Several Chandler-area races have become more crowded in recent months as the 2026 general election and primary election seasons begin.
Between the city’s mayoral and three Council seats, two school board seats and all state-legislative seats, with more at the federal level, it will be a contentious year.
The mayor’s race hasn’t changed in months in terms of new filings of statements of interest to run. But on Nov. 4, voters approved a charter amendment, capping council-mayor service at 16 consecutive years and eliminating any language about taking two years off in between.
The beneficiary of such an amendment passing would be Matt Orlando. He’s the longtime City Council member who has also filed a statement of intent to run for mayor in 2026 — in his eighth consecutive year on council, and without taking two years off.
Prior to a series of actions taken during late spring 2025, it was less clear if Orlando would be able to run for a potential first term as mayor while in his eighth consecutive year on council.
But a lawsuit, challenging Mayor Kevin Hartke’s charter-granted ability to take that same leap in 2018, was dismissed, and council voted, 6-1, to put the charter amendment to the voters.
Hartke, who had initially considered running for his former council seat as his mayoral second term ends this year, chose to go for higher office instead. Hartke has filed to run for one of the two state House representative seats for LD13 that comes up every two years.
One of the people who holds an LD13 House seat is attempting to trade places with Hartke. Jeff Weninger, who is himself a former Chandler City Council member, is challenging Orlando for the mayor’s seat. Weninger, co-owner of several East Valley restaurants, is campaigning partly on development, procedural, small-business-friendly and transparency reforms.
The only other person to file a statement of intent with City Clerk Dana DeLong to run for what will be the vacated mayor’s seat in Chandler in the August 2026 primary is Ronnie McKenzie. The candidate doesn’t appear to have a campaign website; a LinkedIn profile shows experience at hospitals.
A Ronnie C. McKenzie is listed on state documents as the statutory agent for JRP Logistics 205 LLC.
The Council seat being vacated by term-limited Orlando will be filled by someone from a crowded field. Two incumbents in their first terms — Jane Poston, co-owner, with her husband, of a longtime video production and communications company, and Chandler native, immigration consulting firm manager and Realtor Angel Encinas — are joined by seven challengers, with only three at-large seats up for grabs in the August primary.
Cicely Rocha-Miller is among those who is running for one of the Council seats. She finished a close fifth in the 2024 race, picking up a Chandler Chamber of Commerce endorsement for the July council primary.
Rocha-Miller, who ran for council unsuccessfully in 2024, is the founder of an event-planning company called Life Design Events and is the former director of a nonprofit that helps kids and families deal with poverty.
Rocha-Miller has been actively campaigning. So has Joe Granado, who is in the construction business and served with a committee to get the term-limit charter amendment passed; both Granado and Rocha-Miller have well-developed campaign websites.
The other 2024 council candidate running in 2026 is Michael Simon. The veterans advocate finished sixth but received more than 13,000 votes in 2024.
Others who are running for the council seats are Ron Hardin, Andre’a Duran, Kelley Mackaig and Lisa Askey.
Hardin has worked in information technology, has a graduate degree in information management and founded a leadership consulting firm. He finished a close fourth in the House LD13 race in 2022, despite having the backing of Chandler Republican Women and Gilbert Mayor Brigette Peterson, with the top two vote-getters, Jennifer Pawlik and Liz Harris, winning the seats.
Duran’s online profile says she’s an assistant restaurant manager at Royal Palms Resort and Spa in the Camelback area of northeast Phoenix. She’s been praised for her volunteer work at a Chandler Unified elementary school.
MacKaig appears to have a limited online presence. Askey runs her own marketing firm and has been politically active in the pro-life movement.
Hardin and Askey have campaign websites; Duran and Mackaig, presumably, do not have websites yet.
Bob Dalpe is among those who initially filed a statement of intent to run for Council. The longtime veterans’ volunteer has since dropped out of that race.
The deadline for turning in at least 1,000 petition signatures for city council and other races is April 6.
On the school board side, Chandler Unified’s Kurt Rohrs and Patti Serrano, both elected in 2022, have both filed to compete for second terms. Sindy Martinez-Reich, Stacey Etherington and Zeyna Pruzhanovsky have filed to compete for one of those two seats as well.
Martinez-Reich, like Rohrs, has received support from the Sun Lakes Republicans. Etherington worked as a CUSD educator for almost seven years before taking over as dean of health and public services at the East Valley Institute of Technology in May of last year.
Pruzhanovsky, despite campaigning alongside the re-elected longtime board member Barb Mozdzen and newcomer Claudia Mendoza in 2024, didn’t get one of the top three spots in that election. She has been out collecting signatures again.
Serrano, who was voted in as board president last January, and Rohrs, a parents’ rights advocate, have clashed during meetings on several issues. If any challenger gets enough votes to supplant either incumbent, that could have a major impact on the board’s direction in 2027.
School board signature petitions are due July 6.
At the state level, Democrats Racquel “Rockee” Armstrong and unsuccessful past House candidate Brandy Reese are running for one of the two District 13 House seats. Hartke, the current Chandler mayor; Jeff Weninger’s wife, Janet; and Debra Schinke are among the Republicans seeking those seats.
Granado has filed as statement of interest to run for an LD13 House seat as a Republican in October of last year, though his website states he’s running for Chandler City Council.
District 13 will have two new representatives at this time next year. Julie Willoughby, the other current LD13 representative, is among those running for the state Senate seat currently held by the term-limited J.D. Mesnard.
Willoughby will be opposed in her state Senate race by Democrat Kristie O’Brien.
District 12, which includes parts of west Chandler, is where two Democrats appear to be challenging each other for the party’s nomination in the August primary. Incumbent Sen. Mitzi Epstein is being challenged by current Rep. Patty Contreras.
District 12’s House field includes incumbent Democratic Rep. Stacey Travers, along with Democratic challengers Jacob Ehlers, Armando Montero and Bill Schaffer and Republicans Marcus Johnston and David Richardson.
In Congress, Rep. Greg Stanton has AZ4 challengers who have filed from both parties, though none appear to have Chandler ties. In District 5, where Rep. Andy Biggs is vacating the seat to run for governor, dozens of candidates have filed to run, including former Pinal County sheriff and Republican contender Mark Lamb and Chandler nurse and Democratic candidate Elizabeth Lee.
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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