After nearly 15 years, Tucson’s Ward 6 will elect a brand new council member.
In early 2024, longtime council member Steve Kozachik announced his resignation to take a position with Pima County. His appointed replacement, Karin Uhlich, stepped into the role but chose not to run in the 2025 election.
The ward covers much of Tucson’s Democratic-leaning midtown, encompassing neighborhoods spanning West University to Colonia Del Valle.
Four candidates are competing to represent the diverse ward, which faces ongoing challenges related to housing, public safety, infrastructure and neighborhood development.
Three Democrats — Miranda Schubert, Leighton Rockafellow Jr. and Jim Sinex — are vying for the party’s nomination. Meanwhile, lone Republican candidate, Jay Tolkoff, is guaranteed a spot in the general election.
Tolkoff was registered as an independent until January of this year. He said the party change was a strategic decision in order to increase his chances of getting elected.
“I don’t have exclusively Republican values and I don’t have exclusively Democrat values. What I have are Tucson values. And I can’t make those Tucson values come to work unless I get into the office. And the easiest path forward seems to be running as a Republican,” he said.
Tolkoff said his business experience and ability to achieve common goals is needed on the council, particularly given his belief that the city needs redirection.
“We are in trouble as a city. All the indicators show that we are not going down the right path,” he said.
Schubert is the only candidate this year who has previously run for the seat, finishing second to incumbent Kozachik in the 2021 race. Schubert said her primary motivations for running for office are her experience helping start the labor union at the University of Arizona and her interest in the city budget and how money is spent, spurred by the 2020 George Floyd protests and increased scrutiny of public safety spending.
“I’m definitely coming to this position with the perspective of a community organizer,” she said, adding that those experiences and her experiences as a member of Tucson’s Board of Adjustment and Complete Streets Coordinating Council have given her “really good grounding in how local decisions are made and how policy is shaped and really helped me to learn that it’s not just about having good ideas or having the right priorities but also knowing what the constraints are and and where the opportunities are.”
This is Rockafellow’s first time running for city council. He is a lifelong Tucsonan, who was happy with Kozachik as a council member but still sees opportunities for improvement.
“I want to make Tucson a place that provides the type of opportunities that I didn’t have as a kid, and that was so long ago, and yet, I still see we are lacking,” he said.
Rockafellow said his long-time residence in the community and his career as a personal injury attorney are key qualifications for the role.
Sinex is also a first-time candidate and said he has been disappointed in the system for around 20 years. His decision to run for office came abruptly.
“I said, ‘You know, I’ve had this 20-year argument with the city of Tucson with their voting system. And there’s an empty seat,’” he said.
Sinex describes himself as an “ideas” candidate.
“I’m running an ideas-first campaign which is an old school way of doing things,” he said, adding he’s bringing unique ideas to the table, like a revenue-producing solar power initiative.
Here’s where the candidates land on key issues.
Budgets reflect values
Tucson city officials have painted a bleak budget picture for the city amid the federal funding uncertainty, the loss of revenue from a state-level flat tax and Tucson voters rejecting a city-proposed sales tax, Prop. 414, this spring.
How will candidates weigh what funding is essential, and where they’ll cut back or fight for more, if they are elected?
Schubert said she believes the budget should prioritize investments that help people, ranging from basic needs like access to drinking water, shade, places to sit and restrooms, to a variety of housing types that meet community needs.
“I think broadly speaking when we are looking at the budget, it’s a moral document and where we choose to invest is a reflection of our values and our priorities,” she said.
Schubert said she wants to divert funds from areas like excessive jail costs, investing instead in mental health services and safer roads.
She also wants to prioritize a continuum of housing options, ranging from emergency shelters to permanently supportive housing, to address homelessness. Additionally, she’s for creating an environment conducive to business flourishing, but cautions against attracting industries like data centers that may hurt more than help in the long-run.
“The monetary benefit is one aspect, but when you look at the long-term risk to our water security and the environmental impacts, these have serious consequences for the livability of Tucson in the future,” she said.
Rockafellow believes the budget reflects priorities, and that during budget shortfalls, the city should prioritize core services like transportation, police, fire, parks, courts, water and utilities.
“In times of budget surplus, which does happen, then we can go back to these additional projects that are that make our city better, but that I believe should be reserved for times when the money is available and should not be taken away from those core services,” he said.
What to know about voting in the Primary Election
Most Tucson voters will vote by mail. Early voting starts July 9. The last day to drop your ballot in the mail is July 30. Primary Election Day is Aug. 5.
Helpful links:
- Check your voter registration
- Find out which city ward you live in
- See a list of ballot drop-off and voting sites
Independents
Registered independent voters can vote in this partisan primary, either by returning a postcard indicating whether they want to receive a Democratic or Republican ballot or by contacting the City Clerk’s office at 520-791-4213 or cityclerk@tucsonaz.gov. The deadline to request a ballot is July 23. After that, independent voters can vote at any voting location on Election Day.
Rockafellow said homelessness is his number one concern for the city.
Sinex said his first priority is finding new revenue streams for the city. One idea is placing solar panels everywhere.
“We can convert the city of Tucson’s electric bill to a resource that can be used by the people by putting solar panels on everything that the government does and doing it tax-free,” he said.
His other priority is making sure that Tucson is living “within our desert means” and has a more representative city council.
Tolkoff isn’t convinced the city needs more money. Rather, he’d like to improve how it uses its existing budget. He thinks the budget should prioritize the basics.
“Having parks that are usable and having streets that are drivable and having public safety,” he said.
Tolkoff said the city has a lot of “luxury ideas” like free transit. These are not expenses he supports.
“I just disagree with the way they’re implementing it. We’re doing things, like I said, like Housing First. I mean, we’re allocating hundreds of millions of dollars to that and we’re not getting very good results.” he said.
He believes the city mismanages government contracting and suggests the city use its existing paving equipment and recycled asphalt to reduce road repair costs.
“There’s money going away to places that shouldn’t be going and somebody needs to dig into it and I want to do that,” he said.
Housing and homelessness a top concern
Housing insecurity and homelessness weigh heavily on the minds of voters and their representatives, especially in Ward 6.
Tucson’s population is projected to grow 7.5% to 603,724 by 2045 (up from 561,548 in 2023), the city must add more than 62,000 housing units to meet current and future needs, according to a housing assessment from public policy firm ECOnorthwest.
The city council passed a new zoning tool to address this issue, and has worked to purchase old motels to redevelop into affordable housing.
Yet, with more than 2,000 people living without housing in Tucson, the treatment and placement of this vulnerable community are constant points of discussion. City officials passed a new ordinance criminalizing sleeping in washes and made it illegal for people to stand in certain medians.
On one hand, some critics say the city’s approach destabilizes and puts the community at further risk, especially amid extreme heat. While others criticize the amount of resources the city has put toward the issue and its unsatisfactory results.
More people are finding shelter and fewer are living on the streets, but the number of chronically homeless people has grown by more than 5% since 2024, according to the 2025 Point-In-Time Count by the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness.
Research from the University of Arizona shows that homelessness in Tucson persists in part because of a housing system that makes rental or homeownership access unaffordable, the ongoing flow of people into homelessness through eviction and high rent, and a homeless service system that means many people never receive any help.
Here is where the candidates stand on the issue:
Schubert said she wants to help people find housing and would have opposed the wash ordinance given the chance.
“That’s not because I don’t think that people deserve to feel safe,” she explained. “I think we need to offer people a place to be. Right now unhouse people aren’t really allowed to be anywhere,” she said.
Schubert said the city council needs to create a secure and supportive housing pathway for people experiencing homelessness, beginning with emergency shelters and extending to transitional and permanent supportive housing. Additionally, she said the investment needs to not only be in housing but also in employment opportunities that help individuals move toward stability and independence. She’s advocating for community-based response systems by partnering with local providers and advocacy groups to address encampments with humanity and practical support.
“[To] ensure that in these situations when people are calling in about some encampment near their house that somebody’s there to respond and to help try to make the situation better,” she said.
Rockafellow said homelessness is his number one concern for the city.
“If elected, I want to dedicate as much time as possible to improving the current crisis that we are facing. The people that are living in our streets are having to turn to crime, property crime and theft,” he said.
Rockafellow believes Tucson’s city government alone cannot solve the crisis and calls for a coordinated, citywide response that brings together nonprofits, mutual aid groups and institutions like the University of Arizona. He suggests a centralized homeless mitigation center to align goals, share data and make more effective use of existing resources. As immediate steps, he supports expanding low-barrier shelters that offer basic safety, hygiene and access to services, arguing that a sense of security is essential for people to begin addressing deeper issues like addiction or mental health. He also supports creative prevention strategies, like city council member Paul Cunningham’s rent payment assistance proposal.
“Collaboration is the absolute essence of how we are going to start to see some real improvements in the current situation,” he said.
Sinex said he recognizes the city doesn’t have a lot of disposable income, therefore the solution must be easily attainable. Sinex also said he is possibly the only candidate that has actually experienced homelessness, having had to live out of his car and a tent for three weeks.
“So, I was lucky. But I can tell you it’s debilitating. It works on your head,” he said.
He proposes a simple, memorable phone number that connects people to a dispatcher who can help with issues like homelessness, providing bus tickets, temporary shelter in tiny houses and other assistance to help people get their lives back in order.
“Homelessness is older than the written word. So, if they tell you they can solve it, they’re lying to you,” he said, but added there are low-cost ways to make it easier to help people who are actively or on the brink of homelessness.
Tolkoff said the city’s current Housing First approach seems ineffective given homelessness has increased.
“I think that the mistake that we’re making as a city is that we’re trying to paint a solution to a very complicated, very diverse problem with a very broad brush. There is not a one-size-fits-all to ending homelessness,” he said.
Tolkoff said he leans towards solutions like the transition center at the Pima County jail. He wants the approach to homelessness to be data-driven and diagnostic.
A bumpy ride: how would candidates fix Tucson’s roads?
Tucson residents often voice frustration about the poor conditions of local roads, from potholes to delayed expansion projects or unprotected bike lanes.
Much of that work has been funded by Proposition 101, a half-cent sales tax approved in 2017 that will eventually collect $250 million. Of that money, $100 million is being used for road improvements, according to the city. Of that $100 million, 60% will go to major roads, while 40% is slated for local street improvement. So far, the project has completed 96% of its total 897 lane miles.
Schubert said she hears about the road conditions all the time and experiences them, herself, as an avid bike rider.
“Prop. 411, which was passed a few years ago to repair all the neighborhood roads, is working really well. I think just the sad reality is there’s so many roads to repair that inevitably some neighborhoods are going to be lower down on the list and are maybe still waiting,” Schubert said.
Schubert spoke about her work on the Complete Streets Coordinating Council, which helps identify opportunities to combine road repaving with safety improvements like sidewalks, using survey data to target areas with high pedestrian risk.
“I think that kind of approach is really smart and I’d like to see more of that kind of thing happening,” she said. “For example like ‘oh we’re going to be repaving this road, we have other information that we’ve collected through surveys like Move Tucson that tell us this area is really susceptible to pedestrian incidents because there’s no sidewalks.’”
Schubert wants smarter, layered infrastructure investments that address long-neglected neighborhood roads and maximize limited funding.
Schubert is critical of the proposed RTA Next plan because she believes it unfairly favors suburban sprawl over Tucson’s needs and burdens the city with maintenance costs for infrastructure that doesn’t benefit local communities. She said that if RTA Next fails, the city and county should consider creating its own transportation plan based on already-collected data and clearly identified local priorities.
Rockafellow said his career as a personal injury attorney makes him intimately familiar with the consequences of poor road infrastructure. He said the city has poor pedestrian infrastructure that has been improving but still needs more sidewalks and infrastructure on main streets.
To improve driving safety, he suggests reanalyzing speed limits, increasing traffic police presence and improving public transit as a safer alternative to driving.
While the budget is tight, Rockafellow said he believes voters have an opportunity to fund such improvements through RTA Next.
“I think that we as a council should be encouraging voters to pass RTA Next… because that is our next best opportunity to have some money to improve transit, to improve pedestrian infrastructure,” he said.
Sinex said the main problem with road conditions is planning. He said there are neighborhoods where roads were redone efficiently and effectively, contrasting it with the “mess” on Grant Road where the RTA ran out of money mid-project, impeding traffic unnecessarily.
“Don’t start the project if you don’t have the finish,” he said. “Don’t impede the traffic and then run out of money and leave it impeded. That’s just planning.”
Sinex also believes that the government is overly reliant on contracting, and that a stronger civil service with the city as employer might be a more efficient way to do public projects.
Tolkoff said he has noticed the streets’ worsening conditions and thinks it’s largely attributable to how the city manages public works.
“I’ve watched our streets decay dramatically and you know I’ve heard all the excuses and all the reasons and things like that,” he said.
Tolkoff said he believes the city mismanages government contracting, and recalls his own experience in which a $30,000 city proposal to run wires was completed for $1,200 by his electrician.
“I think there’s a lot of that going on. I think there’s a lot of, ‘oh, we’re just going to go with this and we’re really not looking out for what’s best,’” he said.
He suggests the city use its existing paving equipment and recycled asphalt to reduce road repair costs. He said by outfitting the crew and using recycled materials, projects could be done for cheaper.
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