Tucson election takeaways: Democrats win big, Vail voters don’t want incorporation

The final, unofficial tally shows Democrats scored big in Tucson’s municipal election Tuesday, retaining a monopoly on the mayor's office and City Council.

Pima County election workers wrapped up their initial count of ballots on Tuesday, sending unofficial results to local officials for canvassing, or certification.

Voters overwhelmingly supported incumbent Mayor Regina Romero, who received roughly twice as many votes as her closest challenger. Three incumbent City Council members, all Democrats, also decisively beat back challengers to their seats.

Just south of Tucson, Vail voters sent a clear message, with results on course to show sound rejection of incorporation for a third time in roughly a quarter-century.

In Arizona, recounts are required by state law if a vote margin is equal to or less than half a percent of the total votes cast in the race. In this case, that threshold is around 470 votes. The proposition is currently passing narrowly by about 300 votes.

The recount won't begin until after Tucson officials conduct their canvass of the results, scheduled on Nov. 21. Then, local officials will go to a Pima County court to initiate the recount.

Under Arizona state law, a recount truly means a recount. Election workers will completely retest the county's tabulators, retally the race and repeat a hand count audit of a statistically significant number of ballots.

The results of the recount will later be unsealed in court by a judge.

Because the race is small — less than 100,000 ballots — Elections Director Constance Hargrove said the recount "shouldn't take too long." She hopes the process is complete by the end of the month.

"We should be able to do it in a day," she said.

Here are a few takeaways from what's known now about Tuesday’s election.

Vail voters: poised to give thumbs-down on incorporation for third time

Democrats promise continued investment, close collaboration

Romero celebrated after declaring victory Tuesday night with hundreds of supporters at Brother John’s Beer, Bourbon & BBQ in Tucson.

She pledged to continue to build on her work over the past four years.

“We're going to continue making sure that we invest in affordable housing, that we invest in infrastructure … That we invest in ourselves,” she said to cheers from her supporters.

Nikki Lee, who overwhelmingly defeated her Republican opponent in the race to represent Ward 4 in east and southeast Tucson, said part of her success was down to efforts to build good relationships with the mayor and her city council colleagues.

She said the stakes were high for her ward. In the best-case scenario for the GOP, Republican candidates could have leveled control of the six-member council.

“If you have any representative in a different ward who might not have the willingness to build those relationships, those folks in the ward might not get representation and services," she said.

Lee added that without the willingness to build relationships or work as a team, it's more challenging for a city council member to get things done and advocate for the needs of their ward.

Lane Santa Cruz, who was reelected to represent Ward 1 on the city's west side, said this year, “ideologies were on the ballot.”

She said her opponents wanted to cut support services and safety net programs, but she believed those programs were necessary to help Tucsonans.

“I think the more that we invest in us, and of course not having regressive taxes, but investing in our young people, investing in our families is what's going to create an environment where people can thrive,” Santa Cruz said at the watch party.

She said she hopes to continue working on housing issues and modernizing the city’s aging infrastructure, among a range of other issues.

Vail voters set to again reject incorporation

Vail voters overwhelmingly rejected a measure seeking to make their community an official town.

Proposition 402 would have made the unincorporated community of 20,000 people an official town, a move backers touted as giving their community access to millions of dollars of state-shared revenue.

The election marks the third time Vail incorporation has gone before voters. The first time was in 1995, followed by a vote in 2013, which failed with 55% of voters opposed. The 2023 measure appears on course to be rejected by an even wider margin.

Those against the efforts were concerned incorporation would change their way of life and increase taxes and bureaucracy. Others feared incorporation would clear a path for mass commercial development.

Residents opposing the measure took to social media to voice their excitement.

“Thank you to all who came out and voted tonight!!! We did it!! Prop #402 did NOT PASS!!,” said Nicole Lynn, whose social media shows she was against incorporation.

Another resident responded to his post addressing the contention the measure drew between the two parties.

“Now on to healing the division,” said Judy Beall, whose social media also shows opposition the measure.

'No massive complaints,' official says

Hargrove, the director of elections in Pima County, said despite a few complaints she received and addressed, the election ran smoothly.

“There were no massive complaints or issues,” she said.

On social media, Vail residents commented on issues they had at some of the vote centers. They noted a gas leak scare at Cienega High School, road work creating long lines of traffic, and a lack of signage in one location. Others wondered why two of the three vote centers for Vail residents were in the neighboring community of Corona de Tucson.

Hargrove said all the voting locations were in previously established vote centers, aimed at giving Vail residents more than one place to vote in person. She said Cienega High School did have a gas leak scare, causing the polling center to close for 30 minutes. Poll workers directed voters to the other voting centers.

Hargrove added that she received one traffic complaint but did not receive complaints about road work. In one voting location, someone had moved the voting signage around. Hargrove said once poll workers were alerted to the issue, the signs were returned to their original positions.

Reporter Sasha Hupka also contributed to this story.

Reach the reporter at sarah.lapidus@gannett.com. The Republic’s coverage of southern Arizona is funded, in part, with a grant from Report for America. Support Arizona news coverage with a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Election takeaways: Tucson Dems win big, Vail to reject incorporation