PHOENIX — A candidate for governor for the No Labels Party is trying to knock her two foes off the primary ballot.
Teri Hourihan contends that Hugh Lytle filed more than 4,700 invalid signatures on his nominating petition. What that does, she contends in a lawsuit filed Friday, is leave him with just 1,219 valid signatures, short of the 1,771 required by law for candidates from that party.
But Lytle, the hand-picked choice of party Chairman Paul Johnson, isn't the only one Hourihan wants removed from the ballot.
In a separate lawsuit, she says that Risa Lombardo, who wants to be the gubernatorial nominee of the Green Party, filed only 983 valid signatures after ones that Hourihan contends are not valid. Lombardo also needs 1,771 signatures to be found valid to make the July 21 ballot.
Now it is up to Hourihan to make her case in court.
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Lytle, in a prepared statement, said his campaign submitted more than 6,000 signatures.
"We are extremely confident we will have more than enough valid signatures,'' he said. Lytle also said that he will win the primary against Hourihan "which will make the general election a true three-way contest for Arizona governor.''
Lytle made no mention of the Green Party and Lombardo, who also could be on the ballot, making it actually a four-way race.
There was no immediate response from Lombardo to the challenge.
Both cases are set for hearings on April 10.
All this comes as it remains unclear under exactly what banner Hourihan or Lytle will run.
Johnson, who took over last year what had been the No Labels Party, got permission from Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to rename it the Arizona Independent Party. That move also would have automatically reregistered the more than 41,000 No Labels adherents under the new name.
Last month, however, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Greg Como ruled Fontes lacked the authority to permit the switch — and that changing the name of the party to which people had signed up amounted to "political bait and switch.''
Johnson said an appeal has been filed to get back the Arizona Independent Party label. But, for the moment, it is Como's decision that stands.
Howard Fischer is a veteran journalist who has been reporting since 1970 and covering state politics and the Legislature since 1982. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, Bluesky, and Threads at @azcapmedia or email azcapmedia@gmail.com.
