Gregory Freeman

Gregory Freeman (Democratic Party) ran for election for Maricopa County Assessor in Arizona. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Freeman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Gregory Freeman was born in Orange County, California. He earned a high school diploma from Centennial High School and a bachelor's degree from the Colorado School of Mines in 2001. His career experience includes working as a real estate professional. Freeman has been affiliated with the Bell Road Business Alliance and Phoenix Police Business Initiative.^[1]

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Maricopa County Assessor

Incumbent Eddie Cook defeated Gregory Freeman in the general election for Maricopa County Assessor on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Eddie Cook (R)	54.0	1,023,233
	Gregory Freeman (D)	46.0	871,482
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,486

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,896,201
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Maricopa County Assessor

Gregory Freeman advanced from the Democratic primary for Maricopa County Assessor on July 30, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Gregory Freeman	99.6	261,956
	Other/Write-in votes	0.4	1,070

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 263,026
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Maricopa County Assessor

Incumbent Eddie Cook advanced from the Republican primary for Maricopa County Assessor on July 30, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Eddie Cook	99.5	341,917
	Other/Write-in votes	0.5	1,792

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 343,709
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Freeman in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

Gregory Freeman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Freeman's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Greg Freeman, I am running for Maricopa County Assessor. My parents grew up in Arizona and I moved here when I was two years old. I grew up in public schools in northwest Phoenix and have worked across the valley throughout my life. I have spent more than 10 years in the real estate industry and through that work started becoming more involved in the issues facing my neighborhood in North Phoenix. That led me to join local block watches, talk to my neighbors, work with law enforcement and coordinated city resources to address the impacts of homelessness and crime in my neighborhood.

The more that I got involved with the people in my larger community, the more I saw the commonality of what people wanted. No matter what part of town they were in, everyone just wanted the freedom to live their lives, the opportunity to better themselves and to leave things better for their children and grandchildren. I ran for office to stand for that freedom, opportunity and prosperity for all people of Maricopa County. The County Assessor may not be the sexiest job on the ballot this year, but it plays a vital role in funding the school, city and county services that directly contribute to the lives people want.

The current Assessor has botched the job and created over $300 million dollars in budget gaps for your local school district, for rural emergency services and for community colleges. I will not stand by and let this happen to my community again.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Undo the Assessment Errors and Bad Laws - The current budget shortfall affecting every school district in Maricopa County came from a law suit filed by the owners of short term rental properties. They didn't want to pay the taxes assessed, lost the trial and won their appeal. I believe they were taxed correctly as did the professionals of the Assessors office. The incumbent assessor instead guided laws through the legislature making their lower tax amount permanent. It is among my highest priorities to get this bad law reversed and to make sure that the owners of short-term rentals or rental homes do not get unfair tax breaks.
Communication with School Boards, Fire Departments and Cities - I have spoken with many school board members and city governmental officials about the recent budget shortfall they suffered, brought on in no small part by the actions of the Assessor's office. None of them, Democrat and Republican alike, have heard anything from the Assessor's Office about what happened and what they can do. It is my promise to actively communicate with the stakeholders affected by the policies of the Assessor's Office. Rather than denying blame when a problem happens, as I clean up the many errors of the current leadership, I will be actively contacting those affected to work together on solutions to their problems.
Restore the full functionality of the Assessor's Website - I work in real estate and use the Assessor's Website as a source of information every single day. It is a tremendous asset for citizens of Maricopa and it being so freely and publicly available is a great thing. Over the past couple years, the functionality of that website has started to be reduced. Property zoning is no longer available. Changes of ownership are showing up more slowly. It is my commitment to reverse the current course to make more information available on the Assessor's Office website. I do not want to see Maricopa County become like so many other county's that require people to pay for access to their information.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

My number one area of passion in public policy is housing affordability. The lack of affordable housing in Maricopa County and Arizona as a whole has reached a crisis level that requires the intervention of government, non-profits and private actors to address. The market and policy forces that got the market into such a bad state are not capable of addressing this issue, so new approaches are needed. That a working family is not able to find affordable housing when they need it is a deep failing of our system, and I am willing to have the tough conversations needed to address this shortcoming. The cheapest solution to the ills of the housing crisis is housing; we need more built and more made affordable immediately.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

I would consider the works of Andrew Sullivan to have been the most influential to my political philosophy.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

In no particular order:

-Vision & Seeing the Bigger Picture - The decisions made by elected officials are always bigger than the individual moment. Even at level of a zoning board or school board, the decisions those bodies make will affect the individuals in their communities for decades. Anyone elected to office is given a tremendous trust from their fellow Americans, to represent them and their best interests in conversations they are not participating in. In so many parts of life, people make the decision they need to make now to survive the day. I think elected officials need to operate from a bigger picture and longer horizon.
-Selfless Service - I believe that elected officials must be selfless in their service. There are no shortage of pursuits for people that act or think only for themselves, and such people should be welcomed there. In my mind, running for office is agreeing to make your life not about yourself for as long as you choose to serve. The job is to shape the world we all live in for the better of everyone here and everyone to come; it is unforgivable to take the power given to you to better yourself or your small cadre at the expense of those that placed you there.
-Communication - I believe that the only way that the values I hold most dear, like freedom, opportunity, equality, and self-determination, continue to exist in the world is because they are still spoken of. It is the primary job of a public servant to speak into existence the world they carry in their hearts. It is also the job of the public service to listen to their community, to hear where things are missing or left out, so they can be added and included.

-Drive - But none of the virtues we hold dear can become real without putting the work in. A real public servant is in the trenches with the people, doing the work to build the world we all want. It takes something to keep going, keep dialing and keep knocking on doors when times are hard. But that is what is necessary.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

First, communication. Internally with the Assessor's Office staff and externally with the people that depend on this office's work for their financial future.

Second is setting a clear vision for the office, to provide more and better information to the people of Maricopa County. To provide better guidance to the Legislature as we navigate the very challenging real estate market we are in.

Lastly, to be honest and transparent. This office works for the people that live here and works with the school boards, cities and special districts that depend on the work of the Assessors office for their finances. We should be forthright in identifying issues, even when they are internal to our office. And we should be a good partner with those agencies when they have issues.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I want my legacy to be measured in number of struggles that people have now and are no longer experienced in America, like; Poverty, homelessness, hunger, loneliness, environmental collapse, water shortages.
We live in a time of unparalleled resources and information. We know more than we ever have, we have access to more than we have ever had. The only barriers to us having a radiant civilization, is where we are ruled by our small, selfish fears rather than our expansive hopes and aspirations.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first real job was at the Harkins Theater on Bell Road and 51st Avenue. I had the job for the summer after graduating High School for before leaving for college that Fall.
This was the summer of Jurassic Park, Face/Off, ConAir, Air Force One and several other great movies. It took me 10 years after working there to enjoy popcorn again after spending all summer popping and serving it.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

AZNOW, Maricopa Alliance of Labor Federations

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

The very first lines of the Preamble to the Constitution are: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

From the start of this great Nation, when our Founding Fathers spoke the United States of America into being, all the power came first from the People inside it. This remains as true now as it did then.

Financial transparency is a mandatory part of a functional government. I admire the office of the Assessor because it has made such efforts in the past to make the finances of the property of the county easily and publicly available. This should continue and be expanded everywhere that it can be.

Government Accountability is equally self-evident to me. All aspects of this government exist at the will of the people that live here. Even when their have been historical discrimination that left the powers of the government in the hands of very few, the solution was always in having more people involved in deciding the direction of government. Every branch of every government is answerable to the people that live here. That's not to say everyone will like everything that the government does, but accountability to the will of everyone that lives here is a core part of what makes this American experiment work.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 4, 2024

[1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 4, 2024

[1]

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Gregory Freeman

Contents

Biography

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Maricopa County Assessor

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Maricopa County Assessor

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Maricopa County Assessor

Endorsements

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

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