3 members start new terms on Tucson Council; Romero edges up against state law in RTA pitch

The Tucson City Council welcomed two new members Tuesday morning, while Ward 3 Councilmember Kevin Dahl was sworn in to a third term.

Selina Barajas now represents South Side Ward 5, while Miranda Schubert now represents Midtown Ward 6.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero — who used part of her speech to voice support for the RTA Next plan, coming close to a violation of a state law banning electioneering with government resources — told the crowd of roughly 400 gathered at the Tucson Convention Center that she was looking forward to working with the new Council.

“It’s a happy day in Tucson,” Romero said. “Five women elected to the Council, the most we’ve ever had. We have three Latinas. When I first started, I was the first Latina ever elected to the Council. Two amazingly queer colleagues on this Council. This is the most diverse Council we have ever had. I’m so, so proud and happy to serve alongside my colleagues on the Council.”

The three Democrats won their races decisively on Nov. 4. Dahl won 67 percent of the vote against Republican Janet Wittenbraker in his North Side ward, while Schubert won 66 percent of the vote against Republican Jay Tolkoff. Barajas was unopposed in the general election.

Dahl, who eked out an August primary win by just 19 votes against fellow Democrat Sadie Shaw, is a longtime local environmentalist who campaigned on building resiliency in the face of climate change, supporting services for the homeless and assisting low-income Tucsonans.

Dahl thanked his family, campaign team and Ward 3 staff.

“I’m proud to be re-elected to serve the 33rd largest city in the United States, a town we all love,” Dahl said. “I’m proud to serve alongside my incredible colleagues, new colleagues and the mayor. And I’m proud to help lead the resistance to the Trump administration.”

Barajas is a local entrepreneur and consultant who is replacing Democrat Rocque Perez, who had been appointed to the Ward 5 office in May after Democrat Richard Fimbres stepped down in his fourth term to focus on his health.

Perez, who said sitting on the City Council had been “one of the honors of my life,” announced he would seek a seat in District 20 in the Arizona House of Representatives next year.

Barajas won a three-way Democrat primary with 76 percent of the cast ballots.

“I come from a family of public educators, and they taught me to work hard, to take pride in our community, especially on the South Side, and to always do what’s right,” Barajas said. “Long before them, my grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents laid the foundation for the city we get to experience today, and it is my duty to honor their legacy through service to Tucson.”

She was sworn in by her mother, Gracie Rodriguez, and her daughter, Sofia Luna Barajas.

Schubert, who was sworn into office by her mother, Debra Deatherage, will replace Democrat Karin Uhlich on the City Council. Uhlich was appointed to the City Council in 2023 to replace Democrat Steve Kozachik, who stepped down in 2023 to take an administrative job with Pima County.

Schubert is a community organizer who made her political debut in 2021 with an unsuccessful primary bid against Kozachik in Ward 6. She spent the last four years building a political machine that carried her through a three-way primary race in August before winning the November general.

“I look forward to connecting with each councilmember one-on-one on a regular basis and looking for opportunities to collaborate in the service of making Tucson a city that works for everyone, to show up and listen and learn to do that work,” Schubert said. “I vow to work tirelessly, day in and day out, to improve your quality of life and to make us more connected, more trusting of each other – better relationships, really just making Tucson more welcoming, more accessible, safer and more joyful for all.”

The two new councilmembers mean that Tucson’s governing body has its largest group of women ever, as they joined Romero and Councilmembers Nikki Lee and Lane Santa Cruz.

The five-woman composition of the Council may be new, but
Tucson has seen four women hold city office at the same time before. Prior to the
election, Romero, Santa Cruz (who identifies as nonbinary) and Lee were
joined by Uhlich in Ward 6. Back in 2005, Uhlich was elected to the
Council along with Councilmembers Carol West, Shirley Scott and Nina
Trasoff.

The new council voted 4-3 to re-appoint Lane Santa Cruz as vice mayor for the next year, with Santa Cruz, Romero, Barajas and Schubert voting in favor.

Romero pushes RTA Next plan

Following the vote, Romero delivered her annual “Address to Tucsonans.”

“My vision for Tucson is of a safe, just and sustainable city that provides economic opportunity for all Tucsonans,” Romero said. “We have made significant progress over the past six years, but we still face tremendous challenges – an economy that too often works only for those at the top, a state Legislature that ignores our public schools and increasingly takes the burden away from big corporations, placing it at the feet of cities, workers and their families, and a president who is making life more unaffordable for working families by cutting access to health care, to SNAP benefits, to resources for housing, the very things that help people live healthy and good quality lives.”

Romero praised the city’s investments in small business assistance programs, low-income housing, drug treatment and free transit.

“I will never stop fighting for the rights, the dignity, the safety of everyone in our community,” Romero said. “We must be united, as Tucsonans know how to do. We are a welcoming community that has always worked to take care of each other, and as long as I am mayor, we will remain a welcoming community.”

She also voiced support for the coming Regional Transportation Authority propositions, saying “passing the RTA Next in March is crucial to the possibility of keeping a safe, free public transit system and lowering response times for our first responders, as well as increasing road safety.”

“I believe that the RTA Next is an important step in transportation funding,” she said.

Prop. 418 is the $2.6 billion RTA Next transportation plan, while Prop. 419 would continue the current half-cent RTA sales tax to fund the plan for 20 years.

“We need to say yes to investing in ourselves,” Romero said. “I believe that RTA Next is a good investment for Tucson. RTA Next will create approximately 50,000 new jobs and generate over $11.9 billion in economic benefits in our region.”

While she offered a string of details about the impact of the RTA, the mayor stopped short of urging others to back the plan.

Doing so would have put her at odds with an Arizona state law that bars a city from using its resources “for the purpose of influencing the outcome of elections.” That includes ballots measures as well as candidate elections, with the law prohibiting a city from funding public meetings that promote one side or another of an issue.

While Romero is free as a politician to give a speech about any election outside of an official municipal function, doing so during a public Council meeting would violate the law if she said anything to urge anyone else to vote in a particular way. Instead of doing so, the mayor repeatedly mentioned her own beliefs about the RTA, and avoided any direct mention of anyone’s vote in the election.