Sylvia M. Lee will represent District 3 on the Pima County Board of Supervisors for the remainder of former Supervisor Sharon Bronson’s term.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors appointed Lee in a 3-1 vote on Tuesday, and she will serve through the end of 2024. Steve Christy, the only Republican on the board, voted no.
The board cycled through motions to appoint three other candidates before selecting Lee. The first motion was made to appoint April Ignacio — a Tohono O’odham community organizer at the forefront of justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Arizona — to the position.
Ignacio could be the first Indigenous person to ever serve on the board and lead District 3, which encompasses most of her tribe’s 2.8 million acres of land.
Grijlava and Supervisor Matt Heinz voted in favor of Ignacio while supervisors Christy and Rex Scott voted no, prompting a tie-breaking vote from county clerk Melissa Manriquez, who also voted no.
“As much as I wanted to believe that there was a chance for true representation, I knew that the possibility of that happening was going to be very slim,” Ignacio told Arizona Luminaria over the phone after the board meeting.
“I’m used to being told no, it’s not a deterrent for me,” she continued, adding that she was already back to business helping her organization, Indivisible Tohono, load gifts for its annual sock drive.
The board’s disagreement was primarily over whether to choose a person who would serve as a placeholder or a person who plans to run for the seat in 2024.
About half of the District 3 seat applicants, including Ignacio, indicated they would seek the position in next year’s election. Ignacio noted there was still time for candidates to jump in the race, although Lee said at an online public forum last week she would not run for the position in next year’s election.
“I hope she does … and she has that absolute right,” Ignacio said, adding that she was looking forward to the primary and focusing on her campaign.
‘I have big shoes to fill’
Bronson had represented District 3 since 1996 and she resigned last month for health reasons.
The eight applicants to fill the District 3 position were: Brian Johnson, Kristen Randall, Joe L. Machado, April Ignacio, Matthew A. Kopec, Jennifer Allen, Edgar F. Soto and Sylvia M. Lee.
Next year, voters will elect a new supervisor to a four-year term. Five people have already filed preliminary candidate paperwork: Democrats Ignacio, Allen and Kathryn Mikronis, independent Iman-Utopia Layjou Bah and Republican Janet Wittenbraker, who ran for mayor of Tucson this year.
Pima County partisan candidates have until April 8 to file, according to the county’s website.
Lee is the only supervisor of Chinese descent now serving on the board. She was previously elected to office by voters in the same district boundaries to represent them on the Pima Community College governing board from 2013 to 2018.
Lee also is the chair of the Arizona Asian Pacific Islander Democratic Caucus. She is a board member of Las Doñas de Tucson, Literacy Connects and Goodwill of Southern Arizona. She holds a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy studies from Arizona State University.
Doling out hugs and thanks to supporters and fellow board members after she was appointed on 3-1 vote, Lee said she is honored to replace Bronson.
“I have big shoes to fill,” she said, adding that she hopes to do “the best for constituents of District 3 and all people in Pima County.”
Asked what issue she hopes to tackle first, she said, “The key thing is the border issue,” naming violence in Sasabe, the recent shooting of an American citizen on a highway in Sonora and the closing of the Lukeville port of entry.
“I want to make sure everyone understands that migrants are legal,” she said, referring to asylum seekers crossing the border to access their legal right to asylum procedures.
‘A unique and valuable perspective’
Board Chair Adelita Grijlava on Tuesday first moved April Ignacio as her first choice for the appointment.
“As a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, Ms. Ignacio brings a unique and valuable perspective to the board it has never had before, an Indigenous voice,” Grijlava said.
“The Nation occupies much of D3 and April would be the first member of the Nation to serve on the board,” she continued. “For Pima County, it would help establish a better working relationship with our partners, the Tohono O’odham Nation and Pascua Yaqui communities, and bring a lived experience of living in rural Pima County.”
Scott voted no on Ignacio because he said the board should not “confer the advantage of incumbency” on anyone who plans to run in 2024.
“Even if it is not our intention, there will be people in the community who believe we want that person to be elected as the District 3 supervisor,” he said. “My preference is to appoint someone who has said that they will serve out the balance of Supervisor Bronson’s term but will not seek a term in their own right.”
After Scott’s comments, a majority of the board went on to vote no for Ignacio and Allen’s appointments to the District 3 seat before a majority voted in favor of Lee. One motion to appoint Randall to the position failed before a vote.
During public comment, two people expressed support for Ignacio’s appointment, including Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly.
Cázares-Kelly made history in 2020 by becoming the first Indigenous person to hold a countywide seat in Pima County and the third to hold a county-level office in Arizona, according to various local news reports.
“In short, she’s already extremely present in District 3 and has been working for years to positively impact the community, imagine what she could do with a title, funding and the county’s support,” Cázares-Kelly said. “There are many wonderful, qualified candidates but she alone has the unique and deep knowledge and understanding of the Native and tribal communities, as well as rural.”
Five people during public comment also spoke in favor of Soto’s appointment to the District 3 seat.
Additionally, dozens of comment letters in support of some of the applicants were submitted to the board ahead of Tuesday’s meeting. Most were in support of Ignacio, Allen and Randall.
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