From setting city tax rates to overseeing roads, public transit and housing policy, city council shapes life in Tucson in many ways. Now voters have a chance to elect new voices — or return incumbents — for half of the city’s council seats.
This is a vote-by-mail election. Election Day is Nov. 4.
Under Tucson’s unusual election system, voters citywide can punch the ballot on the complete slate of primary winners in all parties and all wards. The winners will serve a four-year term on the Tucson city council.
Voters will also decide whether to approve an update to the city’s general plan in Proposition 417.
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Voting FAQs
Here’s what you need to know to participate in the election.
Oct. 6 – Voter registration deadline
Oct. 8 – Ballots mailed to voters and early voting begins
Oct. 24 – Last day to request a mail-in ballot
Oct. 28 – Last day to drop off your ballot in the mail (this article was updated to correct this date)
Nov. 4 – Election Day
See a list of voting locations and places to drop off your ballot here
Key dates
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Ward 3: Kevin Dahl vs. Janet Wittenbraker
Following an unusually tight race between the Democratic primary candidates in Ward 3, voters will choose between incumbent Kevin Dahl and Republican Janet “JL” Wittenbraker in the upcoming election.
Among the big issues in the campaign was homelessness and infrastructure investments in Ward 3, which includes the Flowing Wells neighborhood to the west, to Swan Road on the east; River Road to the north and the neighborhoods around Drachman to the south — including Sugar Hill and Jefferson Park.
About the candidates
Dahl offers an environmentally-minded outlook with a focus on enforcing green city ordinances like requiring rain water harvesting plans for local businesses. A longtime nonprofit professional, Dahl previously was the executive director of the Tucson Audubon Society (now the Tucson Bird Alliance) and Native Seeds/SEARCH, a regional group working to preserve the genetic diversity of Southwestern Native American crops.
Wittenbraker previously worked in the city manager’s office and as a contract administrator for Raytheon. She has also previously run for mayor and Pima County Board of Supervisors. She promises an open door and a tougher approach to people selling drugs in public spaces in Tucson.
On homelessness
Dahl said he was proud of Tucson’s purchase of the Wildcat Inn, which the city operates as a shelter, as well as the new emergency shelter in Ward 3’s Amphi neighborhood. He also pointed to the ongoing need for enforcement in some parts of The Loop. He was the lone council member present at the meeting who voted against the wash ordinance.
Wittenbraker said she believes some people are homeless because they are down on their luck, but most people on the street are experiencing substance abuse and mental health struggles.She wants to more directly address criminal activity like drug dealing, and to offer people the choice of treatment or jail time if they are caught breaking the law.
On the budget
Dahl suggested the city run two voter referendums to secure more funding, which would essentially uncouple two of the big areas that would have been covered by the rejected city-proposed sales tax proposition 414. One vote would be on more funding for police and public safety, the other on more housing and social service support.
Wittenbraker wants to see more funding for 911 operator salaries and supports shifting some of the funding focused on climate initiatives back to the more bread-and-butter parts of the city’s work, like roads, parks and public safety. On issues like fare-free transit, which currently keeps Tucson city buses free of fares, Wittenbraker suggested a city-wide referendum.
On fixing Tucson’s roads
Dahl said he is proud of Tucson’s road program. Given that roads in the city can be 100 years old — rather than newly built like in adjacent localities — he feels the city has done its best to tackle the wear and tear of cars and extreme heat.
Wittenbraker proposed a systematic way to fix the roads: beginning at one side of the city all the way through to the other. Under that approach, the city would focus on repairing roads, not expanding or any other changes.
Ward 5: Selina Barajas
Tucson’s Ward 5, which covers much of the southwest side, including neighborhoods like Sunnyside and Pueblo Gardens, will seat its first new council member in 16 years after Richard Fimbres resigned in May 2025. Interim appointee Rocque Perez has represented the ward since then but is not running. Fimbres’ tenure was marked by support for infrastructure upgrades in long-neglected south-side neighborhoods, including work under Proposition 411 and related economic-development efforts.
After winning the Aug. 5 Democratic primary, Selina Barajas is the only candidate on the Nov. 4 General lection ballot. Voters across the city will choose the Ward 5 representative, weighing priorities such as road repairs, neighborhood infrastructure, and responses to homelessness as the ward transitions to new leadership.
About the candidate
Barajas is a lifelong Tucsonan from the city’s southwest side who studied urban planning at UCLA, inspired by Chicana planner and fellow Tucsonan Lorraine Lee. After a decade working in nonprofits and city government in Los Angeles, she returned home in 2018. Barajas says her decision to run was shaped by her daughter’s distress during the 2024 presidential election and by seeing only men initially enter the Ward 5 race. These motivations reinforced her push for more inclusive representation. She said that her planning background and public-sector experience, combined with deep roots in Tucson, equip her to serve the ward: “I want better for our community because I am a reflection of this community.”
On homelessness
Barajas supports using individualized, service-first approaches by partnering with nonprofits to connect people to mental health, addiction and family counseling, IDs and jobs, and by adding shelter beds and cooling spaces with clear paths to stability.
On housing
Barajas wants to expand homeownership opportunities for Ward 5 residents, especially first-time buyers, through strategic public-private partnerships and “generational” solutions, while helping longtime homeowners with estate planning to prevent displacement.
On infrastructure and budget
Barajas wants to increase transparency and community power by auditing the ward’s Capital Improvement Plan backlog, restore Ward 5 representation on boards, run workshops so residents can request safety fixes, and improve lighting — while prioritizing existing resources over new taxes and advancing favored elements of Prop. 414 in phased, root-cause-focused steps.
Ward 6: Miranda Schubert vs. Jay Tolkoff
Tucson’s Ward 6, covering much of midtown from West University to Colonia Del Valle, will choose its first new council member in nearly 15 years after Steve Kozachik resigned in early 2024 to take a position in Pima County. His appointed successor, Karin Uhlich, did not seek a full term. The ward faces familiar pressures: housing availability and affordability, public safety, aging infrastructure, and neighborhood-scale development.
On the November ballot, Democrat Miranda Schubert and Republican Jay Tolkoff head the ticket. Schubert, who previously ran in 2021, brings a community-organizing background and a focus on the city budget and how dollars are spent. Tolkoff, a former independent who switched to the GOP this year, campaigns on business experience and argues the city needs a course correction. Ward 6 voters will decide which approach best addresses their neighborhoods’ day-to-day needs.
About the candidates
Schubert, the Democratic nominee, previously ran for the seat in 2021 and frames her campaign through the lens of a community organizer. She points to helping launch the University of Arizona labor union and to a deep interest in how the city budget allocates dollars, an interest sharpened during the 2020 George Floyd protests and scrutiny of public-safety spending. She also cites service on the Tucson Board of Adjustment and the Complete Streets Coordinating Council as grounding in how local policy is made, emphasizing that effective leadership means pairing priorities with an understanding of real-world constraints and opportunities.
Tolkoff, the Republican nominee, switched from independent to GOP earlier this year, describing the move as a strategic path to office while stressing that he prioritizes “Tucson values” over party labels. He campaigns on business experience and a reputation for building consensus, arguing the city is “in trouble” and needs a redirection on fundamentals like public safety, infrastructure, and fiscal stewardship. His pitch centers on bringing a private-sector mindset to council to pursue practical, measurable results.
On homelessness
Schubert said she would build a clear housing pathway, from emergency shelters to transitional and permanent supportive housing, opposes criminalizing policies like the wash ordinance, and advocates for community-based response systems with local providers to connect people to services, jobs and stability.
Tolkoff said he wants to replace a one-size-fits-all “Housing First” approach with data-driven, diagnostic strategies, supporting transition-center models, such as at the Transition Center, and tailoring interventions to individual needs.
On the budget
Schubert said the budget is a moral document and should shift dollars from high jail costs toward mental health care, safer streets and a continuum of housing, while funding basics like water, shade and restrooms and avoiding water-intensive industries such as data centers.
Tolkoff said the city has a lot of “luxury ideas” like free transit. These are not expenses he supports. “It’s not that I don’t agree with fare free transit,” he said. “I just I disagree with the way they’re implementing it.” He said the city should also prioritize parks, drivable streets and public safety, and root out contracting waste rather than seek new revenue.
On fixing Tucson’s roads
Schubert said she would build on Prop. 411 to repair long-neglected neighborhood streets while layering safety upgrades, sidewalks and bike and pedestrian improvements, guided by Move Tucson data, and she’s skeptical of RTA Next if it favors sprawl.
Tolkoff said the city should rely more on its own paving crews and equipment and use recycled asphalt to reduce costs and speed up basic repairs, lowering dependence on high-cost contractors.
Prop 417: general plan update
Prop 417 is a yes/no question about “Plan Tucson 2025,” an update to the general plan for the city. Voters previously approved the general plan in 2013. The plan guides the city on topics ranging from economic development to housing to transportation.
You can learn more and read the whole plan from the city’s website, PlanTucson.org.
Clarifications: Arizona Luminaria updated Ward 6 candidate Jay Tolkoff’s stance on fare-free transit to expand on his position.
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