Stanton and his optimistic campaign message simply resonated with voters. He told them Phoenix was a well-run city that, yes, faced challenges and needed some reforms. Gullett, by comparison, was parroting Republican and Tea Party talking points, hitting hard on pension reform, tax cuts, and painting the city as being controlled by shady, overpaid, union-loving employees with too much power.
That approach may have worked in a county- or statewide election, but it wasn't right for Phoenix, a city where registered Democrats and Independents outnumber Republicans about 2 to 1 and residents prefer to keep party politics out of City Hall.
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Greg Stanton beat Wes Gullett on November 8 to become Phoenix's mayor-elect.
Monica Alonzo
Phoenix Mayor-elect Greg Stanton (center) gets a hug from a supporter on Election Night.
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To be sure, party support played a role in this mayoral race, as did the anonymous political contributions funneling money into the Phoenix mayor's race through independent expenditures.
Active Democratic Party volunteers lined up behind Stanton, forming an army of campaign workers, while the Republican Party poured money into ads in support of Gullett.
Also, two political organizations, Phoenix Citizens United and Arizona Citizens United, spent more than $93,000 and $107,000 on political ads to support Stanton and Gullett, respectively.
Neither organization would reveal its financial donors.
While Stanton called for disclosure, Gullett said it was their right to operate in that manner.
Because election laws prohibit coordination between independent expenditures and candidates' political campaigns, political watchers found it curious that a gush of money arrived to boost Gullett in the weeks before the August 30 election, just as his campaign was struggling to raise funds.
During an interview on Channel 12's "Sunday Square Off," Resnik asked Gullett whether any clients of his lobbying firm, FirstStrategic Communication and Public Affairs, had contributed to Arizona Citizens United.
Gullett stammered but said he didn't know.
Resnik pressed: "So you have no idea who's behind that?"
"I have . . . I have . . . I have worked on . . . I don't know, yeah, I don't know exactly," Gullett said.
The money effectively pushed Gullett into one of the top two spots, but it couldn't overcome the city's overall history of voting blue and leaning left. The Republican push gave him a slight edge in District 1 and District 2, the more Republican-leaning sections of Phoenix.
Early results of the runoff election show that in District 1, Gullett won eight of the 15 voting precincts, and in District 2, he won 11 of the 15 precincts. But he didn't win District 6, also a Republican stronghold. There, Stanton got more votes at 20 of the area's 21 voting precincts.
Now, with victory secured, Stanton says he is thinking about getting on with the business of governing. But even as he prepares to take the keys to the Mayor's Office, there are moments of simple joy.
After delivering his victory speech, back in the warehouse, his adoring fans reached out to him and waved yard signs. He leaned over, shaking hands off the side of the stage before stepping into the crowd. He was enveloped in a crowd of hundreds, showered with handshakes, hugs and kisses.
That had to feel good. And now, the hard work ahead.
