Democrat Julie Gunnigle to be on ballot for Maricopa County attorney special election

PHOENIX — It took Democrat Julie Gunnigle about a day to receive enough valid signatures to be on the ballot for the upcoming special election to replace Allister Adel as Maricopa County attorney.

Gunnigle announced Tuesday on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Gaydos and Chad that she reached the 4,289 signatures needed for Democrats.

“I think it speaks to what the county wants and needs,” Gunnigle said. “I think there’s a lot of frustration right now with the way that office has been run, so good on them signing.”

Just moments ago on @GaydosAndChad, @JulieGunnigle reacted to receiving enough signatures to be on the ballot for the special election to replace Allister Adel as Maricopa County attorney. pic.twitter.com/ubbqQqxrCf

— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) March 22, 2022

Gunnigle was the Democratic nominee for county attorney in 2020 and lost to Adel by under 2 percentage points, receiving about 930,000 votes.

She said she was quick to jump into the race because she believes both Democrats and Republicans have been “historically bad” when it comes to criminal justice reform.

Gunnigle added that she has been critical of Adel, whose term expires at the start of 2025.

Adel announced her resignation from the country’s third-largest prosecutorial agency on Monday but didn’t offer a reason.

The announcement gave some closure to a tumultuous period in office, including the recent disclosure that nearly 200 misdemeanor criminal cases had to be dropped because her office didn’t file charges on time and continued concerns about her sobriety.

“I’ve been a vocal critic of Allister Adel for the last several years, but to her credit, she did the right thing by the people of Maricopa County to resign and let someone else move into that office,” Gunnigle said.

The special election to determine who will serve the final two years of Adel’s term will be held along with the state’s midterm elections, with the primary on Aug. 2 and the general on Nov. 8.

Gunnigle and Anni Foster, a Republican who is Gov. Doug Ducey’s general counsel, quickly filed their statements of interest on Monday.

Three more candidates filed statements of interest by Tuesday afternoon, according to the county recorder: Republicans Gina Godbehere and James Austin Woods, and Libertarian Michael Kielsky.

The number of valid signatures needed to get on the ballot is 4,528 for a Republican and 2,319 for a Libertarian in addition to 4,289 for a Democrat, according to the county recorder.

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