Who is Scott Neely, Candidate for Arizona Governor?

***Disclaimer*** I will not add any assumptions or my opinion in this document, only words and comments from Scott Neely himself.

Scott Neely is a candidate for Governor of Arizona, the same Scott Neely who ran for the same position in 2022 and received 3.1% of the vote and the same Scott Neely who ran for the mayor of the city of Mesa, Arizona in 2024 and received 13.9% of the vote (Both courtesy of www.ballotpedia.org. He is the same Scott Neely who filed a lawsuit against the Republican Party of Arizona (AZGOP) and its chairwoman Kelli Ward in June after he was excluded from a debate and other events. Scott is also the owner of Action Concrete Pumping Supply in Mesa.

Scott also has a Facebook page where he takes to the air to continually accuse those who disagree with him by calling some of them undercover federal operatives or other law enforcement officials like the CIA. One of his early supporters who got along with Scott for a long time and even supported him on his run for governor’s office in 2022 is me. After hearing Scott’s plan for preserving water for Arizona at a local LD meeting, I became impressed, even so much as willing to work with him if he and I both won our elections. At the time, I was running for Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in District 4 (West Valley). However, all it took for me to feel the wrath of Scott was one comment on a Facebook post of his about the conspiracies of Charlie Kirks assassination that I disagreed with him on. This led to Scott repeatedly calling me a “undercover federal operative” or “fed”, just because of my background. I do have an extensive background in high level security positions, such as 20-years in the Navy, 11-years in Naval Special Warfare units, hostage survival instructor, and the antiterrorism officer for a Navy SEAL Team. After I retired from the Navy, I worked in high level security positions in Washington D.C. such as the head of security for United Arab Emirates embassy, head of security for the famous “Merry Wood” estate which President Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy once lived, former bodyguard to several federal politicians and foreign ambassadors, and even serving as the head of security for President Trump’s 2020 national campaign headquarters. While this resume may cause some to wonder if I am a “federal operative”, wondering does not equal fact. However, I did grow up wanting to work as an agent for agencies like the FBI, AFT, DEA, or even the CIA, but the truth is, a medical condition that I was born with, red/green color deficiency, disqualified me from those positions and from about 99.9% of all law enforcement agencies in the country as a law enforcement officer.

After moving to Phoenix in January of 2021, the city that my wife called home for about 6 years prior to joining the military herself, I would spend the next couple of years working several low level, low paying security jobs, I began my short venture into politics and joined the race for Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. This prompted a friend of Scott’s, Steven Tyler Daniels to call me a “federal operative of the Trump White House to infiltrate Arizona politics”. While I appreciate the gesture from Steven that President Trump would put that much faith in me, that too was simply not true.

While still trying to convince potential supporters and voters, Scott not only calls me a “federal operative”, but he has doubled down on that false claim and now has spread the equally absurd rumor that people like me may be infiltrating colleges to indoctrinate and possibly train the next mass school shooters in America. Scott’s direct comment to me word for word is: “What 40 plus year old is a student in a community college. Maybe it’s people like you that are feds who are there to indoctrinate and train the next mass school shooter or assassin. We just have to wonder what you are really doing there at GCC mixed in with all of those younger impressionable adults. Hmm. You have been involved in too many government things and citizens academies prior to college.” To Scott’s point, I have been involved in the U.S. military for 20 years and at 47 years old and in my 5^th full time semester at Glendale Community College (transferring to ASU in spring of 2026), I am smart enough not to be brainwashed by today’s college professors. However, I am not the only person Scott has accused of being a “federal operative” as he accused a woman who identifies as a 70-year-old great-grandmother, and Scott also stated to another man that he must be a CIA operative, only because he did not agree with Scott. What Scott needs to do is read how dangerous the climate is surrounding law enforcement today. Actual law enforcement officers are being murdered, assaulted, family members threatened, etc. While I can take care of and protect myself, my wife, my 6-year-old son, and my 3-year-old daughter cannot. The danger that Scott Neely puts innocent people in by making false accusations like these should be very alarming to everyone who will be voting for Arizona’s next governor in 2026. Does this appear to be a personal characteristic of someone who should be running for governor of Arizona? I know what my answer is.

If you read some of Scott’s Facebook comments, he says he is all about exposing the truth. He says that exposing the truth is more important to him that winning the “rigged” election for governor. It that is true, he should start with telling the truth himself.

I will never tell anyone who they should vote for. However, if you are a veteran who decided to go to college after spending 20 years of protecting this country, countless months on the battlefields in Iraq, and never knowing if you were going to kiss your wife and kids again after climbing into the belly of a C-17 to fly overseas, Scott Neely thinks you are too experienced to go to college. If you are a graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy, DEA Citizens Academy, or any other law enforcement agency’s citizens police academy, because you want to understand what dangers are plaquing that city, Scott believes that makes you an “undercover operative of those organizations” and you should not be a college student “indoctrinating and training the next mass school shooter”. If you are a member of the Mormon faith, or a member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, Scott has and continues to say very disrespectful and disparaging things about you as well. If you are a female and you don’t believe you are inferior to your male counterpart, Scott doesn’t think you can lead your household, as he questioned me on why I don’t lead in my home after I told him that my wife and I co-lead our home with our two young children. Scott thinks that I should be the “leader of my wife and household.”

In this time in the chaos that is running rampant across America, and in this point in Arizona’s history, we must not support candidates who purposely put other individuals and their families in danger with false allegations. We need a governor who will bring peace and bring people of all political affiliations and of all ethnicities together. Please choose wisely for the next governor of Arizona in 2026.