage Tax Ban): Passing locally with 58.08% of the vote (3,869 Yes to 2,793 No), this legislatively referred constitutional amendment prohibits the state or local governments from implementing any tax or fee based on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and restricts government travel monitoring. Supporters argued it protects driver privacy and prevents an extra tax burden as gas tax revenues shift, while opponents debated future road funding.
- Proposition 142 (Preferential Treatment & DEI Prohibition): In a razor-thin local split, No leads with 50.94% (3,391 votes) to 49.06% (3,266 votes) for Yes. Prop 142 sought to amend the state constitution to ban government entities, public schools, and higher education institutions from utilizing race- or ethnicity-based preferential treatment, affirmative action policies, or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices and mandatory training requirements.
- Proposition 144 (Voter Citizenship & Contributions): Passing strongly with 64.49% support (4,335 votes), Prop 144 clarifies constitutional language ensuring only eligible U.S. citizens can vote in Arizona elections and bars foreign nationals from contributing to state election campaigns.
- Statewide Statutory Propositions (Props 316 – 320): Graham County voters heavily backed a series of legislative measures, passing Prop 316 (68.79%), Prop 317 (74.86%), Prop 318 (76.92%), Prop 319 (62.38%), and Prop 320 (54.20%).
- Local Proposition 406 (Bond Approval): Local voters turned down the bond measure, with 58.59% voting No (1,972 votes) against 41.41% voting Yes (1,394 votes), halting the proposed bond authorization.
Statewide and Federal Contests in Graham County
In top-ticket races, Graham County mirrored a heavily conservative vote:
- U.S. Representative District 6: Locally, Republican incumbent Juan Ciscomani leads with 69.22% (4,683 votes) over Democrat Joanna Mendoza (28.72%). However, statewide, Mendoza leads Ciscomani 57.42 percent to 40.59 percent in early counting and is up by nearly 40,000 votes.
- State Senate District 19: Republican Gail Griffin holds a commanding lead with 72.46% (4,899 votes) against Democrat Bob Karp (27.45%). Statewide, Karp is much closer at 47.89 percent to Griffin’s 52 percent, and Griffin leads by nearly 3,000 votes.
- State Representative District 19 (Vote for 2): Republicans David Gowan (37.00%) and Lupe Diaz (34.76%) lead the legislative contest ahead of Democratic challengers Jackie Anderson and Aiden Swallow. Statewide, Gowan leads with 26.76 percent, with Democrat Jackie O’Donnell Anderson with a slim lead at 24.77 percent over incumbent Republican Lupe Diaz at 24.71 percent and Democrat Aiden Nicolette Swallow at 23.69 percent.
- Governor / Executive Offices: In the closely watched gubernatorial race, the Republican ticket of Biggs/Kerr leads in the county with 64.01% (4,408 votes) over Hobbs/Giles (33.72%). For Attorney General, Republican Warren Petersen leads with 67.62%, and Republican Alexander Kolodin leads the Secretary of State race with 66.51%. Statewide, Gov. Hobbs holds a commanding lead over Biggs, 58.38 percent to 40.05 percent. Fontes leads Kolodin 57.54 percent to 41.18 percent, and Mayes leads Petersen 58 percent to 41.94 percent.
The Gila Herald will continue to provide updates as remaining provisional and late early ballots are processed.
