(The Center Square) – With last week’s Arizona unofficial primary election results in, Scottsdale’s contentious mayoral and city council races have been decided.
“With nearly all ballots tabulated by Maricopa County in Scottsdale’s July 30 primary election, the race for Scottsdale mayor will be a runoff between Lisa Borowsky and David Ortega,” reads a press release from the city of Scottsdale. “Additionally, two council seats remain open to be decided at the Nov. 5 general election.”
There were three candidates running in the mayoral primary election, including incumbent David Ortega who will be moving on to the general election with 40.61% of the votes. Lisa Borowsky will also be running in the general election with a close 38.7% of the votes with Linda Millhave, who had 20.58%
Both Ortega and Borowsky are running on a nonpartisan campaign, with Ortega emphasizing the accomplishments he has had thus far and Borowsky highlighting what she believes should be done differently.
“Under Mayor Ortega’s leadership, Scottsdale lowered the property tax rate by more than 10 percent to ease the burden on our city’s families,” reads Ortega’s website. “He supported 10 percent funding increases for police and fire departments, and significantly reduced the Public Safety Retirement System fund balance.”
Ortega also emphasized his work passing the Anti-Discrimination Ordinance, the adoption of the 2035 general plan and reigning in excessive building high and density.
However, Borowsky, along with many of the city council candidates, said that the current city government has allowed too much development and poor decision-making.
“Over the last three years, I’ve heard from hundreds of Scottsdale residents concerned that the poor decision making by our Mayor and Council is putting our quality of life at risk,” reads Borowsky’s campaign website.
Borowsky focuses on quality development standards over quantity, identifying common sense traffic solutions, implementing vision-based planning for the city’s future, reigning in wasteful spending and budget overruns, encouraging citizen participation in the community, promoting business development and prioritizing public safety.
Republican City Council Candidate Jan Dubauskas ran on a similar platform.
“I love Scottsdale,” Dubauskas said. “It’s a beautiful city that has cultivated a distinct feeling and high-quality of life. But we’re all tired of seeing Council Members vote against Scottsdale’s best interests. They’re making decisions about your neighborhood and I don’t like the direction they’re taking us. I’m running to take our Council back from pro-developer, progressive interests so that we can preserve Scottsdale and protect our quality of life.”
In fact, Dubauskas was elected right-out in the primary, securing her seat on the city council. A candidate can do that by receiving the majority of legal votes cast for city council.
According to the City Charter, the majority of legal votes cast for city council is determined by dividing the total number of legal votes cast in each candidate’s race by the number of seats to be filled, dividing that number in half and rounding to the next highest number.
“Based on the current election results from Maricopa County, candidate Jan Dubauskas has been elected at the primary and will take office in January 2025,” reads the press release from the city of Scottsdale. “Two Council seats remain to be filled at the November 2024 general election.”
Four more of the nine total candidates will be moving on to the general election. These are incumbent Tammy Caputi, independent, who received 15.77%, Republican Adam Kwasman with 14.88% of the votes, Maryann McAllen, independent, with 12.25% of the votes and incumbent Tom Durham, independent, with 11.96% of the votes.
The other candidates were Bob Lettieri, 10.26%, Mason Gates, 8.01%, Stephen Casares, 4.58% and Justin Laos, 4.21%.
Caputi, Kwasman, McAllen and Durham will be competing in the November general election for the remaining two city council seats.
The Scottsdale City Council will be canvassing the primary election results during the Aug. 13 city council meeting.
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