Mesa Primary: 5 for mayor, 3 council battles

Scott Shumaker, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.)
·3 min read

Apr. 9—The local elections on the July 30 Primary Election ballot could be consequential for Mesa as a majority of seats are up for grabs, including the mayor's chair.

Sixteen Mesa residents filed statements of interest in the upcoming race to replace term-limited Mayor John Giles, but all except five withdrew or failed to submit the required signatures by last week's deadline.

The five mayoral candidates who qualified for the Primary are Carey Davis, Councilman Mark Freeman, Scott Neely, former Mayor Scott Smith and former council member Ryan Winkle.

Voters will also have choices for the three other council seats up for grabs — especially in northwest Mesa's District 1, where four are jockeying to replace Freeman. The councilman is term-limited from running for the current seat, but he can run for mayor.

Rich Adams, Zachary Hichez, Tim Meyer and Ron Williams qualified for the District 1 ballot.

The District 2 and District 3 races are not as crowded, but both of the incumbents in those seats will have to face opponents in the primary.

In south central Mesa's District 2, Melody Whetstone is challenging incumbent Julie Spilsbury. In West Mesa's District 3, Marc Lavender is challenging incumbent Vice Mayor Francisco Heredia.

If any candidate gets a majority of total votes cast in their primary election race, they are declared the winner; if no candidate gets more than 50%, the top two vote-getters head to a runoff in the November election.

MAYORAL RACE

Carey Davis

Davis is a certified public accountant. Before moving to Mesa, he served as mayor of San Bernardino, California, from 2014 to 2018. He ran for mayor of San Bernardino after the city filed for bankruptcy and oversaw the creation of the city's plan to exit bankruptcy.

Mark Freeman

Freeman is currently serving his second term as District 1 council member. He is term-limited from running for his current seat. Freeman is a retired Mesa firefighter and is proprietor of Freeman Farms. He is a member of SRP's District 9 council and serves as Mesa's representative on the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association.

Scott Neely

Neely is a local business owner whose ventures include Action Concrete Pumping on Southern Avenue. He's lived in Mesa for over 20 years. Neely mounted a longshot bid for the 2022 Arizona Governor's race. He came in fourth in the Republican primary.

Scott Smith

Smith was mayor of Mesa from 2008 to 2014. Prior to his years as mayor he worked as a business executive and consultant. Most recently he served as CEO of Valley Metro before retiring in 2022.

Ryan Winkle

Winkle is a community development consultant and chair of the Arizona Asian Chamber of Commerce. He was elected to the Mesa City Council for District 3 in 2016. During his first year in office, he was arrested in Tempe for DUI. The council voted Winkle off his seat in response to the arrest.

District 1

District 2