Martin, Mills file signatures to round out governor’s race

State Treasurer Dean Martin files his signatures with the Secretary of State's Office to run for governor on May 26. (Photo by Josh Coddington)

State Treasurer Dean Martin and businessman Buz Mills filed their qualifying signatures for the Aug. 24 primary, roughing out the crowded Republican field.

Martin submitted about 11,200 signatures to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on May 26, the deadline to file for the ballot, and Mills turned in nearly 13,000. Both are challenging incumbent Gov. Jan Brewer for the Republican nomination.

For Martin, who is running a publicly funded campaign, the next step will be qualifying for Clean Elections funding. Martin said he has the 4,410 contributions of $5 that he needs to qualify, and will submit them in the next week or two.

“We have our fives. We’re just working on cushioning and quality control right now,” Martin said.

Money is no problem for Mills, who has already spent more than $1.8 million of his own money on his campaign. Most of Mills’ television ads have been introductory in nature, but the Paulden businessman said he thinks that, by now, voters have a pretty good idea of who he is.

“We’re going to get more specific. We’re going to have to get a lot more specific,” Mills said. “People are asking more specific questions now. They used to just ask, ‘Who are you?'”

Along with Martin and Mills, the Republican ballot will include Brewer, former Arizona Republican Party Chairman John Munger, former pharmaceutical company employee Matt Jette and former Rep. Tom Gordon.