Yassamin Ansari resigns from Phoenix City Council; replacement to be picked in April

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Phoenix City Council is looking at April 9 to appoint a replacement for outgoing Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari, who will resign from City Council on March 28 to run for Congress, she announced Monday.

The vacancy sets off a 10-day window for individuals to announce their candidacy for the seat in a special election and gives the council 15 days to appoint a temporary replacement, according to city code.

Ansari sent a letter to Mayor Kate Gallego and the City Council announcing her departure. In it, she celebrated accomplishments related to homelessness and housing, climate policies, education and local investments in public safety, libraries and parks.

"It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve over 1.6 million Phoenix residents as a councilwoman and vice mayor," Ansari wrote. "I continue to believe Phoenix is one of the most dynamic and promising cities in the world."

Ansari represents District 7 in parts of downtown and the southwest portion of the city, including the growing Laveen and Estrella Mountain areas.

While she announced her bid for the U.S. House of Representatives in Arizona's Third Congressional District months ago, state law requires Ansari to resign once she files her petition to get on the ballot. Ansari seeks to replace Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego who is running for the U.S. Senate seat that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent, is vacating.

Ansari's vacancy triggers a replacement process and later, a special election. City Clerk Denise Archibald said the city would schedule the special election for November 2024, coinciding with the 2024 general election.

Archibald said once the vacancy occurs, the city will post a packet full of procedures and forms for interested candidates, and that they would be able to immediately collect signatures to be placed on the ballot.

But Ansari, who's term expires April 21, 2025, was already up for re-election in November. That means the November ballot will hold two elections for the same Phoenix District 7 seat: one race for the special election and one race for the regular election.

The special election winner would assume office the first business day after the canvassing of the votes, and the regular election winner would be sworn into office in late April.

The process to be considered for appointment is different than running to be elected to the seat.

The appointee is selected by a majority vote of the council and Mayor Kate Gallego. That person stands to gain the advantage of incumbency if they seek election to the seat.

City code says the appointee must be a "qualified elector residing in the district," and that any council member may nominate a candidate. Neither the code, nor the city website, lays out a process for members of the public to put their name up for consideration.

The first candidate to receive majority approval of the council will fill the vacancy, and candidates are voted upon in the order in which they were nominated, city code says. While the process occurs in a public meeting, which the mayor leads, it is unclear how the council determines which candidate to vote on first.

A spokesperson for Mayor Gallego declined to comment on whom she would consider nominating and the process, saying it was still being worked out. The mayor's office offered April 9 as a potential date for considering nominations.

Phoenix City Council last appointed members in 2018, when former councilmembers Kate Gallego and Daniel Valenzuela resigned their seats to run for mayor. In those processes, former Mayor Thelda Williams called on interested candidates alphabetically and gave each five minutes to pitch themselves at a public meeting.

Councilman Jim Waring criticized the process at the time, saying it was inappropriate to put people on council who would plan to later run for the seat. Incumbency gives them a leg up, he said, despite having not been elected in the first place.

"For democracy, right? It seems like there should be one person in the district who selected them, but that's actually not the case with this system," Waring said. "I personally believe we should be picking independents who are not going to run for the office and then let voters decide at the next opportunity."

He added: "There's always a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff going on regarding these appointments."

Read the councilwoman's full resignation letter.

Taylor Seely covers Phoenix for The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 480-476-6116.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Yassamin Ansari announces resignation from Phoenix City Council