Former Republican Official Risa Lombardo Claims Arizona Green Party Governor Nomination Despite Party Opposition

Former Republican precinct committeewoman Risa Lombardo appears to have secured the Arizona Green Party’s nomination for governor despite a months-long campaign by party leaders urging Green voters to reject her and write in Carlos Melendez, their endorsed candidate

Unofficial returns following Tuesday’s primary showed Lombardo well ahead of the Green gubernatorial field. Maricopa County’s Wednesday night update placed Lombardo at 242 votes, or 55.5 percent, and Melendez at 90 votes, or 20.6 percent. Athena Eastwood received one vote and William “Rex” Josué Pounds IV received four, while another 99 ballots were listed as generic or unqualified write-ins.

Pima County’s Thursday update showed Lombardo leading Melendez 69 votes to 53, with 27 write-in votes not yet assigned. Lombardo received nine votes in Yavapai County, where none of the three registered write-in candidates had received a vote in the county’s latest report. Across those three counties, Lombardo led Melendez 320 votes to 143.

Election officials had not published a complete statewide breakdown assigning every write-in ballot among Melendez, Eastwood, Pounds and invalid or unassigned write-ins as of Thursday. The results remain unofficial until the statewide canvass scheduled for Aug. 6, and voters have until 5 p.m. Sunday to cure early-ballot signature problems.

Lombardo is nevertheless expected to advance to the Nov. 3 general election. She would join Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, Republican Rep. Andy Biggs and No Labels nominee Teri Ann Hourihan in the gubernatorial field. Hobbs ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, while the Associated Press called the Republican nomination for Biggs after he defeated Rep. David Schweikert and businessmen Ken Miceli and Scott Neely. Hourihan defeated businessman Hugh Lytle in the No Labels primary.

The outcome marks a defeat for the Arizona Green Party organization, whose 2026 candidate endorsement list identified Lombardo as a candidate it “actively opposed” and endorsed Melendez as its preferred write-in candidate for governor. Lombardo’s name appeared on the printed ballot after she collected enough petition signatures, while Melendez and the two other Green gubernatorial candidates competed as write-ins.

The party also mailed postcards to registered Green voters describing Lombardo as a “fraud” candidate and directing them to write in Melendez. Party officials mounted a similar effort against Secretary of State candidate Duwayne Collier, whom the organization actively opposed while endorsing Jon Ralston as a write-in. Unofficial results indicated Collier won that nomination.

Lombardo was the only Green gubernatorial candidate included in the Citizens Clean Elections Commission’s statewide voter guide. She describes herself as a longtime Arizona resident who worked as a legal secretary and assistant after moving to the state from New York in 1991.

The dispute surrounding her candidacy intensified after records showed that Lombardo had been a Republican Party official immediately before launching her Green campaign.

Lombardo and Michael Lombardo were elected as Republican precinct committeemen in Legislative District 2 in Arizona’s July 30, 2024, primary. Under Arizona law, their two-year terms began Oct. 1.

Maricopa County continued to list Risa Lombardo as a Republican precinct committeewoman through Feb. 28, 2025. Five days later, on March 5, 2025, she filed a statement of interest to run for governor as a Green Party candidate. The sequence places her departure from the Republican position and the launch of her Green candidacy less than one week apart.

Michael Lombardo remained a Republican precinct committeeman and a member of the Legislative District 2 Republican Committee’s executive board, according to reports published during the campaign.

Lombardo defended her political history in a July 16 post to X.

“I have voted in both major parties. I spent most of my life as a Democrat and was more recently registered as a Republican, but neither party gave me a real voice or made meaningful change possible,” Lombardo wrote.

“Since joining the Green Party, I’ve been extremely disappointed by the hostility. I believe we should encourage people to explore different parties and welcome independent thinkers, instead of reinforcing the two-party system.

“When I talk with people who feel politically homeless, I find we have a lot in common. That’s why I’m running, to give voters like me, a voice. If you’re an independent thinker who’s not afraid to make up their own mind, I invite you to take a look at my platforms and see where I stand. I hope I’ll have the chance to earn your vote.”

🚨 GREEN PARTY PSA 🚨
(For independent thinkers)

I have voted in both major parties. I spent most of my life as a Democrat and was more recently registered as a Republican, but neither party gave me a real voice or made meaningful change possible.

Since joining the Green Party,…

— Risa Lombardo for Governor (@RisaLombardo) July 17, 2026

An April investigation by the Arizona Mirror also reported that Lombardo operated a business that sold political merchandise in 2023, including buttons reading “Trump Won” and “Kari Won” and a shirt displaying the Republican elephant with the letters “FJB.” The business promoted the merchandise through social-media posts supporting President Donald Trump and former Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake.

Campaign-finance records reviewed by the publication showed that the Legislative District 2 Republican Committee paid Lombardo $404 in 2025 as reimbursement for postage used to send certified letters to Republican precinct committeemen.

Lombardo rejected the Green Party’s characterization of her candidacy. On her campaign website, she said she had belonged to both major parties and spent most of her life as a Democrat.

“I’ve been registered with both major parties, although I spent most of my life as a Democrat,” Lombardo wrote. “Neither party seems interested or capable of fixing the problems we face.”

Her issues page adopts the Green Party’s four stated pillars of peace, ecology, social justice and democracy. The campaign calls for sharply reducing military spending, moving away from fossil fuels, establishing a living wage and expanding public financing of elections.

Additional questions emerged after a July 13 investigation found that Lombardo’s campaign had directed $887,000 to a newly created Nevada business called Bootstrap Campaigns. The payments represented approximately 78 percent of the $1.1 million in public campaign funding Lombardo received through Arizona’s Clean Elections program.

Lombardo qualified for public funding after collecting the required number of $5 contributions from Arizona voters. The Clean Elections Commission issued the campaign’s primary-election funding on May 26.

Bootstrap Campaigns was incorporated 13 days before receiving its first payment from Lombardo’s committee. Her campaign reported that the company provided consulting, voter mail, text messaging, photography, video and radio production, canvassing, social-media management, petition gathering, flyers and campaign signs.

The Mirror reported that Bootstrap Campaigns had no identifiable website or previous state or federal campaign-finance history. Nevada corporate records listed Christopher Silva in each of the company’s officer positions, but the publication said it could not independently identify him.

Lombardo’s July campaign-finance report identified Bootstrap Campaigns as the vendor receiving the payments. Arizona Clean Elections rules require participating candidates to report details concerning vendors and subcontractors, including those paid through another vendor.

The Mirror described the arrangement as a possible violation of Clean Elections reporting requirements. Lombardo did not respond to the publication’s questions about Bootstrap Campaigns or her campaign’s relationships with several Republican-affiliated consultants and vendors. No formal finding of wrongdoing against the campaign was reported before the primary.

With Lombardo now on course to reach the general election, the Arizona Green Party’s internal dispute is likely to follow her onto the November ballot, along with questions over whether its gubernatorial nominee represents the party that tried to defeat her.