7 finalists revealed for vacated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors seat

PHOENIX – Seven finalists have been selected for the interview stage in the process to replace Steve Chucri on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

Thomas Galvin, Christopher Glover, Suzanne Klapp, Daniel Mahoney, Corey Mishkin, Thomas O’Malley and Vernon Parker are the finalists for the District 2 opening, the county announced Monday.

The remaining board members will conduct the interviews Friday during an executive session after paring down the list from 22 applicants. They will meet again next week to discuss the candidates and aim to name a replacement as soon as possible, according to a press release.

Chucri’s resignation went into effect Nov. 5 after he announced his departure Sept. 21.

He was one of four Republicans on the five-member board that governs Arizona’s largest county and had been a supervisor since he was first elected in 2012.

His replacement has to be a Republican who is registered to vote in District 2, which covers the eastern segment of the county and includes part or all of the following jurisdictions: Apache Junction, Carefree, Cave Creek, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Fountain Hills, Gilbert, Mesa, Paradise Valley, Phoenix, Scottsdale and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.

In his resignation letter, Chucri cited a political landscape “wrought with toxicity.”

“In this current environment, good people are not permitted to focus on the jobs they are elected to do,” he wrote.

His decision to step down came after secretly recorded audio was released in which he expressed differences with other supervisors regarding the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate’s audit of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County.

When he announced he was resigning, Chucri made it clear that he agreed with his colleagues that the election was legitimate.

“The picture some individuals are trying to paint about a cover-up, scam and other nonsense about my colleagues and myself is simply false,” Chucri said a statement.

“There was no cover-up, the election was not stolen. Biden won.”

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