Whitehead holds lead in tight Scottsdale council elections

The conservative slate of candidates in Scottsdale's council race narrowed the gap between their chief rival and top vote-getter after another Maricopa County elections officials reported another round of ballots counted overnight.

When voters woke up July 22, incumbent Councilmember Solange Whitehead held her lead in the closely watched low-turnout race, while all three of her main rivals ― Michelle Ugenti-Rita, incumbent Councilmember Barry Graham and Bob Littlefield ― trailed closely behind, in that order.

Littlefield, who had sat in sixth throughout election night, leapfrogged Raoul Zubia and Ethan Knowlden into fourth place. Zubia had taken an early lead and held on to the third council seat for much of the night but slipped into fifth as more votes were counted.

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Crystal Carroll continued to trail the pack while Eric Sloan remained in last place.

Voters chose from among eight candidates who jockeyed to fill three open seats on an already fractured council. The winners will serve a four-year term, joining the mayor and three other council members. The two candidates with the fewest votes after final results are announced would miss a runoff race in November.

Incumbents Graham and Whitehead ran for their second and third consecutive terms, respectively. Six others — Littlefield, Carroll, Sloan, Knowlden, Ugenti-Rita and Zubia ― joined them in the contest.

With Councilmember Kathy Littlefield, term-limited after 12 years in office, Scottdale voters will see one new face on the next council.

The newly elected leaders will take office in January. They’ll enter at a time when Arizona cities are finding ways to balance an influx of commercial and residential development with the effects of a looming water shortage from the Colorado River.

For Scottsdale, both topics were major points of contention, fueling much of the fiery rhetoric and personal attacks between two distinct camps of candidates throughout the race.

One faction framed the election as a battle for Scottsdale’s character. They ran on a joint platform against overdevelopment and want to bolster, not just maintain, the council’s current conservative supermajority.

The other side of the ballot drew a mix of candidates with differing politics who largely agreed on how the city should handle its long-term water sustainability and that the internal bickering and secret agendas on the council need to end.

As city leaders, they’ll oversee Scottsdale’s $2 billion city budget and shape policies that impact residents’ day-to-day lives.

The outcome will also have major implications for Mayor Lisa Borowsky, who’s continually clashed with her fellow conservative colleagues since taking office in January 2025.

With so many candidates on the ballot, the council race may require a runoff in the general election this November. The potential rematch would occur if candidates fail to hit the vote threshold required to win seats outright.

Arizona primary election results are unofficial until local and state officials have tallied all ballots and certified the results, typically days later.

Results will be updated daily until all the votes are tallied. We will be tracking the results as ballots are counted throughout the week. Check back for updates on the remaining races.

Who’s running for Scottsdale City Council?

Bob Littlefield, 78, served on the City Council from 2002 to 2014. He unsuccessfully ran for the Arizona House of Representatives in 2014 and lost two bids for mayor in 2016 and 2020. Before entering local politics, he was a Vietnam combat veteran, as well as a former business owner and commercial pilot.

He’s looking to return to the council to fill the seat vacated by his wife and stand against overdevelopment, which he believes is the root of many of Scottsdale’s current problems, such as water scarcity and traffic.

Carroll, 52, is the co-founder of Simply Shroom Café in Old Town Scottsdale. She’s also a real estate investor who previously owned a Krispy Kreme franchise and other businesses in Washington.

She ran on the belief that the council doesn’t need career politicians who are beholden to special interests. Though she’s also a conservative, she’s distanced herself from the current conservative majority on the council, often slamming them for infighting and approving new apartments despite their objections to overdevelopment.

Sloan, 44, is an Arizona State University alum who works with local and national nonprofit organizations through his and his wife’s firm, Sloan Lyons Public Affairs.

His campaign centered on one topic: public safety. He’s said that he’s running because he wants to support police officers, firefighters and other first responders.

Knowlden, 62, was a former Wall Street financial analyst and corporate attorney who represented businesses in California and Texas. Most recently, he was the board president of the city’s Industrial Development Authority.  

Recognizing the burden that growth can have on the city's infrastructure and water security, he’s seeking a council seat because he wants to responsibly plan Scottsdale’s future.

Ugenti-Rita, 46, was a Republican state lawmaker who served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2010 to 2018 and the Arizona Senate from 2018 to 2022. She was also a commercial real estate agent.

In 2022, she ran for Arizona Secretary of State, and in 2024, ran for a Maricopa County Board of Supervisors seat, losing both races during the summer primary elections. This year, she turned her attention to local office to stop what she claimed is an attempt by California Democrats to push a “failed liberal agenda” onto Scottsdale.

Zubia, 66, worked in the banking industry as a branch manager and a mortgage loan underwriter for major institutions like Bank of America and BMO. He now serves on the boards of various charities and organizations, including the Charro Foundation.

He first sought a seat on the council in 2022 when he lost with 10% of the vote. He said he’s running again to “restore purpose” to the council that has been crippled by divisiveness and chaos.

The incumbents looked to maintain their positions on the council.

Whitehead, 64, is an electrical engineer and a real estate investor who was first elected to the council in 2018. On the campaign trail, she’s described herself as a staunch water advocate and a fiscal hawk who wants to conservatively manage tax dollars.

Graham, 41, was elected to the City Council in 2022 and is a certified public accountant for Wallace, Plese and Dreher LLP. If reelected, he said, he’ll continue to stand against unwanted apartments and “harmful ideology.”

Where do the Scottsdale candidates stand on apartments, new developments?

During the campaign, nearly all the candidates expressed varying degrees of concern with overdevelopment, unchecked growth and the influx of new apartments.

For Littlefield, Graham and Ugenti-Rita, such issues have largely been the cornerstone of their joint platform. Together, they railed against multifamily projects, namely Axon’s plans to build an even mix of 1,200 apartments and condos alongside its new headquarters in north Scottsdale.

Holding up Axon as the “poster child” for overdevelopment, the three said company executives are spending “millions” to install “rubber-stamp loyalists” who want Scottsdale to become a liberal city like Seattle or Los Angeles.

Whitehead has directly received a donation, worth $5,000, from an Axon official, who she referred to as middle management.

She stood by her vote last fall to reduce the scope of Axon’s housing project, boasting that it helped keep the Taser-maker’s headquarters — and therefore its employees — in Scottsdale. While also pointing to her track record, she’s touted efforts to reduce building heights, protect historic buildings and oppose legislation to create a “by-right” zoning process for apartments.

As for the others, Carroll repeatedly said that Scottsdale doesn’t need any more apartments, while Knowlden said that city leaders should follow Scottsdale’s voter-approved General Plan and consider the impacts on infrastructure when it comes to proposed projects.

Similarly, Zubia remarked that the city needs to encourage more community involvement, which he said is lacking when the City Council is considering new developments.

Sloan said he supports economic development but believes projects should be considered through the lens of public safety, meaning police and fire professionals should be involved in the discussions. 

What about Scottsdale’s water woes?

Besides Axon, much of the election debate centered on water security.

At issue is whether Scottsdale should proceed with plans to upgrade its Water Campus to send purified recycled wastewater directly to residents’ taps. The city recently paused funding for the project amid uncertainties over new environmental regulations and construction costs.

That was despite Scottsdale’s own water department believing the project will help the city become self-reliant and provide residents with a new sustainable source of drinking water amid the shrinking Colorado River, which supplies about 70% of Scottsdale's water.

Graham and Ugenti-Rita vehemently opposed the project, often deriding purified water as “toilet-to-tap.” They called the plans too costly, the technology too experimental, and the overall initiative too damaging to Scottsdale’s reputation as a tourist destination.

Whitehead, Knowlden and Zubia staunchly advocated for the project. They noted that conservation, resource management and purchasing more water are only stopgap measures to address the looming cuts from the Colorado River.

Without expressly backing advanced water purification, Carroll said city leaders should listen to water experts when considering potential solutions.

Sloan, like most of his opponents, said that water security was the most important issue facing the city. He stated that he would support “smart investments” when it comes to the issue, but did not elaborate on what those are.

How about major endorsements?

Nearly all the candidates in the race locked down endorsements from key labor organizations and political figures.

The Police Officers of Scottsdale Association endorsed five of the council hopefuls: Littlefield, Ugenti-Rita, Sloan, Whitehead and Knowlden.

Similarly, Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan has endorsed Sloan and Ugenti-Rita.

Whitehead and Littlefield won endorsements from the Scottsdale Fire Fighters Association, as did Graham and Zubia.

Whitehead and Zubia also picked up endorsements from a handful of current and former local leaders. That includes sitting Councilmember Maryann McAllen, former Mayor Sam Campana and former Councilmember Betty Janik, among others.

The Scottsdale Realtors Association endorsed Whitehead and Knowlden.

The grassroots organization Scottsdale Women Rising is supporting Whitehead, Zubia and Knowlden in the race, referring to them on social media as “water champions.”

As for Graham and Ugenti-Rita, they've been endorsed by the Arizona Freedom Club PAC, the political arm of the conservative 501(c)(4) nonprofit Arizona Free Enterprise Club.

Most recently, the anti-development slate of Graham, Ugenti-Rita and Littlefield have boasted about an endorsement from another 501(c)(4) nonprofit called Scottsdale Citizens Against Mass Desert Development, which formed in March.

Comedian Rob Schneider has also endorsed the conservative bloc and has appeared in a couple of Ugenti-Rita’s campaign videos to attack Whitehead and criticize purified water.

Carroll is the only candidate who has not boasted about any major endorsements.

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Shawn Raymundo covers Phoenix and Scottsdale. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X @ShawnzyTsunami.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Whitehead holds lead in tight Scottsdale council elections