Photos via the campaign sites for Bobby Nichols and Brooke St. George
Audio By Carbonatix
Out with the old and in with the new. So, apparently, voted Tempe.
Two challengers — including one who has aligned himself with the Democratic Socialists of America — are poised to unseat incumbents in the first Tempe City Council run-off elections in more than a decade, according to unofficial results released Tuesday night by the Maricopa County Elections Department.
Upstarts Brooke St. George and Bobby Nichols, a DSA- and Bernie Sanders-endorsed candidate, are likely to beat out sitting councilmembers Berdetta Hodge and Jennifer Adams, preliminary results show. It’s a tight race, with St. George receiving 29% of the vote, the highest among the four candidates, and Nichols receiving 25.28%. Hodge came in a close third with 23.83% while Adams trailed with 21.9%.
“We overcame out-of-state spending and political division,” St. George said in an email statement, referencing mailers sent to Tempe residents attacking her that were paid for by out-of-state money. “And, we showed that we’re stronger when we come together.”
The early results consist of tallied ballots received through the mail, drop boxes or at the county’s Ballot Replacement Center. Votes cast today, either in person or dropped off, as well as provisional ballots and ballots with signatures that need curing, have yet to be counted. The county will not know how many votes remain to be counted until tomorrow, said deputy elections director Jennifer Liewer.
Hodge, who was elected in 2022 and is the first Black woman elected to the council, did not concede the election.
“We’re keeping our heads high, staying optimistic, and awaiting the final results as every ballot is counted,” she said in an emailed statement.
Nichols and Adams did not respond to requests for comment. Once the results are finalized, the two winners will serve four year-terms on the council, joining Arlene Chin, an incumbent councilmember who won outright in the March primary.
This election was the most contentious in recent memory in Tempe.
Hodge and Adams were put on notice last year, after the council unanimously voted to pass a new special events ordinance that many community groups felt targeted mutual aid groups that distribute food to unhoused people in Tempe parks. The vote sparked a signature-gathering campaign to place a repeal measure on the ballot — spearheaded by Nichols and others — and inspired challenges to incumbent councilmembers up for reelection.
Perhaps sensing a possible electoral backlash, the council reversed itself a month later — also unanimously — to repeal the special events ordinance. It is currently working on crafting a new version. But that didn’t slake the desire of left-leaning Tempe voters to toss sitting councilmembers out of office.
The runoff election saw more mudslinging than in previous years and unprecedented outsider meddling. Residents gossiped and posted about candidates in a community Facebook group while Washington, D.C. bigwigs like Arizona Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders chimed in with endorsements. After the primary, mailers and texts paid for with 100% out-of-state money began arriving in people’s inboxes and smartphones. The mailers and texts targeted Nichols and St. George, accusing them of being socialists who will harm the city.
As the DSA-backed candidate, Nichols was a marked man. He ran on a polarizing platform that promised rent control, an increase in affordable housing, expanded public transportation and more — all of which he promised to fund with tax increases, according to his campaign website. Meanwhile, St. George, who was not a DSA candidate, told The State Press that she isn’t against some of his ideas but is “concerned about the feasibility of some of it.”
Assuming St. George and Nichols hold on to their leads after all votes are tallied, they’ll break up what has to this point been a lockstep council that has seemed to always vote in unison. However, they’ll represent just two seats on the seven-member council, raising the question of how much they’ll actually be able to influence decision-making at city hall.
At least until the next election, when Tempe voters can take another crack at reshaping the council.
