Joe Winfield, former Oro Valley mayoral candidate.
The recall election race for Oro Valley mayor is down to two candidates– incumbent Satish Hiremath and challenger Pat Straney.
A third candidate, Joe Winfield, announced his withdrawal at a Saturday forum.
“One of the tenets of my campaign was to restore trust and community unity, and the irony of it all with my announcement [to run] and the interpretation by some, that hope certainly began to fade," Winfield said in an interview with AZPM.
Winfield also posted a statement to his campaign website.
Winfield writes:
"Among the reasons I chose to run for mayor was to restore trust and community unity. That hope faded as I learned people were interpreting my candidacy as a “Hiremath plant”, a “spoiler” and a “fake. My intentions were good, but my judgment to enter a recall election was not."
Winfield wrote that he was endorsing Pat Straney and asks that people vote for Straney and not him, although his name will still appear on the ballot.
Winfield said he does plan to run for local public office in the future.
The Oct. 2 Metro Week includes an interview with Hiremath, Straney and Winfield as the three candidates listed on the ballot.
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