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Endorses 4
The race
This is a real November 3, 2026 race for District 4 on the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District — and the most crowded of the three MCCCD contests, with three candidates: incumbent Donna Davis, Ryan Caracciolo, and Jack Hastings. The slates: Caracciolo runs with the Change4Maricopa slate (John Crow at-large, Susan Winder in District 3, Caracciolo here), recommended on Turning Point PAC's 2026 Freedom Ticket; Davis is endorsed by the rival Faculty PAC; Hastings runs on neither slate. One fact belongs in this header because it is unusual and verified: Hastings is simultaneously a Surprise City Council member re-elected to that office in July 2026 — he is asking District 4 voters for a second public board seat while holding the first. This article carries the research and the call of our combined MCCCD article; the call here is the same call, not a re-derivation.
The candidates
Donna Davis — incumbent. The sitting District 4 member, Faculty PAC-endorsed. Record gap, stated as the combined article states it: no campaign platform or contested board record for Davis was retrieved in the research pass — no issues page, no signature initiative, no documented fight. An incumbent whose retrievable file is her endorsement and her incumbency is asking for re-election on presence alone, and we price the absence as an absence, not as either guilt or merit.
Ryan Caracciolo — candidate. A Peoria resident; founder and president of Striventa, an enrollment-and-marketing firm — professional work aimed at exactly the community-college problem of enrolling and retaining students into workforce programs. His campaign emphasizes enrollment, marketing, and workforce alignment, and he co-authored with John Crow the published op-ed for restoring JUCO football (eliminated after 2018) under a published financial model with new taxes and fees as a last resort. The independence fact, carried from the combined article: Caracciolo and Crow are roughly 15-year business partners at Striventa. If both win, partners hold two board seats; the fact is flagged here and in the at-large article, and it is the first accountability question for both men in office.
Jack Hastings — candidate. A Surprise City Council member (re-elected unopposed in July 2026; see our Surprise article) and a career educator — former civics teacher, assistant principal. His published plan (jackformaricopa.com/plan) is the most itemized challenger platform in this race: an independent auditor, transparency measures, responsible budgeting and low tuition, and football restored "the right way" — with a real cost plan and no new taxes or fees. His site further claims — self-reported and unverified in our pass, labeled as such — helping cut Surprise's property-tax rate in 2024 and 2025, adding 100-plus police and firefighters, leading school-resource-officer placement, and founding an Education & Workforce Subcommittee that awards scholarships. If verified, that is a strong municipal record; as published, it is a candidate's own account, and we price it at that grade.
Pros and cons
- Davis — Pro: Incumbency and the Faculty PAC's endorsement — the system's own people vouch for her. Con: The documented gap: no platform and no contested record retrieved. Voters cannot verify what they would be re-electing her for.
- Caracciolo — Pro: The only candidate whose day job is the district's core operational problem (enrollment into workforce programs), a costed signature proposal, and a slate with a stated governing philosophy. Con: The Striventa partnership with Crow, and no prior elected record.
- Hastings — Pro: The most detailed published plan in the race, an educator's background, and a sitting council member's governing experience — the only candidate besides the incumbent who has held office. Con: He would hold two offices at once; his strongest record claims are self-published and unverified; and his football position ("the right way," no new taxes) shares the slate's promise while disclaiming its vehicle — a fence that will need a vote to resolve.
OUR CALL
Our call: endorse Ryan Caracciolo for the MCCCD Governing Board, District 4. Carried from the combined article's research: Caracciolo brings the district's central operational expertise (enrollment and workforce), a published and costed program, and an affirmative record to weigh — against an incumbent with no retrievable platform and a challenger whose detailed plan is undercut by dual-office holding and self-graded claims. The Striventa independence flag stands in this article and in ours at-large; it is priced, not hidden, and it does not outweigh the ledger.
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
- Ballotpedia, Maricopa County municipal elections, 2026 — MCCCD Governing Board candidates — https://ballotpedia.org/Maricopa_County,_Arizona,_municipal_elections,_2026
- Decent Ballot — MCCCD roster and candidate orientation — https://decentballot.com
- Turning Point PAC, 2026 Freedom Ticket — the slate's recommendations and stated nonpartisan criteria — https://ticket.tppac.com
- Change4Maricopa — the Crow / Winder / Caracciolo joint campaign site (paid for by all three campaigns) — https://change4maricopa.com
- Crow / Caracciolo op-ed on restoring junior-college football (published via Change4Maricopa)
- Judy Schwiebert campaign mailings — the Faculty PAC slate naming — https://mailchi.mp
- Schwiebert endorsements page — https://judyformaricopa.com/endorsements
- Bill Sandweg campaign — https://billformaricopa.com
- Jack Hastings for Maricopa — plan page — https://jackformaricopa.com/plan
- Protect Community Colleges — Faculty PAC orbit material; partisan opposition-research sourcing, labeled as such in the combined article — https://protectcommunitycolleges.com
- Combined MCCCD article (this series) — the deep research and calls these per-seat articles carry — arizona-community-college-maricopa-ccd/ARTICLE.md
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.