Political Notebook: Two independents file to run for Tucson mayor

The campaign is on! The 2023 mayoral campaign, that is.

Two independents have filed papers with the city to run for mayor of Tucson.

That puts them on track to run against incumbent Mayor Regina Romero. The mayor, a Democrat, says she intends to run for reelection.

The two independents are Ed Ackerley, an advertising-agency owner who ran against Romero in 2019, and Zach Yentzer, a first-time candidate who is president of the Menlo Park Neighborhood Association.

In 2019, Romero’s toughest race was in the Democratic primary, where she beat Steve Farley and Randi Dorman, winning 50% of the vote to Farley’s 37% and Dorman’s 12%.

In the general election, Romero won 56% of the vote to Ackerley’s 39% and Green Party candidate Mike Cease’s 4%.

Ackerley said Thursday that he considers the 2019 run relatively successful, although he lost.

“Last time when I ran not a single person in Tucson besides my wife and my mom knew who I was,” he said.

Now, Ackerley said, he has some name recognition.

“I still have the same fire in my belly. I want Tucson to be a growing, thriving place for my grandkids and my family,” he said.

Ackerley and Yentzer know each other and have talked about the race. Ackerley said he’s not worried about two independents splitting the vote from people who oppose Romero.

“You can’t tell people not to run, so I’m just going to take on all comers,” he said.

Yentzer thinks otherwise. Asked if either of them can win if they both run, he said “No.”

“It’s going to have to be like an unofficial primary,” Yentzer said. “We’re both in it early. Let’s see who has the most juice in the tank.”

Whichever independent candidate has the better campaign as the process unfolds should continue while the other drops out, he said.

Yentzer has been studying Tucson’s urban issues for years not just as a neighborhood activist but also as the host of a radio talk show he named “Tipping Point,” because he thinks Tucson is at a fateful moment. Yentzer’s day job is executive director of Tucson Young Professionals.

“I have a deep sense of urgency,” Yentzer said, noting the city’s struggles with public safety, homelessness and housing prices. “We’ve got a window of time to start making the right decisions, to start solving those problems at scale.”

Both Ackerley and Yentzer also lamented the polarization of local politics and what they see as the importation of national conflicts into local political discussion. They said they’d try to focus strictly on solving Tucson problems.

The general election is on Nov. 7, 2023. The other seats up for election are the City Council seats in Ward 1, currently held by Lane Santa Cruz; Ward 2, currently held by Paul Cunningham; and Ward 4, currently held by Nikki Lee.

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Grant brings out politicos

Normally a $25 million transportation grant might not be that big a deal — worth a news release, sure, but not a press conference with all the bells and whistles.

This is election time, though. And Democrats such as U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly are striving to emphasize the positive about their achievements while leading the federal government.

So on Thursday morning Kelly and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other politicos were at an unlikely site for a news conference: a lot across the street from Tucson’s Union Pacific rail yard with a clear view of the East 22nd Street bridge that crosses it.

Hosted by Mayor Regina Romero, they announced a grant that will help pay for the construction of a new bridge and rebuilding of 22nd Street on either side.

In his comments, Kelly sounded a lot like fellow U.S. senator from Arizona Kyrsten Sinema, emphasizing the word “bipartisan” as he described the infrastructure bill that produced the grants unveiled Thursday in Tucson and Phoenix.

“It was almost exactly a year ago, when I was returning to Arizona after voting on the floor of the United States Senate for this bipartisan — bipartisan — infrastructure law,” Kelly said, noting he worked with Republicans on the bill.

“Let me say it wasn’t easy,” he went on. “I find it’s so important to do things in a bipartisan way. That’s not always the easy way. But the results, I’m convinced, are always much better for the American people.”

Kelly’s Republican challenger, Blake Masters, has repeatedly criticized Kelly for voting in lockstep with Democrats.

“You always know which way Mark Kelly is going to vote. Whatever the party line is, he toes it,” Masters said in a video posted on Twitter this week. “Mark Kelly is lying when he says he’s a moderate. He’s lying when he says he’s an independent.”

Lake calls to end FBI

On Thursday, GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake went on an online show with a host, Steven Crowder, who had called for “war” Monday after the FBI search of Donald Trump’s home.

Crowder launched straight into what he said is his new litmus test for GOP candidates: Whether they are in favor of “disbanding the FBI and gutting the IRS.”

Lake’s answer: “I would be for that absolutely. Of course I’m running for a state position not a federal position.”

Lake said in a written statement after the search Monday that it was “one of the darkest days in American history, the day our Government, originally created by by the people, turned against us.”

Local news

Collection: Read more of the latest by Tim Steller

• Arizona Daily Star
• Updated Oct 17, 2025