The Daily Agenda: Ballots incoming

Getting the lay of the land as ballots arrive … Two races to watch … Don’t stop feeding those cats.

The city elections department began mailing out ballots today for the August 1 Tucson City Council and mayoral primary election.

But don’t expect much shakeup to the city’s cast of politicians: A lack of Democratic challengers and an election system that puts Republicans at an unfair disadvantage even in Republican neighborhoods means next year’s city council will look a lot like the current city council. 

There are just two contested primary races: In Ward 1 on Tucson’s west side and Ward 2 on the northeast side. Both of those contests are between Democratic candidates. Every other member of the council and the mayor are running unopposed in their primaries this year.

In Ward 1, Miguel Ortega is challenging first-term incumbent Lane Santa Cruz, which likely will be the tighter of the two races. Ortega ran in 2019 and lost to Santa Cruz in a four-way race, though he’s hopeful this year will be different in a head-to-head.

Both are well-connected in local political circles. Ortega was the chief of staff for former Councilwoman Karin Uhlich during her first term in office. But Uhlich endorsed Santa Cruz in the race, saying the years Ortega worked for her were “not our best years of constituent or neighborhood services.” (Ortega, however, picked up an endorsement from Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik, who said Ortega has proven his commitment to constituent services during their work together on a host of issues.) Santa Cruz used to work for then-Councilwoman Regina Romero and was her hand-picked replacement when Romero left the council.

Ortega has centered his campaign on what he describes as Santa Cruz’s “hostile relationship with local law enforcement.” Santa Cruz told the Arizona Daily Star that police officers are expected to perform too many roles, saying they are not only first responders, but also social workers and therapists, even though “not every situation requires an armed officer response.”

In Ward 2, Paul Cunningham has been in office since 2010 and likely won’t have much trouble fending off a challenge from fellow Democrat Lisa Nutt, a local Realtor and political newcomer.

In both races, the incumbents appear to have a clear financial advantage¹ over their challengers. As of the most recent campaign finance reports, Santa Cruz raised about $14,000, while Ortega raised $4,700. Cunningham raised $29,000, compared to Nutt’s $7,900.

And thanks to the city’s “hybrid” election system — with its ward-only primaries and citywide general elections — November isn’t expected to bring us much excitement in the city races either. However, a potential ballot initiative would ask voters to reconsider that citywide general election system. If organizers can get enough valid signatures from voters to put it on the ballot, it might just be the most exciting race in November. 

The Daily Agenda: An actual sham election

Even though most primaries aren’t competitive this year, at least Republican voters will have somebody to consider for every council seat up for grabs this November. In the last council elections, in 2021, Republicans didn’t bother to field candidates in every race.

And after coasting through her primary unopposed in the mayoral race, incumbent Regina Romero faces a three-way race in the general election, basically ensuring she’ll hold onto her job for another four years. Voters chose Romero over Ed Ackerley in the 2019 race and this year he’ll have to split the votes that Romero doesn’t get with Republican Janet Wittenbraker.

In Ward 4, incumbent Democrat Nikki Lee will face Republican Ross Kaplowitch in the fall. Lee doesn’t appear to face much of a threat from political newcomer Kaplowitch. She is generally well-liked among Tucson’s business conservatives and had the highest score out of any candidate from the Tucson Metro Chamber, while Kaplowitch had one of the lowest. Kaplowitch’s nascent campaign hadn’t raised any money as of April 29, while Lee had raised more than $11,000.

Lee’s district has nearly as many Republicans as Democrats, but she easily dispatched her Republican challenger four years ago. Although the district is competitive, her race likely will not be, in part because Tucson’s hybrid election system means that Lee’s Republican opponent would have to win citywide to win the seat. 

The Tucson Election Equality Act would ask voters to end the city’s hybrid election system, if backers, can get enough valid signatures from registered voters in the city to put it on the ballot in November.

Luis Gonzales, one of the organizers of the proposed initiative, told us that volunteers have collected more than the minimum 14,826 signatures they need to put the question on the ballot, despite having no support from either political party. But he’s concerned they don’t have enough extra signature to fend off a potential lawsuit challenging the validity of individual signatures, should someone file one. The signatures are due Thursday.

“We’re over the threshold. But after they scrutinize them, I don’t know if we’ll have enough to withstand it,” he said. “It’ll all come down to validity rates.”

We’ll find out Thursday if election reform is on the ballot. 

To learn the basics of the candidates, check out their campaign websites: 

Primary election:

Ward 1: Lane Santa Cruz (D), Miguel Ortega (D)

Winner will face: Victoria Lem (R)

Ward 2: Paul Cunningham (D), Lisa Nutt (D), 

Winner will face: Ernie Shack (R), and Pendleton Spicer (L)

November general election:

Ward 4: Nikki Lee (D) and Ross Kaplowitch (R)

Mayor: Regina Romero (D), Janet Wittenbraker (R), and Ed Ackerley (I)

To learn more about where the candidates stand on important local issues, the Tucson Metro Chamber published their evaluation of candidates, which includes video interviews. The Arizona Daily Star’s Nicole Ludden did an overview of Ward 1 candidates and Ward 2 candidates. The Arizona Luminaria wrote about the mayoral candidates.

Wiggle room on water: Arizona’s water director is considering proposals that would allow some developers to use groundwater in fast-growing fringes of Phoenix, a month after he said the state would no longer issue new-home permits in the area. The Arizona Daily Star’s Tony Davis detailed possible changes in state rules that could allow for some growth to move forward on groundwater under specific conditions.

Latest in an ongoing tragedy: A 9-year-old migrant boy who was rescued by Border Patrol agents last month from the desert in Santa Cruz County died in a Mesa hospital, just two days after the rescue, the Tucson Sentinel’s Paul Ingram reports. The remains of 53 migrants have been found so far this year in Southern Arizona. 

More money for police: The Oro Valley Town Council unanimously approved a $148.49 million budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1. General Fund revenues are up slightly, and the town still spends the largest chunk of its General Fund money on police, according to Tucson Local Media’s Dave Perry.

More money for schools: The Nogales Unified School District is holding a special election in November to seek approval of two funding requests: A $26 million bond that would provide the district with additional funding for general maintenance and facility repairs and the continuation of an existing 8% override that would help fund various student programs, as well as recruitment and retention incentives for staff, the Nogales International reports. The bond would cost homeowners about $1.25 per $100 of assessed value.

Nothing against cats: Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik is clearing up some confusion regarding rodent control strategies in midtown in the latest edition of his newsletter. In a previous edition, Kozachik mentioned an idea introduced by the Pima Animal Care Center to use shelter cats as rodent control, saying that if the cats introduced to the area are well fed, they won’t be hungry for mice. Kozachik said he was not suggesting that the cats would not be fed and he has nothing against cats.

The veterinarian can see you now: Tucson pet owners frustrated with long wait times to see their veterinarian will have more options, with the opening of a half-dozen new offices around town, Inside Tucson Business reports. PetWellClinic has just signed a deal to open five locations and longtime mobile practice Dr. Kelly’s Surgical Unit is opening a brick-and-mortar location.

Signed on dotted line: The University of Arizona has completed its acquisition of the controversial University of Arizona Global Campus, with the online option now up and running, according to UA News. The move comes nearly three years after the UA first acquired the assets of a troubled for-profit online school and weeks after regents approved a roughly $249.4 million budget for UAGC.

The early front-runner in campaign contributions in the city election is no longer in the race. Zach Yentzer raised $52,718 as of April 29, but failed to get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. More than one-quarter of that money came out of his own pocket. 

1. Though it’s hard to say for sure who has the most money currently, since the most recent campaign finance reports only cover the period leading up to April 29.