Lyons elected, Accurso, Buckland to square off in Gilbert council runoff
Courtesy Gilbert Chamber of Commerce
The Gilbert Town Council candidates were, clockwise from top left, Aaron Accurso, Kenny Buckland, Noah Mundt and Monte Lyons. Lyons was elected in the primary while Accurso and Buckland will face each other in a runoff in November.
Gilbert voters have chosen one new town council member from the primary but there will be a runoff for the final seat in the November general election.
Monte Lyons was the only candidate to establish what by statutory formula is defined as a majority in four-person race for two seats — 25% plus one vote. Lyons received 19,882 votes for 26.78% of the vote.
“I’m still trying to let it sink in a little bit,” Lyons said Monday night.
But the other three candidates were separated by fewer than 700 votes and less than 1%.
The runoff will be between Aaron Accurso, a back-office manager for Poco Verde Landscape, and Kenny Buckland, a former Gilbert police officer who is now senior director of strategic partnerships for Safety Services Company, which does contractor management services.
Accurso finished second with 18,476 votes or 24.88%. Buckland was third at 18,109 votes or 24.39%.
Noah Mundt, a senior engineer with Salt River Project and chairman of the Gilbert Planning Commission, missed out on the runoff at 17,787 or 23.95%.
The results released Monday are final but unofficial, according to the Maricopa County Elections Department. Results become official upon Gilbert Town Council’s acceptance of the canvass at a special meeting scheduled for Aug. 13.
The razor-thin margin among the three was notable to the candidates. In fact, the first results released Election night had Buckland and Mundt in a tie for second place with Accurso trailing close behind.
“Have you ever seen anything like it?” Buckland said. “I can't speak for Aaron, but I would bet that he'd say the same thing as me, that that's not what either of us would want, or I know that's not what I would want. I'd rather it be decided here. However, when you commit to the cause, you commit to the cause, no matter what. And I feel good. I'm all in it, and nothing changes.”
In fact, Accurso was of much the same mind.
“I know the math,” he said. “I understand the math and everything, but it wasn't something I was expecting. So I was expecting a final result after the Tuesday election, but I'm glad I'm still in it, that's for sure.”
Buckland also noted the lack of negative campaigning among the four, saying it was something he was focused on after a couple of years of town council in-fighting.
“The public wants it,” he said. “I think that the council knows it, and that's one of my big goals. That's one of my whys why I did this. I think I can help.”
Accurso said he was committed to that continuing.
“It's been all about our vision for Gilbert, each of the candidates’ individual visions for Gilbert,” he said. "They're fairly similar in many respects, but we come from different perspectives, and I think that I am definitely committed to continuing the low-key, non-confrontational (approach), making sure that we keep the people first, not personal attacks going on.”
Lyons said in conversations with the other candidates, it had been important to run clean races focused on community issues.
“I think that bears testimony of what can be done if candidates set their mind to that and really focus on the things that are important to the people they’re planning on serving,” he said.
However, Mundt did recall the one negative moment early in the campaign when Accurso supporters filed suit in an unsuccessful effort to remove him and Buckland from the ballot.
“I don't know if he was officially tied to it, but because people working on the Accurso campaign were clearly involved in the attempt to throw me off the ballot, I think we can rest assured I won't be supporting him,” he said.
“I’m 100 percent behind Kenny. I’ve met him now, and he’s a good guy, and I will be supporting him.”
However, Mundt, noting he had never been involved in a political campaign before, said it wasn’t the worst thing to lose and return to life as he knew it.
“It's not like losing a sports event to where you’re actually winning and it's your achievements only,” he said. “I was more just saying, ‘Hey, I'm willing. I'll do this. I think I'm capable.’ And people decided elsewise.”
Lyons said he will spend the next months until he takes his seat in January preparing for the role by attending meetings and continuing to talk to people, keeping his hands on the town’s pulse and learning as much as he can.
“I really want people to know that they can reach out to me,” he said. “I want to have an open-door policy, and I’ve got really thick skin and I think that's important. When people put their trust in somebody, it's important. They hold them accountable. And so I expect people to hold me accountable, and that's one of the things I do want to communicate.”
We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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