After a turbulent week, Shane Krauser has withdrawn from the Gilbert mayoral race.
Krauser filed paperwork with the Gilbert Town Clerk’s office Wednesday morning to withdraw his name from the ballot and not run as a write-in candidate.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Krauser blamed a media outlet and others for putting his minor son "in harm's way through false accusations, implication and innuendo."
"This campaign is no longer about me," he said. "We have devolved as a culture where we are unwilling to have a battle of ideas and, instead, are willing to now play politcs with our children."
His withdrawal leaves Vice Mayor Scott Anderson and Natalie DiBernardo as the candidates for the open mayor’s seat. Mayor Brigette Peterson announced in January she would not seek reelection.
Krauser was the first candidate to join the race for mayor in December 2022 and earned an early endorsement from the Legislative District 14 Republican Party organization, though the mayor and council positions are nonpartisan.
But recent media reports brought up Krauser’s past, including an investment fraud scheme in which he was fired from his job as a county prosecutor and voluntarily surrendered his law license.
Krauser had tried to capitalize on his experience as a prosecutor in addressing the teen violence issue that has taken center stage in Gilbert and other East Valley cities. But then a video showing his child associating with the alleged “Gilbert Goons” was published, though no criminal acts happened in the video.
Then, Michael Webb, a campaign worker for Krauser, filed petition challenges to DiBernardo and two council candidates whose opponents have associations to the Legislative District 14 Republican Party.
DiBernardo immediately tied the challenge to Krauser and accused him of trying to disenfranchise voters. Krauser acknowledged Tuesday he approved of the challenge to DiBernardo and defended it as an electoral safeguard.
But Wednesday morning, he dropped out.
Krauser's statement did not endorse a candidate but he seemed to dismiss DiBernardo and said Anderson would "likely be Gilbert's next mayor."
"He is a good man, and although we differ drastically on our core governing philosophy and have different ideas on where we should take our town, I wish him well as he prepares to take the mantle of leading Gilbert," he stated.
DiBernardo e-mailed a statement in response to a Gilbert Independent inquiry, saying she had just learned of Krauser's decision to withdraw, which she said must have been difficult to make.
“Only the candidate knows what is best for themselves and their family,” she wrote. “I wish him all the best in the future.
“My dedication to serving the town of Gilbert remains unwavering. I look forward to civil discourse with fellow candidates, engaging with residents and leading the town into a peaceful and bright future.”
Anderson said he too was caught off-guard by the news.
“This (the controversies) is going to follow him through the whole election, and I can sympathize with not wanting to put up with that,” he said.
He added it would change the landscape of the election.
“I'm not going to do anything different,” he said. “I mean, it'll certainly have less of a fevered pitch, probably won't be such a nasty campaign that I was kind of seeing that it might become, and so that will change.”
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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