Democrat Andres Cano appointed to Pima County Board of Supervisors

Democrat Andrés Cano is the newest member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 to appoint the former state lawmaker to the District 5 seat.

District 4 Supervisor Steve Christy, the sole Republican on the board, did not attend the meeting.

Cano launched his political career in the District 5 office, having started as an intern while in high school. He started working in the office full-time in 2012 and left after winning a seat in the Arizona House of Representatives in 2018. He resigned from his seat in 2023 to pursue a master’s degree in public administration at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He most recently worked as a lobbyist for the City of Tucson.

Cano said he was honored by the appointment.

 “This is a full-circle moment,” Cano said. “Fifteen years ago, I entered this very hearing room as a 14-year-old intern in the county’s summer youth employment. I spent four years learning the basics of our county government, first in the wastewater department, then in the county administrator’s office, and finally in the District 5 office under Supervisor Richard Elías.”

The three Democratic supervisors praised the pool of applicants for the seat but said Cano’s experience made him the best choice.

“I think we need somebody in this seat who can hit the ground running with experience around the Board of Supervisors,”  said District 3 Supervisor Jen Allen, who made the motion to appoint Cano.

District 2 Supervisor Matt Heinz, who seconded the motion, said that “what this board must do is seek someone who is ready at this moment with as much knowledge as possible.”

Board Chair Rex Scott, who represents District 1, said when he interviewed Cano as part of the appointment process, “it was as if I was engaged in dialog with someone who was already a supervisor, such was the extent of his extensive knowledge and obvious preparation.”

Cano was sworn into office after the vote by Pima County Superior Court Judge Danelle Liwski and then joined his fellow supervisors on the dais.

“My journey has always been about community, and today I bring that same energy, experience and devotion to this new role,” Cano said. “District 5 raised me, and I’m ready to return that gift by doing what I’ve always done: Show up, listen and get to work. So let’s get to work.”

The District 5 seat was vacant because Democrat Adelita Grijalva stepped down on March 31 to launch a campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives seat left vacant by the death of her father, longtime congressman Raúl Grijalva.

Cano’s term will run through the 2026 midterms, when a special election will determine who will serve out the remainder of the term through 2028.

District 5 stretches through Midtown Tucson from the West Side area of Tucson Mountain Park to East Side precincts around Wilmot Road. Nearly half the voters are registered Democrats — 49 percent — while 15 percent are registered Republicans and the remainder are independent of the two major parties.

A total of six applicants applied for the job. The other candidates included Pima Community College Governing Board Member Karla Morales, engineer Cynthia Abril Sosa Ontiveros, retired teacher Lewis David Araiza, Sr., county employee Kimberly Baeza and retiree Richard Hernandez.

By a 4-0 vote, Cano will replace Grijalva as the county’s representative on the Visit Tucson Board of Directors. The supervisors also voted 4-0 to appoint Heinz as the county’s representative on the Regional Transportation Authority Board, which is in the process of developing a new 20-year transportation plan to present to voters.