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With Mayor Brigette Peterson announcing she will not seek re-election, Gilbert has three candidates for mayor in the primary election July 30.
The three are Vice Mayor Scott Anderson and political neophytes Shane Krauser and Natalie DiBernardo.
Anderson was briefly mayor in the interim after Jenn Daniels resigned from the office in August 2020 and Peterson took office in January 2021.
Neither Krauser nor DiBernardo have held office before, though DiBernardo ran for a seat in the Arizona House of Representatives in 2022.
If not candidate emerges with a majority in the primary of the nonpartisan race, the top two candidates will advance to the general election Nov. 5.
Here are the biographies of the three candidates.
Gilbert Town Councilmember Scott Anderson
Scott Anderson
Scott Anderson has served in local governance for more than 30 years, working on issues such as land use, city planning, sustainability, and essential municipal processes.
Since settling in 1988 with his wife, EJ Anderson, and their five children, Anderson has involved himself with affairs of the town as a driving force behind the Gilbert Riparian Preserves. He ran for council in 2016 and has served on the council for seven years in various roles, including vice mayor and mayor.
Anderson holds a bachelor’s degree in geography and international relations from Brigham Young University and a master’s in public administration from the University of Colorado.
Fun Fact: Scott has climbed four of Colorado’s “fourteeners” and is a collector of antiquities, specifically pottery from ancient civilizations such as Rome, Greece, and the Nazca.
Natalie DiBernardo.
Natalie DiBernado
Natalie DiBernardo is an Arizona native and grew up in Mesa where she graduated from Red Mountain High School.
She has been in Gilbert for 18 years and has enjoyed a career in real estate since 2005. Additionally, her family started a non-profit preschool that integrates social/emotional learning skills.
Because of this experience, DiBernardo began consulting with local business owners to help them turn their business visions into working models.She is raising three teenagers — a daughter and two sons.
Fun Fact: DiBernardo loves riding her horse all around town. She rides up and down the canal system and even in downtown Gilbert.
Shane Krauser
Shane Krauser
Shane Krauser is a married father of six and raised his family in Gilbert.
He received his undergraduate degree from Arizona State University and his law degree from the University of Utah. Krauser worked as a prosecutor with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, where he spent time in the gang unit, and also worked as a partner with a private law firm in Tempe.
Krauser has taught criminal and constitutional law at the collegiate level, worked as a police academy instructor, hosted a radio talk show, authored two books, and spoken throughout the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.
Fun Fact: Krauser raised dogs as a teenager and had a dog qualify for the Westminster dog show at Madison Square Garden.
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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