Though she still may have a political future, Tammy Caputi looms in one respect as a Scottsdale legend.

The city has rarely seen the likes of this powerhouse fundraiser – who may be the envy of the current crop of Scottsdale City Council candidates.

Eight hopefuls running for three seats are passing the hat for donations as they rev up for the July 21 primary.

Campaign reports filed two weeks ago, covering the first quarter, show a few fairly strong fundraisers.

But there are no Caputis in this bunch. 

The Scottsdale business owner dipped her toe into politics in 2016, running as a Democrat and getting trounced in a run for the Arizona House of Representatives by District 23 Republican incumbents Jay Lawrence and Michelle Ugenti-Rita.

Caputi bounced back strongly four years later, sailing to Scottsdale City Council victory with Betty Janik and Tom Durham.

In the 2020 campaign, Caputi raised an eye-popping $288,851 in campaign donations.

Known for her upbeat, local-bragging – “Scottsdale is the gold standard” was her unofficial slogan – business- and development-friendly approach, Caputi narrowly failed in a reelection campaign.

Even after raising over $400,000 for her reelection campaign, Caputi had to give up her council seat last year.

This year, Caputi is running again – for the Arizona House of Representatives. She’s a lock to win the District 4 primary, as she and Karen Gresham will be the only Democrats on the July 21 ballot.

Those two will have a hill to climb to try to unseat Republican incumbents Pamela Carter and Matt Gress, who face a primary challenge from Sandra Christensen. District 4 includes much of Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.

Carter, also of Scottsdale, has pulled in over $100,000 in her reelection campaign.

Though ultimately pulling off a victory will be a tough row, Caputi is showing her hat-passing skills remain sharp – boasting she “raised over $100,000 in the most recent reporting quarter, the highest total in the field.”

That’s also quite a bit higher than the moderate fundraising hustle of this year’s City Council candidates.

MUR and Solange

For the first quarter of 2026, the unofficial “Caputi Award for Fundraising” goes to … Michelle Ugenti-Rita.

The former state politician topped the Scottsdale candidate field by raising $38,759.

A close second at $33,500 – with an asterisk – is Councilwoman Solange Whitehead.

But the big note is that she started her reelection bid with $67,345 in her campaign while Ugenti-Rita started from scratch.

Former state Rep. Joseph Chaplik – who joined Ugenti-Rita in bashing Axon’s North Scottsdale development plan – took time out from his own fundraising campaign for Arizona’s Congressional District 1 to write Ugenti-Rita a check for $6,750.

Another state politician ponied up $5,500 to Ugenti-Rita: Former Arizona Republican Party treasurer Elijah Norton, who is running for state treasurer.

Ugenti-Rita spent $11,000, including $3,500 for petition signatures to make the ballot.

As for Whitehead, her first quarter contribution list is led by $5,000 from Mike Wagers, listed as “Chief Customer Officer” of Axon Enterprise.

Whitehead voted for the original Axon 1,900-apartment plan in North Scottsdale and a revised agreement earlier this year.

“I don’t know Mike Wagers,” Whitehead told the Progress. “In Axon, he’s a few rungs down. I declined and even returned money from the top (Axon) execs.”

The two-term councilwoman looking for a third added: “I am proud that I saved so many Axon jobs.”

Local real estate agent Troy Gillenwater wrote Whitehead a check for $3,000.

Christie Kinchen of Twins and Co. Realty sent Whitehead $6,000 in July, leading the councilwoman’s $46,000 in 2025 fundraising. That total includes $10,000 in out-of-state contributions.

“It isn’t out of state ‘dark money’ — it’s my sisters and uncles,” Whitehead said.

Starting the year with just under $100,000 in the bank, Whitehead spent $2,800 for printing and less than $6,000 total in the first quarter.

“I don’t pay political consultants,” Whitehead stressed.

Eager Ethan

Caputi probably would be impressed by the way newcomer Ethan Knowlden hit the ground hustling in his political debut. He has raised just under $50,000.

The “Ethan for Scottsdale” campaign raised $40,000 in the fall of 2025, adding another $7,500 in this year’s first three months.

Knowlden’s fundraising began with a bang in October, when Scottsdale couple Mark and Christiana Jackson wrote him a check for $7,116.

Also in October, Stephen Cohen of Connecticut’s Executive Spruce Street Capital contributed $4,217 to Knowlden, leading out-of-state contributions of $8,200 in 2025.

In the first quarter of 2026, George Clark’s $1,000 led a band of retirees supporting Knowlden – who also raised $1,500 in out-of-state contributions.

Knowlden spent a little over $7,000 in the first quarter, with $2,500 in printing costs leading the way. He also spent around $11,000 in the fourth quarter of 2025, with $5,000 going to Cardella Consulting.

Graham grinding

Councilman Barry Graham, a frequent foe of Caputi’s while she was in office, entered his reelection year with a campaign bank of $29,555. In the first quarter, according to his report, he added another $20,318, spending a little more than half of that.

John Graham – no relation to Barry – of real estate company Sunbelt Holdings was Barry Graham’s biggest donor at $2,500.

Chaplik also contributed and local public relations rep Jason Rose donated $1,000 each to Graham.

Todd LaPorte, CEO of HonorHealth, also chipped in $1,000 to Graham’s campaign. (LaPorte donated the same amount to Whitehead.)

Graham in turn wrote a check of $10,500 to Phoenix-based Primary Consulting for first quarter “communication and consulting.”

Raoul raising

Raoul Zubia started the year with $10,700 in 2025 contributions, raising another $18,000 in the first quarter.

Former Councilwoman Linda Milhaven – last seen in a failed attempt at mayor in 2024 – sent $1,000 Zubia’s way. Restaurant owner Greg Field tipped Zubia $1,103.

In the first quarter, Zubia spent around $13,000, with $8,000 of that coming to two consultants.

Little-action

By comparison to the fast-charging Knowlden, former Councilman Bob Littlefield had a sleepy campaign.

With his focus on the Axon development-fighting Taxpayers Against Awful Apartments Zoning Exemption political action committee, Littlefield raised a mere $8,600 for his campaign in the first quarter.

Old Town gallery owner Bob Pejman and retired Old Town leader Marilyn Atkinson each donated $1,000.

Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield – who is terming out after 12 years on council – loaned her husband $1,000 to kick off his campaign.

Littlefield spent a modest $3,700 in the first quarter, mostly for petition signature gathering.

Stones’ throw

Eric Sloan, also a newcomer to Scottsdale politics, raked in $27,000 in first quarter contributions.

Steven and Lisa Stone (she is a divorce attorney, he didn’t list an occupation) threw $6,750 to Sloan.

Steven Hilton of Meritage Homes adding $2,500 Sloan’s way.

Sloan spent only $500 in the first quarter.

Self-loan Carroll

According to her first-quarter report, Crystal Carroll took in $18,825. Most of that came from a self-loan of $10,000.

Entering the field relatively late, her first donation came on Feb. 24 with $200 from Joseph Schillmoeller of Best Efforts.

Her biggest contribution was a max $6,750 donation from Adam Wasserman of Select Beverages.

Carroll, the owner of an Old Town cafe dipping her toe into local politics, spent under $350 in the first quarter.

D3

In the battle for two Arizona House of Representatives District 3 seats, Democrats Julie Gable and Richard Spargo will be on the November ballot.

Spargo has raised $27,000, Gable a modest $3,000.

They will face the top two from a field of four Republicans who will battle in the primary: Cody Reim, who was appointed to replace Chaplik, George Khalaf, Jay Schlum and Thomas Walsh.

Khalaf, a Scottsdale who runs First Day Public Relations, is the fundraising leader with nearly $100,000.

Reim, who battled then-Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega over water for Reim’s Rio Verde Foothills, has raised around $58,000.

Schlum, of Fountain Hills, has raised around $30,000, with Cave Creek’s Walsh bringing in only a tenth of that.

In the race for Arizona State Senate District 3, incumbent John Kavanagh (R) has raised $123,000 in his reelection campaign. Republican challenger Robert Wallace has raised less than $9,000.

Whoever wins the D3 Republican primary will face the lone Democrat, Jeff Fortney, who has raised around $25,000.

Kavanagh and Wallace live in Fountain Hills. Fortney is a Cave Creek resident.

Werner hat filling

Another fundraiser operating at Caputi’s level has emerged in District 4.

Incumbent Carine Werner (R) – who is also a member of the Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board, but so far has not filed for reelection to the board – is aggressively fundraising for a House reelection campaign.

According to her first quarter filing, Werner came into the year with $272,939 in her campaign fund – and raised another $110,000.

Werner’s passed hat has been filled to the tune of $414,402; the Scottsdale resident has spent about $66,000 of that on her reelection campaign.

With no Republican primary opponent, she will be sailing to the November election against the lone Democrat candidate, Aaron Lieberman, a Paradise Valley “entrepreneur” who has raised $157,000.

Lieberman is a former state representative who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022.