SAFFORD — Safford will have one new familiar face on the City Council.
Unofficial results from Tuesday’s primary election show four of the six candidates running for three Safford City Council seats meeting the threshold to win a seat outright in the primary. Under Arizona revised statute, that means the top three vote-getters win.
Incumbents Luke Arbizo, who was top vote-getter with 881 votes, and Steve McGaughey each earned another four-year term. Joining them is Mary Bingham, a former Safford Council member and former Graham County Treasurer.
Bingham received 720 votes, the second most, while McGaughey received 679. Current Vice Mayor Arnold Lopez received 638, above the threshold to win in the primary, but was fourth-highest in the race for three seats.
First-time candidate Jacob Garcia received 396 votes, and fellow first-timer Mo Ungerman received 236.
– David Bell Photos/GIla Valley Central
In the Thatcher Town Council race, there were also four who received enough votes to win in the primary, so the winners are the top three vote-getters. They are the incumbents Mayor Jenny Howard, who received 571 votes, Mike McEuen with 475 votes, and Ryan Allen with 448 votes.
Challenger Erick Wright received 405 votes and challenger Brandon Homer received 255.
Only two people ran for the two seats in the Pima Town Council race — incumbent Mayor Brian Paull and incumbent Vice Mayor Teresa Bailey — so both won another four-year term.
The race for Graham County Justice of the Peace was decided in the Republican primary, as there are no Democrats filed to run in the General Election. Stephanie Newton defeated Michael Andazola, with Newton receiving 64.56 percent of the vote to Andazola’s 34.94 percent.
The number of ballots remaining to be counted in Graham County was not immediately disclosed.
Voter turnout in Graham County for the Primary Election was 20.41 percent. Of the 4,642 ballots cast, 3,554 were mail-in or early in-person.
In the race for state Legislature in the district that represents Graham and Greenlee Counties, with 7 percent of precincts counted at 9:30 p.m., David Gowan and Lupe Diaz were winning over Cheryl Caswell.
Republican Gail Griffin was unopposed in the primary for state Senate.
The Democratic primary only had two candidates running for the two Legislative seats, so both Aiden Swallow and Jackie O’Donnell Anderson advance to the General Election in November. There is no Democratic candidate for state Senate.
In the race for Congress, both Republican incumbent Juan Ciscomani and Democratic challenger JoAnna Mendoza were unopposed in the primary, and will face each other in the General Election.
