Marana residents voting in the July primary may do more than select their next mayor and four council members — they could shift their town’s approach to two of the country’s most controversial issues.
The construction of a large-scale data center and the opening of an immigration detention center have brought passionate disagreement in this community of roughly 60,000.
Marana election info
For Marana’s primary election July 21, candidates receiving a majority of the votes are declared elected to office. If more candidates receive a majority than the number of seats to be filled, the candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be elected. No further election will be held unless an insufficient number of candidates receive a majority of votes cast to fill one or more available seats. If not all available seats are filled during the primary election, a general election for any unfilled seat(s) will take place Nov. 4.
For this election, the mayor will serve for two years to finish out the term of Ed Honea, who died in November 2024. Typically, both mayor and council members serve four years. Marana town elections are nonpartisan, meaning there is no representation of a candidate’s political party on the ballot.
The Marana Town Council in January unanimously approved rezoning 600 acres for a new data center, a decision that’s now part of a civil case before the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division Two, with oral arguments scheduled Aug. 19.
Controversy also revolves around elected officials not taking an official stand on the expected opening of an immigration detention center at the site of a former private prison.
Now, with the primary election approaching July 21, Marana residents will decide if they want new representatives or the current mayor, Jon Post, and three council members.
The council candidates are competing for four seats including those belonging to two incumbents, Herb Kai and John Officer, and one appointed member, Teri Murphy, who is now seeking voter approval. The fourth seat belongs to Patti Comerford, who has served her full term and is not seeking reelection.
There are five challengers on the ballot including four who are running together under the umbrella, “Marana for the People.” They include Greg Johnsen, who is running for mayor, and three women for the council seats: Jackie McGuire, Sue Ritz, and Julie Prince.
Lastly, there’s Jackie Craig, a write-in candidate who was previously a council member before she decided not to run again two years ago.
Kai, Murphy and Officer, along with Prince, either did not respond to interview requests for this article or declined to be interviewed.
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The data center
Over the next 10 years, Beale Infrastructure is planning to develop a massive data center on 600 acres in northern Marana, near north Luckett and west Hardin roads. The site, according to Beale’s public relations department, will generate $407 million in state, county and local tax revenue over the next 10 years.
At public meetings this spring, an attorney for Beale described the data center as “low water.” A spokeswoman for the company, Mary Davis of Caliber Group, said Beale has “committed to an air-cooled, closed-loop design, which minimizes water use.”
The company said it will bring in roughly 4,200 construction jobs for the next five to 10 years, and up to 400 permanent jobs.
The Town of Marana began preparing for a data center in 2024 when it introduced a new ordinance to regulate anticipated future sites. This ordinance requires developers to conduct noise studies, ensure the source of electric power is sufficient, assess future energy needs, estimate annual water consumption, delineate where it will source the water, and explain how the data center meets all of those requirements.
Council members Officer and Murphy voted in favor of the rezoning for the data center while Council member Kai, whose family owns one of the parcels slated for the development, was not present at the January meeting. (Learn more about Kai here, learn more about Officer here, and learn more about Murphy here).
Mayor Post said he is counting on that ordinance to keep the developer in compliance. (Learn more about Post here).
“My hope for Marana is that this data center leads to big job growth,” said Post, who sees this as an opportunity to build Marana’s reputation as a business-friendly town. “It’s important we try to accommodate this. The word gets out to other companies and then it’s, ‘Let’s not go to Marana because they’ll just say no.’”
But council candidates Susan Ritz and Jackie McGuire believe the ordinance is not robust enough given the size of the project, which Ritz said is “10 times the size of any existing data center in Phoenix.” (Learn more about Ritz here and McGuire here).
“I am a mining industry professional. Mines require environmental impact statements and operate under regulations that require closure bonds,” Ritz said. “These hyperscale data centers are unregulated and require no environmental assessments.”
At the very least, Ritz said, “the ordinance should require a closure bond to cover the cleanup costs for the environmental impact of a building containing tons of aluminum wire, lithium batteries, and spent cooling chemicals upon its closure.”
The Marana project is so large, the two candidates agree, that no data exists on its potential effect on the environment, water use, and electric and water rate costs.
McGuire said the residents of Marana are being asked to be guinea pigs for a science experiment.
As a data analyst for data centers, McGuire said she’s been trying to tell the town council that this is a financially risky endeavor.
“They made the decision before they even gave anybody input,” she said. They are out of their depth, she said, and are “not willing to admit what they don’t know.”
McGuire said the power needed to run such a huge facility will require “more than most of the power facilities in Arizona.”
Like McGuire and Ritz, Post’s challenger, Greg Johnsen, believes a large-scale data center is not a good fit for Marana. (Learn more about Johnsen here).
Johnsen said the local government, local businesses and community members need to collaborate more to create a shared vision for Marana going forward.
“People need representation and they need a voice,” he said. “The council did not seem to be listening to anybody. I’m here to put the people first.”
Prince, who is aligned with McGuire, Johnsen and Ritz on their shared website, does not share specific information about the data center on her website, but posted she is “running to support responsible growth that fits our surroundings.” (Learn more about Prince here).
Write-in council candidate Jackie Craig said she understands both ways of thinking about the data center. (Learn more about Craig here).
“I think it’s a matter of trust,” she said of the proposal. “They’ve been assured of all these things and they believe them. There are a lot of positives.”
The town needs employment opportunities, she said.
“Workers are very much in favor because of the construction jobs that it would create,” she said. “I can’t criticize the council members. I don’t know what they were told.”
Detention center
About a month after the Marana Town Council approved rezoning for the data center, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced its intention to open an immigration detention center in Marana.
The site is currently a closed private prison owned by Management and Training Corporation, or MTC, at 12610 W. Silverbell Road.
No final agreement has been signed yet, said Nissa Arnita, a spokesperson with MTC.
“Because there is no contract in place, we are not in a position to share additional details,” she said. “If an agreement is finalized, our focus will remain on restoring good local jobs, supporting the Marana economy, and operating the facility with high standards of safety, professionalism, and dignity.”
The building has a capacity of 513 people, according to state documents, but a federal procurement order released earlier this year could push that number to nearly 800.
Similar facilities have opened across the country to accommodate President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Hundreds of news reports detail dire conditions within the facilities while protestors and law enforcement have been clashing for months at several detention centers nationwide.
While the Town of Marana has not publicly opposed the immigration detention center, the Tucson City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing it.
Post said such a resolution would be “meaningless” and could further divide the community.
“Because it was a prison and they have the correct zoning, there’s not a lot that we could do or should do to stop it,” he said. “This is not a Marana issue. This is a federal issue. You need to call your congressman or congresswoman. That’s where things take place on this issue.”
Craig said she is for immigration enforcement when it is carried out in a “normal, legal way” and doesn’t like to see the detention centers as they are run now, “without timely due process.”
“I am very against the way it was done in Minneapolis,” she said. “It was very violent and I am very much against that.”
However, she said, since the facility in Marana is privately owned, the federal government is working directly with the private owners. Essentially, she said, there is little the town council can do.
Ritz, who is strongly opposed to having an immigration detention center in Marana, said saying nothing can be done is a cop-out.
“They are constantly talking about how they cannot do stuff,” she said. “Anyone who says their hands are tied should never be elected to anything. It’s a really useful excuse and then you’re never having to be held accountable.”
Johnsen, the challenger for mayor, also believes the town should take a strong stand.
“The immigration detention center will not benefit the town of Marana. And if it does not benefit the town, it should not be allowed,” he said.
“There is already division in the town over this. Opening this facility will make the division more pronounced, requiring the town to use its resources including the police department to keep protesters and others safe.”
Both Ritz and McGuire said the issue is not just about immigration politics
The centers, Ritz said, “act as an economic depressant, invite controversy, and strains on our police department and emergency services due to interactions between ICE and residents.”
“Marana can do without this detention center because it divides our community, brings unwanted attention to our town,” she said, “and violates the Constitutional protections I swore to defend when I entered military service and swore the Oath of Enlistment.”
McGuire agrees.
“The question is whether having a private prison or a detention center is a good thing for Marana, period,” she said. “From a fiscally conservative and healthy community point of view, the answer should be no.”
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