Who's running for Tempe's City Council in 2024? Meet your candidates

Sam Kmack, Arizona Republic
Updated ·7 min read

Tempe voters will have a variety of choices this month as they cast ballots for three of five City Council candidates, ranging from a former Green Beret to a public relations professional who's worked inside City Hall to a school psychologist who is making his first foray into politics.

The March 12 election could have a major impact on what direction Tempe will take regarding such key city issues as affordable housing, homelessness, casita expansion and economic growth.

Voting starts in just two weeks as early ballots will start being mailed out on Feb. 14. Residents can mail their votes back until March 5. After that, they have to find a location on Maricopa County's website to either vote in person at a voting site or drop off their ballot in a drop box.

Two incumbents and three challengers are on the ballot. Councilmembers Randy Keating and Doreen Garlid are seeking a third and second term on the council, respectively. Hugo Tapia, David Lucier and Nikki Amberg are all making their first runs for public office.

Candidates take questions: Tempe City Council has an election starting in a month. Here's what the candidates promise

One of the newcomers is guaranteed to win because the third open council seat is vacant. Councilmember Joel Navarro left it empty when he decided not to seek reelection after 16 years, opting to pursue a Maricopa County Board of Supervisors position.

Here's a quick breakdown of who's on the ballot, where they come from, what they do and who in Tempe is backing their bid for office.

Nikki Amberg

Nikki Amberg is a public relations consultant who's running for her first term on the City Council. She spent a year as a council aide for Councilmember Jennifer Adams, has served on multiple PTO boards and regularly works with local nonprofits as part of her PR work.
Nikki Amberg is a public relations consultant who's running for her first term on the City Council. She spent a year as a council aide for Councilmember Jennifer Adams, has served on multiple PTO boards and regularly works with local nonprofits as part of her PR work.

Amberg is a Louisiana native who moved to Tempe 25 years ago after graduating college. She has two daughters and works as a public relations consultant for a company called Zonacajun, which includes nonprofits and political organizations.

Amberg has been involved in a long list of community organizations, from the Tempe Community Council Board to the PTO Board of Waggoner Elementary School, to the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona. She also spent a year working inside City Hall as an aide to Councilmember Jennifer Adams.

Of the three challengers on this year's ballot, Amberg is the one most closely aligned with the current City Council's approach to development and its strategy to boost Tempe's general housing stock as a means to combat rising prices.

One staple of Amberg's campaign revolves around her nonprofit work. She's proposed to use partnerships with those groups to make up for the tens of millions in budget cuts Tempe is expecting once a state law banning rental taxes takes effect next year. She's talked specifically about ramping up those partnerships to curb homelessness.

The Professional Firefighters of Arizona, Arizona List and the Tempe Chamber of Commerce have all endorsed Amberg. Her other endorsements include both Mayor Corey Woods and former Mayor Neil Giuliano, as well as Councilmembers Jennifer Adams, Berdetta Hodge and Joel Navarro.

Doreen Garlid

Doreen Garlid is vying for a second term on the City Council. She's spent the past four years spearheading efforts to combat homelessness through efforts such as establishing the CARE and HOPE line and expanding the city's Care 7 crisis intervention team.
Doreen Garlid is vying for a second term on the City Council. She's spent the past four years spearheading efforts to combat homelessness through efforts such as establishing the CARE and HOPE line and expanding the city's Care 7 crisis intervention team.

Garlid is the first Native American elected to Tempe's City Council. She's a member of the Navajo Nation whose uncle was a Navajo Code Talker in the U.S. Marines. During her time on the council, she helped make Indigenous People's Day an official city holiday and spearheaded Tempe's adoption of an official land acknowledgment.

Since taking office in 2020, Garlid has spent her first term leading Tempe's efforts to combat homelessness. She advocated for funding boosts that helped establish the city's CARE and HOPE line, which people can call to get assistance for someone who's homeless or in crisis, and expanded the city's Care 7 crisis response team.

Garlid has also been a driver behind Tempe Refresh, a program that's funded maintenance and repairs on public facilities such as parks throughout Tempe.

Serving on the City Council is Garlid's only job "besides being a wife, mom, and grandma." She told The Arizona Republic that it's allowed her to make "a part-time job as a council member a 50-hour-a-week job."

Garlid has a massive list of endorsements on her website that includes U.S. Congressmen Greg Stanton and Ruben Gallego, three former Tempe mayors, all but one of her current council colleagues, the Tempe Officers Association, the Tempe Chamber of Commerce and dozens more organizations and individuals.

Randy Keating

Randy Keating is seeking a third term on the City Council. He's Tempe's youngest councilmember and has spent his time in office spearheading initiatives like Tempe Works, a program that employs homeless individuals, and the expansion of Tempe's pre-school services.
Randy Keating is seeking a third term on the City Council. He's Tempe's youngest councilmember and has spent his time in office spearheading initiatives like Tempe Works, a program that employs homeless individuals, and the expansion of Tempe's pre-school services.

Keating has lived in Tempe for more than two decades and is the longest-serving incumbent on this year's ballot. He was first elected in 2016 when he was only 33 and he remains Tempe's youngest City Council member to this day.

Keating lives in south Tempe and works as a marketing manager for a company called Primus Pharmaceuticals. He's also played a role in regional government organizations, serving on the Maricopa Association of Governments' Economic Development Committee and the Arizona League of Cities and Towns' Public Safety Committee.

During his eight years on the City Council, Keating has led the push to create an initiative called Tempe Works. It helps homeless individuals get off the streets by offering them jobs with the city or local nonprofit groups, and then after 90 days, the city helps set them up with permanent housing.

The two-term incumbent also has championed the expansion of Tempe's preschool program, called Tempe PRE. It serves kids who are 3 and 4 years old and offers low-cost tuition for needy families.

Keating also has a long list of prominent endorsements. His supporters include all of his council colleagues, Stanton and Gallego, three former mayors, three state representatives, four unions and the Tempe Chamber of Commerce.

David Lucier

David Lucier is a former Green Beret who has led the nonprofit Arizona Veterans and Military Leadership Alliance since 2012. He's the candidate most critical of the current city leadership and its approach to development.
David Lucier is a former Green Beret who has led the nonprofit Arizona Veterans and Military Leadership Alliance since 2012. He's the candidate most critical of the current city leadership and its approach to development.

Lucier is a former Green Beret who has spent the last decade leading the Arizona Veterans and Military Leadership Alliance, a nonprofit that serves military veterans and their families. He's also served in many community organizations, from the Planning Area Advisory Board to the Catholic Charities Steering Committee on Homelessness.

He is by far the candidate who is most critical of Tempe's current leadership. His de facto campaign phrase is that the city has "lost its North Star" by catering to developers and rushing to approve large projects in an effort to serve future residents rather than those who currently live in Tempe.

Lucier is also the only candidate who opposes General Plan 2050, an update to the city's planning blueprint that will be on the March ballot, as well. The plan allows taller and denser buildings to be constructed in Tempe's historically more suburban southern half, which has drawn criticism from some residents.

Lucier is endorsed by Tempe 1st, a political organization that opposes large and dense development in Tempe and spearheaded the successful effort to defeat the Arizona Coyotes' $2.1 billion project proposal in May. His campaign also is being run by former Councilmember Lauren Kuby, one of the leaders of Tempe 1st.

Lucier's other endorsements include nonprofit organizations and unions like VoteVets, UFCW Local 99, Arizona Pipe Trades 469 and the Communications Workers of America. He was also recently endorsed by Rep. Gallego.

Hugo Tapia

Hugo Tapia is a psychologist for the Tempe Union High School District and a newcomer to politics. He immigrated to the United States from Mexico when he was 13. If he's elected, he will be Tempe's only Hispanic City Councilmember.
Hugo Tapia is a psychologist for the Tempe Union High School District and a newcomer to politics. He immigrated to the United States from Mexico when he was 13. If he's elected, he will be Tempe's only Hispanic City Councilmember.

Tapia is a political newcomer who moved to Arizona from Mexico when he was 13 years old. He grew up in Somerton before moving to Tempe to study psychology at Arizona State University, where he later earned his doctorate.

He worked for Tempe as a youth and family therapist in the 1990s and now works as a school psychologist for the Tempe Union High School District. Tapia also currently serves as the chair of Tempe's Human Relations Commission.

A central theme of Tapia's campaign has been his desire to represent "marginalized communities" who he believes are living in rundown areas that city leaders neglect while spending tens of millions to renovate more visible parts of Tempe, like Mill Avenue.

Like Lucier, Tapia is more averse to large developments than the others on Tempe's March ticket. He wants to promote the construction of low-rise condos that can be purchased rather than rented like apartments, although he does support General Plan 2050.

Tapia is backed by Tempe 1st, Arizona's pipefitters union, Communication Workers of America, and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Who's running for Tempe's City Council in 2024? Voting starts soon