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District 4 · 2026

Ryan Caracciolo

Ryan Caracciolo is a 2026 candidate for the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) Governing Board, District 4.

Maricopa Community College Board Election 2026: candidates and dates

Ryan Caracciolo called for conservatives to “take back the Board,” per draft club minutes, and shares a Change4Maricopa ticket with Susan Winder, who wants to defund our community colleges and wants ICE at the polls.

Frame from Ryan Caracciolo’s 2026 campaign video: Caracciolo mid-word, mouth open, in a dark jacket and maroon shirt.
Frame from Caracciolo’s own 2026 campaign video at 0:49 (Instagram, @change4maricopa, September 1, 2026). See the original post

Ryan Caracciolo runs in District 4 on one ticket with Susan Winder. Turning Point PAC’s Freedom Ticket lists him, and draft club minutes record him calling for conservatives to take back a nonpartisan board.

Individual attribution

Caracciolo’s record.

Records about Caracciolo, each with its original source. Where another person or group said or did it, the card names them.

Social extremism

In March 2020 Caracciolo wrote that “current statistics show” the flu “has a much larger impact.”

In March 2020, as COVID spread in the United States, Caracciolo wrote on his company’s blog that “current statistics show” the flu “has a much larger impact,” comparing case and death counts at the time.

“However, current statistics show that while there have been over 100,000 cases of the coronavirus and 3,000 deaths worldwide, the flu or influenza, has a much larger impact.”

Ryan Caracciolo, March 14, 2020

Like Winder, he played COVID down.

Context

The post was business advice. It also cited the CDC’s warning of “serious risks” for older adults, said “I am not a medical professional,” and urged calm.

Source: Striventa blog: “It’s time to Lead, Not Hoard, with Coronavirus in the US” (Striventa (archived by the Wayback Machine)) Screenshot

Education extremism

His guest said most universities teach “far left bullshit.” Caracciolo agreed: “Yeah.”

“It's probably everything. I mean, most universities teach far left bullshit.”

Mike Loverde, June 3, 2025

On the first episode of his podcast, Caracciolo asked a guest why good therapists were hard to find, listing the training, the curriculum, “the culture nowadays,” “the education” and “a cultural shift.” The guest answered, “It’s probably everything. I mean, most universities teach far left bullshit,” and Caracciolo replied, “Yeah.”

Caracciolo wants to help run Maricopa’s colleges.

Context

The “far left” words are the guest’s, an addiction-treatment business owner who had said it was hard to find good therapists. Caracciolo asked the question and replied “Yeah”; the exchange was checked by listening.

Source: In Between Sips, Episode 1 (Ryan Caracciolo’s podcast) (In Between Sips on YouTube) Screenshot

The Change4Maricopa slate

Draft club minutes: Crow said the district was “run by the left”; Caracciolo said conservatives need to “take back the Board.”

“He said conservatives need to take back the Board…”

Sun City West Republican Club, minutes on Ryan Caracciolo, September 12, 2026. From the draft minutes; shortened by this site.

At a Sun City West Republican Club meeting on September 12, 2026, the club’s draft minutes record Crow saying the college district has “been run by the left the past 10 years” and Caracciolo saying conservatives need to take back the Board.

“He said conservatives need to take back the Board to make positive changes.”

Sun City West Republican Club, minutes on Ryan Caracciolo, September 12, 2026

A nonpartisan college board is not a prize for either party.

Context

These are the club secretary’s minutes, not a transcript, and the club has posted them for approval at its October meeting. The college board is a nonpartisan office.

Source: Sun City West Republican Club: September 12, 2026, minutes Screenshot

Caracciolo campaigns on enrollment growth and restoring football

The campaign presents Caracciolo as a marketing and business leader focused on enrollment and workforce opportunities. He also campaigns with Crow and Winder to restore football.

Context

The proposal deserves scrutiny for its cost and evidence of educational benefit. The other candidates’ individual statements are not attributed to Caracciolo.

Sources: Change4Maricopa: shared campaign platform Change4Maricopa: football campaign page Screenshot

Crow and Caracciolo share a business.

Arizona Corporation Commission records list two members of Striventa Business Solutions, L.L.C., an active company formed in 2013: Striventa LLC, whose statutory agent is Caracciolo, and Seraphic Team, L.L.C., whose members are John Crow and Rodica Bartels. Caracciolo’s company, Striventa, lists him as “Founder & President” and Crow as “Partner.”

They don’t just share a ticket. They share a business.

Context

Ownership shares are not public, and the member records date from 2013. A statutory agent receives legal papers for a company; Striventa’s own site calls Caracciolo its founder and president. Linda Brickman’s article on the candidates’ own site says Crow and Caracciolo “have worked together for approximately 15 years.”

Sources: Arizona Corporation Commission: Striventa Business Solutions, L.L.C. Arizona Corporation Commission: Seraphic Team, L.L.C. Striventa: About page Change4Maricopa: article by Linda Brickman Screenshot

Their joint site’s candidate pages are published under an account named with a Striventa email address. Striventa is Caracciolo’s company.

The joint campaign site’s own data lists one account as the author of all three candidate pages, the football page, the mission page and the Linda Brickman article. The account’s published name is an email address beginning with “ryan” at striventa.com, Caracciolo’s company.

The account that publishes their candidate pages and Brickman’s article is named for an email address at Caracciolo’s company.

Context

The site shows this through its public WordPress data, not a printed byline. Other accounts publish some pages, including the home page. The author field records which account a page is credited to, not who wrote its words; the Brickman article carries her byline. In a 2020 post on his company’s blog, Caracciolo gave a striventa.com address beginning with “ryan” as his own.

Sources: Change4Maricopa website: pages published by account 8 (Change4Maricopa (public WordPress data)) Change4Maricopa website: articles published by account 8 (Change4Maricopa (public WordPress data)) Change4Maricopa: article by Linda Brickman Striventa blog: “It’s time to Lead, Not Hoard, with Coronavirus in the US” (Striventa (archived by the Wayback Machine)) Screenshot

Shared attribution

The Change4Maricopa slate Caracciolo chose.

These records concern all three Change4Maricopa candidates alike.

Turning Point PAC picked Winder, Crow and Caracciolo.

Turning Point PAC’s 2026 Freedom Ticket lists Susan Winder for District 3, Ryan Caracciolo for District 4 and John Crow for the at-large seat on the community college board.

Context

Turning Point PAC produces, pays for and publishes the Freedom Ticket. The PAC says it does not consult candidates, and the listings carry no endorsement badge, so they are its recommendations. Enter a Maricopa County address at the link to see its community college picks for that address.

Source: Turning Point PAC: The 2026 Freedom Ticket Screenshot

The website of Winder, Crow and Caracciolo publishes a 2020 election denier.

“…help our president [Trump] get back into office.”

Linda Brickman, quoted by the Arizona Mirror, November 20, 2020. Brackets are ours.

Change4Maricopa, the website all three candidates authorize, published an article by Linda Brickman after she interviewed the three over lunch. In 2020, as a Maricopa County Republican Party leader, she wrote “certification denied” beside her signature on the county’s voting-equipment accuracy test. The Arizona Mirror reported that she said the machines were working properly, and it described her dissent as aimed at overturning the election result; it quoted her saying she signed that way “to help our president get back into office.” A May 2026 joehoft.com post, with a postscript signed by Brickman, recounts that refusal.

“It is most important that we sign the way it was necessary to sign to help our president get back into office.”

Linda Brickman, quoted by the Arizona Mirror, November 20, 2020

They chose to publish her on their campaign website.

Context

The article on their website is about community colleges, not elections. Elections officials said her 2020 notation meant nothing, the Mirror reported. The Mirror also quoted her saying, “And if he didn’t win officially, I guess we have to live with those results.” The candidates chose to publish her article on their joint site.

Sources: Change4Maricopa: article by Linda Brickman Hatlady’s reflection of the 2020 election process (joehoft.com) Arizona Mirror: Maricopa County GOP chair rejects accuracy test to help Trump “get back into office” Screenshot

Winder, Crow and Caracciolo run as one ticket, on one website.

Winder, Crow and Caracciolo campaign together as Change4Maricopa. The slate’s joint website is paid for by all three campaign committees and authorized by all three candidates.

“Paid for by John David Crow For Maricopa County Community College Board, Elect Ryan Caracciolo, and Winder for MCCCB. Authorized by John Crow, Ryan Caracciolo and Susan Winder.”

Change4Maricopa website footer, checked September 29, 2026

One ticket, one website, one platform. A vote for the ticket is a vote for Winder’s record.

Context

Running together does not mean each candidate said what the others said. Every card on this site names who said or did what.

Source: Change4Maricopa: shared campaign platform Screenshot

Winder, Crow and Caracciolo promise to bring football back. Their numbers don’t add up to a viable budget.

All three jointly promise to bring back junior-college football. The figures they and their site point to don’t match: on FOX 10, Crow said “let’s say it’s a million and a half” for the program and cited about $1.1 million in tuition from its players; the article on their own site cites the district’s 2018 estimates of about $770,000 a year for four programs and more than $20 million that could eventually be needed for capital improvements; and the unsigned plan their football page links relies on a new student fee that it says must rise with inflation: “Indexing is essential: without it, every version eventually falls short.” In a 2019 Northeast Valley News report, a district spokesman said the primary factor in ending football was “the financial viability of sustaining these programs long term.”

Three numbers, no budget. Nothing they have published shows football would be financially viable, and Winder wrote that college should not be paid for with tax money, except for students with special needs. Students could be left to pay.

Context

Supporters’ experiences deserve consideration. The article on the slate’s site says Crow proposes a “phased public-private model” with fundraising and sponsorships, and that Caracciolo proposes sponsorships, private fundraising and partnerships; as described, neither includes a dollar figure. Crow’s figure was an annual cost; the $20 million was a one-time capital estimate that the district never itemized and that was disputed at the time. In 2018 the district also cited flat enrollment and the end of state support.

Sources: Change4Maricopa: shared campaign platform Change4Maricopa: football campaign page Change4Maricopa: article by Linda Brickman FOX 10 Talks with John Crow and Ryan Caracciolo, September 15, 2026 (FOX 10 Phoenix) Football “Strategic Framework” linked from Change4Maricopa (unsigned) (Unsigned document linked from Change4Maricopa) ABC15: Maricopa Community Colleges eliminating football programs after 2018 (ABC15 Arizona) Northeast Valley News: the lawsuit over the end of community college football Screenshot

Winder, Crow and Caracciolo’s site links a football plan whose new $2-per-credit fee must keep rising with inflation, or it eventually falls short.

The slate’s joint campaign site now links an unsigned football plan and financial model. In its illustration of how to pay for football, the plan adds a new Student Life & Athletics Fee of $2 per credit hour on top of tuition and says it must rise with inflation, to about $4.07 by 2054: “Indexing is essential: without it, every version eventually falls short.” Up to 60% of the fee goes to football after launch. As one way to lower that fee, it lists a property tax increase of $1 million a year dedicated to the fund.

“In this illustration the fee is new, and it is an increase. It is $2 per credit hour on top of tuition, which has been $97 per credit since FY2024. … Indexing is essential: without it, every version eventually falls short.”

Unsigned football plan linked from Change4Maricopa, captured October 1 and 2, 2026

Football doesn’t pay for itself. The plan their website links would add a new fee to every credit, raising tuition, and says the fee should rise with inflation, subject to annual Board approval. And Winder wrote in 2024 that college should not be paid for with tax money, except for students with special needs.

Context

The plan and model name no author or date; as of October 1, 2026, we found no candidate calling them their own. Their joint site links them under “YOUR CANDIDATES THAT WILL BRING JUCO FOOTBALL BACK.” The plan calls itself “an illustration for public discussion, not a final plan,” and the model says its projections “are not forecasts, budgets or financing commitments.” The plan says “any new fee or tax should be a last resort,” models the fee on a $2 student activity fee that, it says, the district combined with tuition in 2014, and gives the rest of the fee to existing sports and student life at all 10 colleges. The property tax increase is one of several optional ways to lower the fee, not part of its base case: the plan lists “a property tax increase of $1 million a year dedicated to the fund, roughly 16 cents a year per $100,000 of home value” as “Board-discretionary (within the Board’s authority, not yet adopted),” and its own options table calls it “a tax increase: a last resort requiring a Truth in Taxation hearing.” The $4.07 figure is in future dollars. The plan sets a $5.0 million planning allowance for facility improvements; in 2018 the district said the programs could require more than $20 million in capital improvements and associated expenses. The model builds about $26 million of capital capacity through 2054. Linda Brickman’s September 24 article on the same site described Crow’s proposal as a “phased public-private model” with fundraising and sponsorships, and Caracciolo’s as sponsorships, private fundraising and partnerships; it did not propose a student fee. The quote above joins two passages, marked with …: the fee paragraph, and the last sentence of the plan’s indexing term, which begins “Indexed to inflation after the first season, subject to annual Board approval.”

Sources: Football “Strategic Framework” linked from Change4Maricopa (unsigned) (Unsigned document linked from Change4Maricopa) Football “Financial Model” linked from Change4Maricopa (unsigned) (Unsigned spreadsheet linked from Change4Maricopa) Change4Maricopa: football campaign page Screenshot

Winder tells voters to vote for her, Crow and Caracciolo.

In her campaign video on the Change4Maricopa slate’s Instagram account, Winder closes by naming her running mates and their seats. The video ends on a card paid for by all three campaigns and authorized by all three candidates.

“So remember vote Ryan Caracciolo who is on the West Side and John Crow who is member at large and Susan Winder who is in central Phoenix. Thank you.”

Susan Winder, September 1, 2026

She asks for your vote for the whole ticket, not just her.

Context

The frames show the video’s own on-screen captions, which split the sentence across three screens, and its end card. The quote was checked by listening.

Source: Change4Maricopa on Instagram: Susan Winder campaign video (Instagram, @change4maricopa) Screenshot

Crow says he is running with Caracciolo and Winder. Crow’s video misspells both their names.

In his campaign video on the Change4Maricopa slate’s Instagram account, Crow names both running mates and the parts of the county they would represent. The video’s own on-screen captions spell their names “Carrasciolo” and “Wender.” It ends on the same card paid for and authorized by all three.

“I'm running with a highly qualified team of professionals like Ryan Caracciolo in the West Valley and Susan Winder in the Central Valley all the way up north to Anthem.”

John David Crow, September 1, 2026

They ask for your vote as one team. Their own video gets two of their names wrong.

Context

The captions are burned into the video the Change4Maricopa slate posted; its end card spells both names correctly. The quote follows what he says, checked by listening.

Source: Change4Maricopa on Instagram: John Crow campaign video (Instagram, @change4maricopa) Screenshot

On Caracciolo’s ticket

Ryan Caracciolo chose to run with Susan Winder.

These are Winder’s statements, not Caracciolo’s:

See the financial context and questions to answer

Keep reading the records

District 3Susan WinderMember at large, countywideJohn David Crow