Trey Young, 26, of Scottsdale, Named New Supreme Leader of Arizona Americans Elect Party After Defeating Incumbent in Leadership Fight

CHANDLER, Ariz., Apr. 26, 2013 – 

Trey Young of Scottsdale was installed as the new Supreme Leader of the Arizona Americans Elect Party tonight.  His installation followed a mixed martial arts bout with the party’s former Supreme Leader, Richard Grayson, that took place as an exhibition match of a card put on by local promotion World Fighting Federation MMA at Wild Horse Pass Casino in Chandler.

The Arizona Americans Elect Party is Arizona’s fifth ballot-qualified political party, currently with 266 registered voters.  Its first candidates appeared on the 2012 ballot: Grayson, of Apache Junction, as the candidate in the Fourth Congressional District, and Stephen Dolgos of New River was the candidate in the Eighth Congressional District. 

The Americans Elect Party candidates for Congress from Arizona garnered the fourth highest number of votes in 2012, finishing ahead of the long-established Arizona Green Party. 

By party tradition and its by-rules, the new Supreme Leader has to be selected from among party members who declare their candidacy and who then defeat the old Supreme Leader in the combat of his choice.

Young, 26, of Scottsdale, won the party leadership decisively when he stopped the 61-year-old Grayson one minute into the second round after five minutes of a slugfest to open the fight. 

Grayson, 5’6” and 152 pounds, came forward 20 seconds in with a step-in right elbow. But Young, 6’1” and 165 pounds, had no qualms firing back and landed a good left hook. Young chased Grayson down and landed punches and a head kick. Then he gestured for the party’s founding leader to come forward – and he did, landing a good shot of his own, then a solid left jab.

Young kept coming forward with a relentless pace, and the two traded big bombs in tight before Young clinched Grayson up and looked to land elbows. Moments later, Grayson had Young backing up with a left hand, then several shots to the body that put the challenger on the canvas.

Grayson got on top and went to work with the ground and pound with Young going into survival mode from his guard. Young expertly locked in a triangle choke that was deep and appeared to have Grayson in trouble. But Grayson escaped and with the fight back on the feet for the last 20 seconds of the round, Young had Grayson backing up eating punches.

The two traded punches early in the second, and Young quickly got in and landed some giant knees that cut opened up a cut below Grayson’s eye. Young kept the pressure on and landed big punches on the ground, and with Grayson's knee on the canvas, he landed big elbows to the body as Grayson covered up. From there, the referee had seen enough and ended the match.

"I think Richard did a good job as the Arizona American Elect party’s founder, but I think I proved it’s time for a younger, more dynamic leader to take over," Young said. "He hurt me really bad with that body shot. I was really close to being incapacitated and unable to defend myself, but I know that in political fights, you need to come back with everything you’ve got. I look forward to being the Supreme Leader of Arizona’s fastest-growing political party."

Grayson congratulated the new Americans Elect Party Supreme Leader on his win and pledged his loyalty.  “Trey has proven he has what it takes to run an impressive and aggressive campaign for the Arizona Americans Elect party,” Grayson said.  “He’ll be a strong leader.  He was obviously stronger than I was tonight.” 

Young asked Grayson to stay on as the party’s Artistic Director, and Grayson agreed, saying he would help the new Supreme Leader recruit candidates for Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Education Commissioner, Corporation Commissioner, and for all the seats in the Arizona State Legislature and U.S. House Congressional delegation that are up in 2014.  But according to party by-laws, the outgoing Supreme Leader must go into exile from the state and at the end of the month, Grayson will leave Arizona and return to his native Brooklyn. 

Anyone interested in running for office should contact the party’s new Supreme Leader.  According to the party’s by-laws, Trey Young can be challenged for the party leadership only after the 2014 election.  Grayson has ruled out a rematch.

"It's a new day for the Arizona Americans Elect Party, and we party members look forward to a more collective form of leadership going into the 2014 election," said Irina Tereshkova, a registered Americans Elect party voter and a spectator at the Wild Horse Pass Casino who embraced the victor following the bout as the crowd cheered wildly.