Two individuals will compete for former Mesquite District Peoria City Council member Bridget Binsbacher’s seat, who stepped down earlier this year to run for mayor.
Interim councilmember Brad Shafer and Diane Douglas, former state schools superintendent and Peoria Unified School District board member, have submitted enough signatures to secure spots on a Nov. 8 special election ballot.
The elected council member will serve in the seat until the end of 2024.
Shafer stepped down from the Peoria Planning & Zoning Commission April 7, and was the only candidate who applied for the interim position, which council approved April 28.
The deadline for candidates to submit their signatures to appear on the Nov. 8 special election ballot was July 11. The minimum signatures required were 389. Douglas submitted 559 signatures and Shafer submitted 611.
The Mesquite District in northern Peoria has received a lot of attention due to its explosive growth in the last decade.
The 2020 Census count showed that Peoria’s population increased 27% to 191,000 from 2010 to 2020. Nowhere was this more evident than in the Mesquite District, where it now has a population of 47,209, making up nearly 25% of the city’s residents. The second most populous district is the Willow District, located just south of Mesquite, with a population of 31,846.
The Mesquite District is home to the 17,500 resident, 7,100-acre master planned Vistancia development and the city’s luxury home hotbed, located in the 85383 ZIP code.
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
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