Familiar foes in District 1

This year's race looks a lot like the 2020 race ... Scott and Spain face off for second time ... Sheriff stops posting mugshots.

Voters are in for a rematch in District 1 as both candidates from the 2020 race vie for a seat on the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

Democratic Supervisor Rex Scott faces Republican Steve Spain, who Scott beat by just 730 votes last time around. Back then, they were competing to replace former Supervisor Ally Miller, a conservative firebrand who decided not to seek a third term.

This year’s race could be just as competitive. Neither candidate has much of an advantage when it comes to voters registered for their party.

The district, which includes Catalina Foothills, Casas Adobes, and Oro Valley, is evenly split among Democrats, Republicans, and voters who aren’t affiliated with a major party.

During Scott’s first term as supervisor, he championed an ordinance that required people to report a lost or stolen firearm within two days, which prompted a lawsuit from the Goldwater Institute.

The top accomplishment Scott cited on his campaign website was the creation of the Pima Early Education Program scholarship program that has helped thousands of children enroll in preschool.

Scott helped lead the effort to stop the City of Tucson from charging residents of unincorporated areas more for water.

Earlier this year, he pushed back on a proposal to raise property tax rates, saying the county should make sure its house is in order before asking voters to pay more.

Spain describes himself as a constitutionalist and believes “laws exist to rein in government first,” as he put it on his campaign website.

He plans to adhere closely to provisions in the state constitution about what a county supervisor’s role should be, he said in his interview with the Tucson Metro Chamber.

Spain calls the county’s spending “reckless” and says he would cut the budget and reduce taxes.¹

He said he would support the regional transportation plan known as RTA Next, but not if “the City of Tucson makes out like a bandit.”

Scott was one of the most successful fundraisers in Pima County during the primary season, when he fended off a challenge from newcomer Jake Martin. Scott still has $85,000 in campaign cash on hand.

His biggest donations were $6,650 from Omar Mireles of HSL Properties, $5,000 from attorney Ted Schmidt, and $2,500 each from real estate brokers James Horvath and Craig Courtney and real estate developer Richard Price. He also got $1,500 from the Southwest Gas political action committee and $1,000 from the Cox Arizona PAC.

Spain trails Scott quite a bit with fundraising. He has about $13,000 in campaign cash on hand.

His biggest donations were $5,250 from real estate developer Steve Nannini and $3,500 from Lynnette Munoz. He also got $2,050 from the Southern Arizona Conservative Association (formerly Freedom Works) political action committee.

We couldn’t find any upcoming candidate forums for District 1 (please email curt@tucsonagenda.com if you hear about any). Scott and Spain were scheduled to speak at an August 31 forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson. Spain didn’t show up and Scott read a statement to the audience.

Sharp words: Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall today and the venue’s namesake had some harsh criticism for him in an Instagram post, KOLD reports. Linda Ronstadt said “there is no forgiving or forgetting the heartbreak he caused,” especially with regard to the separation of asylum-seeking families at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Still getting paid: University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins is stepping down next month, but he’ll still get paid until July 2026 under the terms of his contract, the Arizona Daily Star’s Ellie Wolfe reports. His annual base pay is $734,000, after he took a 10% pay cut in March as the university dealt with its financial crisis.

No more mugshots: The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has stopped posting inmate booking photos online, after an appeals court ruled Maricopa County violated pretrial detainees’ right to be presumed innocent, Arizona Public Media’s Hannah Cree reports. Pima County joins Cochise, Yuma, and Gila counties in stopping the practice.

Remembering 9/11: Tucson Fire Chief Chuck Ryan was a firefighter in Fairfax County, Virginia when terrorists crashed a plane into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. He was one of the firefighters who responded to the scene, which he described as “surreal,” KVOA’s Jafet Serrato reports.

Feedback welcome: The City of Tucson set up a series of forums and working sessions to get feedback from the public about Plan Tucson, the city’s 20-year general plan that officials want to put on the ballot in November 2025. You can find the schedule of forums here.

Long road: Building ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border is a long, complicated process. Down in Douglas, where a new commercial port is planned, the city is ready to donate 80 acres for the project, but they’re not sure whether the Arizona Department of Transportation will build the road needed to connect the port to State Route 80, the Herald/Review’s Lyda Longa reports.

35: The percentage of voters in Pima County who are not part of either major political party.

1. Spain’s claims that Pima County engages in “deficit spending” and the county was “bankrupt” spurred Scott to launch a rebuttal campaign this week in op-eds in the Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Sentinel.