← Election Series · Down-ballot coverage · Arizona
No endorsement
The race
Apache Junction Unified School District #43, in Pinal County, elects two members of its five-member Governing Board on November 3, 2026. The race is nonpartisan. Four candidates are running for the two seats, so voters choose two names — and this race will actually be decided at the ballot box.
The two seats up are the ones currently held by Dena Kimble and Gail Ross. Kimble is running again; Ross is not among the verified candidates. The roster below comes from GoodParty.org's compilation of candidate filings. Pinal County published no official candidate list in a form we could retrieve, so we grade this roster as compilation-grade — verified against the filing compilation, not against a county-certified list.
The candidates:
Dena Kimble — Incumbent. Kimble currently serves as president of the Apache Junction board: district board documents from 2025 and 2026 list her as President, presiding over meetings with members Cami Garcia, Sandra Leen, Judy Williamson, and Gail Ross. That is the full sourced record we could verify for her in this pass — incumbency and the board presidency, with no campaign platform, endorsements, or contested votes retrieved.
Gilbert Cancio — Challenger. Cancio is a verified candidate on the filing compilation. No occupation, campaign platform, endorsements, or prior public record for Cancio was retrieved in this pass.
Chelsea Connolly — Challenger. Connolly is a verified candidate on the filing compilation. No occupation, campaign platform, endorsements, or prior public record for Connolly was retrieved in this pass.
Sharon Williams — Challenger. Williams is a verified candidate on the filing compilation. No occupation, campaign platform, endorsements, or prior public record for Williams was retrieved in this pass.
One more sourced fact about the field as a whole: the Pinal County Democratic Party's 2026 guide made no recommendation in this race.
Pros and cons
Kimble — Pros: Sitting board president; voters can judge a record of presiding over the district's meetings in 2025–2026. Cons: No campaign platform or positions were retrieved against which to judge what a new term would mean.
Cancio — Pros: Offers voters a non-incumbent choice. Cons: No sourced record — no occupation, platform, or endorsements retrieved.
Connolly — Pros: Offers voters a non-incumbent choice. Cons: No sourced record — no occupation, platform, or endorsements retrieved.
Williams — Pros: Offers voters a non-incumbent choice. Cons: No sourced record — no occupation, platform, or endorsements retrieved.
Record gaps
- No Pinal County official certified candidate list was retrievable; the roster rests on a filing compilation.
- No candidate questionnaires, campaign sites, or local-press profiles for any of the four candidates were retrieved in this pass.
OUR CALL
Our call: insufficient record — no endorsement.
What would earn one: a sourced record for any candidate — a published platform, named endorsements, or a documented governing record on budgets, curriculum, and parental rights — that we can verify claim by claim before Election Day.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.
Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.
Sources
- GoodParty.org — Apache Junction Unified District school board election page (2026) — verified roster of four candidates for two seats; Kimble and Ross listed as the members whose terms run to 2026 — https://goodparty.org/elections/az/apache-junction-unified-district/position/local-school-board
- Apache Junction Unified School District #43 — Governing Board meeting minutes and agendas, 2025–2026 (district board portal) — Dena Kimble listed as board President, with Cami Garcia, Sandra Leen, Judy Williamson, and Gail Ross as members
- Enumeration notes, AZ school boards (LiberalMind voter-guide research, October 25, 2026), citing the Pinal Democrats' 2026 guide — no recommendation made in this race
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.