Adrian Fontes

Adrian Fontes (born April 3, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the Secretary of State of Arizona since 2023. He previously served as the Maricopa County Recorder from 2017 to 2021. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Fontes was first elected Secretary of State in 2022.

Early life and career Fontes was born and raised in Nogales, Arizona. His family has lived in southern Arizona for more than 300 years, even before Arizona became a state. Fontes served in the United States Marine Corps from 1992 to 1996, where he taught a marksmanship course. When he returned, he attended the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver and graduated in 2000 with a Juris Doctor degree. and as an attorney in private practice.

Maricopa County Recorder (2017–2021) Elections 2016 Fontes ran for Maricopa County Recorder against 28-year incumbent Helen Purcell. Fontes announced his candidacy the day after Maricopa County's 2016 presidential preference election, which was perceived by some as having been mismanaged by Purcell due to the reduction in the number of polling places in the county, causing long lines that stretched for blocks and left some voters waiting for hours. Latino community leaders raised concerns about voter suppression when areas with predominantly Latino populations had one or no polling places open during Arizona's presidential preference election. On November 14, 2016, Purcell conceded the race.

2018

In 2018, as part of an organized effort by the GOP to raise suspicions about voter fraud, the Arizona GOP commissioned attorney Stephen Richer to conduct an "independent audit."

2020

Fontes ran for re-election in 2020, losing by almost 5,000 votes to Republican candidate Stephen Richer. In the November 2018 election, Maricopa County operated 40 vote centers. Fontes also expanded early voting options in Maricopa County.

As the County Recorder, Fontes oversaw the counting of ballots in Maricopa County's elections in 2020. Fontes has claimed that Jake Angeli, the "QAnon Shaman," was one of the protestors at the Recorders Office. On July 28, 2021, Fontes was one of several politicians, experts and election officials who spoke about voter suppression, subversion, and election worker intimidation and who testified before the United States Congress Committee on House Administration. Fontes testified: "I strongly support legislative efforts to protect election officials in Arizona and across the country from harassment, intimidation, threats and political interference, so that they can safely perform their duties to serve voters and protect election integrity." Fontes faced Republican party nominee, Arizona Representative Mark Finchem in the general election.

Electoral history

Maricopa County Recorder 2016

2020