At 23 years old, a former ASU student became one of the youngest candidates to win a city council seat for Mesa Aug. 24.
Christopher Glover, who graduated from ASU last May with a degree in political science, will be sworn in this January after he turns 24.
Glover said he felt like the underdog in the only contested seat for city council in Mesa’s District 4.
Glover, however, edged out his opponent, 67-year-old Vic Linoff, a community activist who was endorsed by nearly all current council members, including Mayor Scott Smith.
“I was recruited to run for office,” Linoff said.
Linoff’s campaign, which gathered a little less than $15,000, nearly doubled Glover’s $8,000 campaign, which was made up of the 23-year-old’s savings and contributions from District 4 residents, he said.
This was a grassroots campaign, said Trista Guzman, Glover’s campaign manager and girlfriend.
Guzman, like Glover, also graduated from ASU with a degree in political science last May.
At first, Glover was hesitant to run for office, but after receiving advice from Vice Mayor Kyle Jones, he decided to run.
Jones, who grew up with Glover’s father and now occupies the District 4 seat in addition to being vice mayor, decided not to endorse either candidate, Glover said.
Linoff would have run uncontested had Glover not decided to enter the race, Glover said.
“I really hate to see an uncontested race in a democracy,” he said.
His age was his biggest drawback, Glover said.
“Because I’m so young, people would hold that against me,” he said.
Glover said he owes his victory to his “hard work and dedication” and his family name.
His family’s roots trace back to 1948, when his great-grandparents moved from Mexico to Mesa.
Even though his mother’s side of the family is Mexican, his Spanish was limited until he took a missionary trip to Argentina and learned to speak it fluently, he said.
Glover didn’t advertise that he was bilingual, but he feels it can help him a lot with the Hispanic population in his jurisdiction, Glover said.
He said his door-to-door campaigning helped in his efforts to gain recognition within the community.
“Are you Mark and Angela’s son?” voters would ask when he met them, Glover said.
Glover won because people want the “new young blood,” Guzman said.
Even though he was the underdog, Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, endorsed Glover, which also contributed to his victory, Glover said.
Pearce had known Glover’s grandfather, so that made it easy for Glover to ask for an endorsement, he said.
Mesa had to comply with a new law that requires cities with a population of 175,000 or more to shift their spring local elections to the fall elections, according to the city of Mesa website.
Critics tried to diminish Glover’s victory due to the new law because they believe it created a partisan election by confusing voters, Glover said,
“Partisan politics had nothing to do with my win,” he said. “Our names were in every single ballot regardless of political affiliation.”
Linoff, however, said he believes that Glover was also able to win because of the low voter turnout that District 4 had.
“Chris [Glover] dealt with a low voter turnout too,” said Richard Herrera, a political science associate professor at ASU, and Glover’s former professor. “That rings kind of hollow.”
Herrera said it was a great idea for Glover to run for office because he has good skills and intentions and made a good candidate.
“I was encouraged [that he won] because chances were slim,” he added.
Glover is still unsure about his political future after he finishes his first four-year term.
“We’ll see what happens after these four years,” he said.
Reach the reporter at uriel.garcia@asu.edu
