Phoenix: Council Candidate Matt Evans Opens Up About Drug-Dealer Past Ahead of the November 3 Election
In Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, with the November 3 election about two weeks away, District 2 city council candidate Matt Evans has spoken openly to The Arizona Republic about his past as a drug dealer and his addiction to opioids.
Evans, a 38-year-old software engineer, is running for an open seat against lawyer Danny Mazza and business owner Julie Read. Councilman Jim Waring, who has held the seat since 2012, is term-limited. Evans ran unsuccessfully for mayor against Kate Gallego in 2024. The conservative group Turning Point Action has endorsed all three candidates for the District 2 seat.
Court records detail Evans's 2011 arrest after a Scottsdale police investigation and his deferred prosecution for marijuana possession when he was in his early 20s; the criminal counts were later dismissed. As a young man, Evans ran with members of a Phoenix gang called 40 Block, one of whose members fatally shot a 17-year-old boy. Police believed Evans was a member or associate of the gang; Evans says he was never an official member.
Evans said he regrets many of the decisions he made when he was younger, found religion and stopped using drugs years ago to take care of his children. He said he is a victim of pharmaceutical companies: 'They're the real criminals, man.' He says he plans to be a 'firebrand' on the council who will do more for the district's people.
(GSM, based on reporting by The Arizona Republic, azcentral.com)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 凤凰城市中心天际线（资料图）/ Phoenix skyline (file photo), Alan Stark, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
