The Democrats have been pretty confident lately. They took control of both houses of congress and made some stunning gains in the legislature. The Republicans are at war with each other over people illegally entering and living in the country. Add to that the fact that the moderates still do not much care for the social conservatives and you have a perfect storm for the Democrats. So one has to ask in a Democrat town in a Democrat year why did they not run a candidate for Mayor of Tucson, the second largest city in Arizona?
The absence of a candidate is glaring. Were they waiting for Walkup to lose support within the business community? The Republicans are not in 2nd place in Tucson voter registration, they are in Third Place, behind Other (independents and no party.) The Democrats have an almost 2-1 advantage over the Republicans. The Republicans that do live in Pima County mostly live outside the city and despite constant pleas from city candidates those outside Tucson do not seem very interested in working for candidates for whom they cannot vote. Quite a missed opportunity.
2 comments:
That's because we are all supporting Dave Croteau this year.
More seriously, I gather it was more a matter of no "serious" candidate was interested. With Walkup the general perception being that Walkup is doing a pretty decent job no second-tier candidate would unseat him.
Some folks were deferring to Leal, who had hinted he might run. Daniel Patterson gave it some serious thought, but then decided (correctly, in my opinion) to fold.
I doubt the national disasters and the forces you cite would have much impact on the Tucson mayor election.
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