In this year’s July 30 Democratic primary election, former Jerome Mayor Nikki Check defeated incumbent Yavapai County District 3 Supervisor Donna Michaels 72% to 28%.
Check now faces Republican challenger Lori Drake, the current president of the Mingus Union High School board, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary.
“I am the Republican in the race, and there have been a lot of comments to me that [Check] is the conservative candidate,” Drake said, explaining her slogan “Your only Republican choice” in relation to Check’s self-description as a “conservative, moderate Democrat.”
Former District 3 Supervisors Chip Davis and Randy Garrison, both Republicans, endorsed Check in her primary.
“I spend time with people in the community, and I discuss their community issues, their issues, and I would like to have more of an outreach into the community and groups in the unincorporated areas of Yavapai County,” Drake said on how she would differentiate herself from her opponent.
Check said her goal of representing a broad constituency sets her apart from both Michaels and Drake.
“I think that [Drake] is really allegiant to her partisanship,” Check said. “Within Yavapai County, I think Republicans have a very solid stronghold, and the people who don’t identify with partisan politics tend to get left behind a little bit.”
“I guess you could see it that way. I’ve done a good job working with everyone in the position I have,” Drake responded. “I am Republican, I am conservative, but I see other people’s points of view, and I definitely have always tried to work for the betterment.”
Check pointed to their views on water policy as their most significant point of difference. She favors the county hiring a new full-time employee focused on water management, which Drake opposes.
Both candidates support the county working with the city of Cottonwood and the Verde Santa Fe and Amante subdivisions to improve water supply. Both are outside city limits but contract with the city for water.
“There’s some more data that needs to be understood about where potential leaks are occurring, and what the county can do is help advise the best ways to assess the water storage issue,” Check said. “But likely it will be in partnership between Verde Santa Fe and the city of Cottonwood to truly find a solution.”
Both candidates are ambivalent about the prospect of the county rebuilding one or more crossings of Oak Creek to bypass the State Routes 89A and 179 junction in Sedona.
“I don’t support it going through a heavily residential area that’s especially a rural area,” Drake said. “But I do support an alternative route.” Drake added that she would need additional information from the city of Sedona or the Arizona Department of Transportation to support a particular route.
Check said that she is undecided about alternative routes, but supports the administrative process in identifying possible routes.
“I want to be informed by the process,” Check said. “In general, Sedona and the VOC aren’t the easiest places to develop consensus on infrastructure. So that process becomes that much more important, because if it’s just my idea, it will likely not succeed. So the process of cultivating broad support is important to me.”
Both candidates said that they would oppose restarting Michaels’ failed proposal for Yavapai County to buy the Big Park Community School campus in the Village of Oak Creek.
“The closure of Big Park School was a significant loss for the community, and I wouldn’t want to exacerbate that situation by fostering unrealistic expectations,” Drake said. “The Board of Supervisors doesn’t appear to support this initiative.”
“I would definitely support the Village of Oak Creek in coming up with creative ways to keep that building working for the community,” Check said. “I functionally support the idea that Donna put forward … but there wasn’t enough broad support for it to move forward.”
Check added that she feels that there is opportunity for the county and the SedonaOak Creek School District to have further discussion about possible space for county libraries and Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office substations.
In 2023, Michaels and the Board of Supervisors cut $475,000 in municipal library funding over two years. Check said that she doesn’t think that the Yavapai County Free Library District’s tax levy needs to be increased because property values also increase, “but I would support not lowering the levy,” she said.
“With recent cuts to the municipal library services … the tax levy has not been changed in the last several years, we will need to raise the levy to provide the same level of service,” Drake said. “The high rate of inflation and increase in population are contributors in being able to provide the same services to the community.”
“I would like to see the county revisit the concept of modular housing in residential zones, and make some exceptions for the technological advances that have been made [and] the industry advances that have been made to make aesthetically-pleasing, long-lasting modular homes possible,” Check said.
“We need to start looking at different ways to encourage family housing,” Drake said. “But with that also we need to have jobs for families to be here. Most of the jobs that we offer here are lower-paying jobs, and they don’t allow families to buy homes and grow roots here. So we need to start looking at options of having [industries] here that are well-paying jobs in order to bolster our medium incomes.”
Both candidates support Yavapai County’s Proposition 479, which would allow the county to permanently increase its expenditure spending limit by $7.9 million.
The only currently-scheduled public event to feature both candidates will be the Sedona Chamber of Commerce’s Community Pulse event on Wednesday, Oct. 9, from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre. The candidates will give formal statements about their positions and reply to audience questions. The city of Sedona and chamber staff will give similar formal presentations during the event.
Check said that she thinks that voters will not have sufficient information to make an informed choice without a formal debate with Drake.
“That’s been a part of my message all along, is that I’m willing to show up for both Democrats, Republicans, for everybody, and I’m willing to take the hard questions and consider them,” Check said. “It’s really unfortunate that my opponent is not taking every opportunity to show people the difference between us.”
“I’ve tried to talk to as many people within the community as possible, and that is what the outreach is,” Drake said. “You want to be a representative of the community. I do understand that some people believe debates are the greatest thing for that, but you’re arguing back and forth with someone, and I don’t see how that answers all of the questions to the voter of what your stance is, or what they’re looking to ask for. I think that they want to have a conversation.”
