PHOENIX — There are two candidates running to be the Arizona Independent Party nominee for governor.
But the leaders of the state's newest political party are openly backing only one of those. And party Chairman Paul Johnson asked the other one to get out of the race to provide a clear path for Hugh Lytle, the chosen contender, to be the party's standard bearer in November.
Johnson said there's nothing wrong or unfair about that.
But it isn't sitting well with Glendale resident Teri Hourihan, who has submitted a statement of intent to run as an Arizona Independent Party candidate for governor. She said she should be given an equal chance, without party officials seeking to influence the outcome long before the Aug. 4 primary election.
Hourihan told Capitol Media Services that Johnson, who said he is speaking on behalf of all the party's leaders, tried to get her to withdraw.
That's a contention Johnson does not dispute. But in his own conversation with Capitol Media Services, he said he concluded Hourihan was not ready to run for state office, even before he recruited Lytle to run.
Paul Johnson, right, chair of the Arizona Independent Party, endorses Hugh Lytle, left, last week as the party's choice for governor despite another candidate in the race.
The intra-party dust-up comes as it remains unclear whether there will, in fact, be an Arizona Independent Party candidate on the ballot or, for that matter, whether there even will be an Arizona Independent Party.
A Maricopa County judge is set to hear arguments in March by the Arizona Democratic Party, the Arizona Republican Party and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission about the future of the Arizona Independent Party. They all contend that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes acted illegally in allowing Johnson to simply rename what had been the No Labels Party and keep all voters who had been registered with it.
The lawsuit argues that Johnson, who took over after the national No Labels Party severed ties with the local group, has created an entirely new party and must start from scratch to gather the necessary signatures to obtain official status.
If the judge rules there is no Arizona Independent Party, anyone seeking to run for office under its banner, including Lytle and Hourihan, would be considered an unaffiliated candidate. That means they would have to collect at least 44,539 valid signatures on petitions to get on the ballot. It takes just 1,288 to be considered a candidate for the Arizona Independent Party.
Teri Hourihan
Johnson said he and his backers never planned to create a party.
Their first choice was to require an "open primary,'' where all candidates from all parties would have to get the same number of signatures and run against each other, with the top vote-getters facing off in the November general election, regardless of party affiliation. Voters rejected that plan.
Option B, Johnson said, was creation of an independent party providing equal access to the general election ballot for those not affiliated with existing parties.
"Now it's my job to make certain we have a decent brand as a party because it can be considered, if you're not careful, something that's a little bit goofy,'' he said.
With that goal in mind, Johnson said, the decision was made to court Lytle, a health care entrepreneur, to be the party's standard bearer, and to promise him the party's support.
"This guy is talented,'' he said. "And you don't get somebody like this guy to run if you justify that you're going to hang back.''
Johnson said what he's doing in promoting Lytle over Hourihan is no different than what happens in the major parties, where leadership quietly decides who is a favored candidate.
Sometimes, that bursts out into the open.
That's what happened in 2024 when Jeff DeWit, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, tried to talk Kari Lake out of running for U.S. Senate.
In a phone call, he told Lake there were Republicans in Washington who did not think she could win a race against Democrat Ruben Gallego after losing the 2022 gubernatorial race to Democrat Katie Hobbs. In the recorded call, DeWit offered to find some other job for Lake while she sat out the race.
It all backfired when the recording became public and DeWit quit.
As it turned out, Lake decided to run anyway — and was defeated by Gallego by more than 80,000 votes despite the fact that Republican Donald Trump, running for president on the same ballot, defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in Arizona.
"Here's the difference: I'm doing it openly, proudly,'' Johnson said of his efforts to push Lytle over anyone else. "I think you'd have to be a coward not to stand up and say who you would support.''
Still, Johnson said, there's nothing he can do to stop anyone else, including Hourihan, from running in the Arizona Independent Party primary. And if she or someone else gets the necessary signatures along with Lytle, there will be a contested primary.
But Johnson did more than simply endorse Lytle. He spoke at a public announcement of Lytle's candidacy in front of Sun Devil Stadium.
Hourihan said — and Johnson confirmed — that his efforts to get her to drop out of the race included proposing she instead run for a lower office. Johnson said she needs more political experience.
"You're not ready for this,'' Johnson told the licensed professional counselor in a conversation she taped with him and made available to Capitol Media Services. He suggested she "put in the work'' and enter politics at a lower level.
Hourihan countered that she is ready. She said God is calling her to run.
To that, Johnson responded, "You can believe whatever you want to believe because you want to believe it. I would just tell you to pray some more because I gave you solid advice.''
That led Hourihan to ask whether, if she wins the primary, Johnson will apologize.
"I will say 'congratulations,' '' he responded. "But I will never say 'I'm sorry' because I'm positive that you're not ready, even if you won.''
Would Johnson support her if she wins the primary?
"Probably not,'' he said.
Johnson, a former Democrat and mayor of Phoenix who lost his own race for governor in 1998 against incumbent Republican Jane Hull, said if Hourihan is the nominee of the Arizona Independent Party, "she would not be the best candidate of the three that are left to be governor.''
Nor does he believe his position as party chair — or that of other party officials — requires them to back the person who wins the party's primary.
"From our standpoint, we don't have to follow their set of rules,'' Johnson said.
