Matt Gress recall, Arizona House of Representatives (2025)

Matt Gress recall
	Officeholders
	Matt Gress (R)
	Recall status
	Did not go to a vote
	Signature requirement
	34,399 signatures
See also
	Recall overview; Political recall efforts, 2025; Recalls in Arizona; Arizona recall laws; State legislative recalls; Recall reports

The effort to recall Matt Gress (R) from the District 4 seat in the Arizona House of Representatives began on April 22, 2025. Supporters of the recall had 120 days—or no later than August 20, 2025—to collect 34,399 signatures to require a recall election.^[1] The Arizona Secretary of State's office confirmed on August 22 that no signatures were submitted for the recall effort by the deadline.

Proponents of the recall effort criticized Gress over delays in funding for the Division of Developmental Disabilities.^[2]

Gress was first elected to the chamber in 2022 and was re-elected in 2024.

Recall supporters

Reclaim Our Arizona Representation initiated the recall effort. The recall petition listed the following reasons for recall:^[1]

“

Representative Matt Gress failed to represent the best interest of his constituents for which he was elected by the people of District 4 in the State of Arizona. Following are the Grounds for this recall petition: Rep. Gress supported harmful legislation and refused to fund DDD, putting vital services at risk. Rep. Gress ignored his district's pleas for dialogue, leaving families in crisis. Leaders must serve everyone. This recall demands accountability and compassion. Representative Matt Gress has failed District 4.^[3]

”

Recall opponents

As of April 24, 2025, Gress had not issued a response to the recall effort.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Arizona

A recall can be filed against any public officer on any grounds. The recall may not be filed until after the elected official has been in office in his or her first term for at least six months. This six-month limit does not apply to state legislators. In the case of state legislators, a recall petition may commence five days after the start of their first legislative session after their election. In the case of other elected officials, there is no six-month limit for subsequent terms in office.^[4]

A recall petition must be filed at the office in which the officer being recalled files for nomination. The petition must contain a general statement explaining the recall, not exceeding 200 words. This petition must be signed by the sponsors who swear an oath that all signatures collected will be valid signatures.

The number of signatures required to qualify for a recall attempt for the ballot is 25% of the number of votes cast in the last election for that office. Recall supporters have 120 days to collect signatures.

If enough signatures are gathered, a recall election will be held. All qualified candidates can run against the incumbent. Whoever gets the most votes wins the office. If the incumbent wins he/she remains in office and no other recall can occur during that term unless the proponents pay the cost of the prior recall election.

Recall supporters had until August 20, 2025, to turn in 34,399 signatures to require a recall election.^[1]

Historical state legislative recalls

Ballotpedia tracked 186 recall efforts against 168 state lawmakers from 1913 to 2024. During that time, 40 recalls made the ballot and 22 state legislators were successfully recalled.^[5] A breakdown of the state legislative recall efforts by year is displayed in the chart below:

Michigan state legislators drew more recall petitions than any other from 1913 to 2024. Three of those 60 recall efforts have been successful. Wisconsin and California followed with 32 and 25 recall efforts, respectively. Wisconsin led all states with six legislators recalled, while California had five. The most recent successful recall effort against a state lawmaker was in 2018 with California state Senator Josh Newman (D). A breakdown of the various recall efforts is displayed in the chart below:

Recall context

See also: Ballotpedia's Recall Report

Ballotpedia covers recall efforts across the country for all state and local elected offices. A recall effort is considered official if the petitioning party has filed an official form, such as a notice of intent to recall, with the relevant election agency.

The chart below shows how many officials were included in recall efforts from 2012 to 2024 as well as how many of them defeated recall elections to stay in office and how many were removed from office in recall elections.

Election history

2024

General election

General election for Arizona House of Representatives District 4 (2 seats)

Incumbent Matt Gress and Pamela Carter defeated Kelli Butler and Karen Gresham in the general election for Arizona House of Representatives District 4 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Matt Gress (R)	27.5	75,669
✔	Pamela Carter (R)	25.1	69,077
	Kelli Butler (D)	24.1	66,407
	Karen Gresham (D)	23.3	64,038

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 275,191
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 4 (2 seats)

Kelli Butler and Karen Gresham advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 4 on July 30, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Kelli Butler	52.5	20,949
✔	Karen Gresham	47.5	18,956

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 39,905
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 4 (2 seats)

Incumbent Matt Gress and Pamela Carter advanced from the Republican primary for Arizona House of Representatives District 4 on July 30, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Matt Gress	55.6	24,366
✔	Pamela Carter	44.4	19,454

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 43,820
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.