The Festival Ranch Republican Club recently hosted an educational forum, inviting the three Republican candidates in the primary running for Maricopa County School Superintendent to speak. This race holds significant importance amidst allegations of financial mismanagement and an intense focus on education in Arizona. The incumbent, Steve Watson, and challenger Nickie Kelley attended the forum. The second challenger, Shelli Boggs couldn’t attend due to a conflict, but The Arizona Sun Times interviewed each candidate for this article.
Nickie Kelley previously told the Sun Times, that the stakes were high for Republicans to maintain control of this office. Kelley tracked the data and in 2016 Watson beat the incumbent Democrat by about 36,000 votes. In 2020, he defeated the Democratic candidate by only 11,000 votes. But this year, Democrats have a formidable candidate running and Watson has battled negative allegations for years regarding mismanagement of funds.
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