Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego cruising to reelection; 2 other Valley incumbents in trouble
Nov 6, 2024, 9:20 PM | Updated: Nov 7, 2024, 7:20 pm
Phoenix's Kate Gallego is among the Valley mayors up for reelection in the 2024 election. (X Photo/@KateWGallego)
(X Photo/@KateWGallego)
PHOENIX – Kate Gallego is cruising to reelection as Phoenix’s mayor, but two incumbent Valley mayors were trailing their races as of the morning after Election Day.
Gallego had a commanding 61.8%-38.2% lead over Matt Evans as of Wednesday evening with nearly 477,000 votes reported, per the Maricopa County Elections Department. She declared victory on Tuesday night.
Phoenix, thank you. pic.twitter.com/qpqifz2Jq6
— Kate Gallego (@KateWGallego) November 6, 2024
“I’m incredibly grateful that Phoenix voters have elected me to serve a final term as mayor, and I look forward to continuing to build a future that works for everyone,” Gallego said in a statement.
2 Valley mayors in danger of losing their reelection bids
Northeast Valley voters apparently aren’t as satisfied with their mayors as the ones in Phoenix.
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In Fountain Hills, incumbent Ginny Dickey was trailing Gerry Friedel 55%-45% with 14,600 votes reported.
And in neighboring Scottsdale, incumbent David Ortega was trailing Lisa Borowsky 54.2%-45.8% with just over 126,000 votes reported.
Valley mayors: Mesa, Paradise Valley and Wickenburg races
Meanwhile, voters in three other Maricopa County cities had mayoral races on their ballots.
In Mesa, the state’s third most populous city, City Councilman Mark Freeman was leading former Mayor Scott Smith 53%-47% in the race to succeed term-limited Mayor John Giles.
Smith, who was the East Valley suburb’s mayor from 2008 to 2014, was the top vote-getter in the five-candidate July primary, but Freeman was only 321 voters behind him then. Freeman has been representing District 1 on the Mesa City Council since 2017.
In the wealthy Phoenix suburb of Paradise Valley, Mark Stanton led Anna Thomasson 54%-46% with a little over 7,900 votes reported. The winner will succeed Mayor Jerry Bien-Willner, who didn’t seek reelection after serving three terms.
And in Wickenburg, on the northwestern edge of Maricopa County, Bobbie “BG” Bratcher had a comfortable lead of 58%-42% over Kristi Henson.
