Finance reports for the six Chandler City Council candidates that were on the ballot for the July 21 primary provide some insights about the varied sources contributing to each campaign.
Even though voter turnout was lower than in years past, the contentious election — aside from separately giving the city a new mayor and a newly approved 10-year general plan — brought one new person onto the council, as Councilmember-elect Cicely Rocha-Miller joined re-elected Councilmembers Angel Encinas and Jane Poston to start 4-year terms in January.
Those three, along with unsuccessful challengers Lisa Askey, Ron Hardin and Joe Granado, combined to take in about $205,000 in contributions this election cycle, as of June 30.
Here’s how their donations went during the most recently completed quarter of April 1 to June 30.
Lisa Askey
Askey raised dozens of “medium-sized” donations of the $300 to $500 variety in the first quarter of 2026, with one donation as large as $3,000. That trend mostly continued for her in the second quarter, with her largest contribution slightly more than $1,000.
Former Chandler Councilmember Nora Ellen and former candidate Jeremy McClymonds each contributed to Askey’s campaign.
Her political action committee, or PAC, contributions were from Southwest Gas and the Arizona Homebuilders this quarter.
Askey started the second quarter with about $12,000 cash on hand, raised $14,000, and spent $21,000 to end up with about $4,400 on June 30. She took in more than $35,000 during the election cycle, through that date.
Askey had $5,000 in outstanding loans as of June 30.
Angel Encinas
The incumbent came into April with a cash balance of more than 13,000. He took in $45,00 in contributions and only spent $12,000, ending June with almost $47,000.
Encinas received more than $62,000 in donations over the first 12 months of the cycle. Individual donors, such as Pollack Investments owner Michael Pollack ($5,000) along with about $5,000 each from Jesus Encinas Jr. and Armando Encinas, were paired with dozens of smaller contributions.
Encinas had six PAC contributions totaling $5,000, led by $1,500 from Realtors of Arizona. The Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 469 gave him $6,600.
Joe Granado Jr.
Granado started with almost $42,000 cash on hand in April after loaning himself $40,000 during the first quarter. He took in more than $7,000 to bring his cycle total to almost $60,000 in contributions.
After expenses of almost $28,000, Granado had about $21,000 in cash on June 30.
He took in some medium-sized contributions, including almost $1,000 from Brent Hickey of Chandler.
Ron Hardin
Hardin self-funded his campaign through the first quarter of 2026, starting April with $1,000 cash on hand, taking in $4,400 and spending about $2,200 to finish with about $3,300 on June 30.
Hardin, whose total campaign receipts for the cycle were about $10,000, got about $500 each from two out-of-state people, as well as from Chrissy Rodriguez, Stacey Chuck and Tom Mareel of Chandler.
Jane Poston
Poston’s first quarter was break-even in terms of her ending balance of about $6,800 being slightly more than she had in cash at the start of 2026. In the second quarter, took in more than $23,500, spending only about $9,000 to end with about $21,000.
Poston raised nearly $28,000 in contributions from July 1, 2025, at the start of the cycle, through June 30.
Poston’s top contributors include Michael Pollack, who gave $5,000. Her list of PAC donations includes the same $6,600 from the Plumbers & Pipefitters that Encinas received, $3,600 from the Phoenix local firefighters’ union and five other PAC donations.
Cicely Rocha-Miller
Rocha-Miller had more than $12,000 cash on hand at the start of the second quarter. She had $25,000 in donations in that quarter, for almost $45,000 for the cycle, and spent much of it. She was back to about $12,000 cash on hand by June 30.
Rocha-Miller garnered many small and medium-sized donations from Arizonans. Robert W. Auer Jr.’s $2,000 donation was the largest individual contribution.
PAC donations to Rocha-Miller totaled more than $13,000 this past quarter, including $4,000 from the Plumbers & Pipefitters and $1,200 each from two separate local firefighters unions.
Jason W. Brooks News Editor | Chandler Independent
Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.
Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.
Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.
Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.
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