Tucson City Council members Paul Cunningham and Shirley Scott prevailed in their re-elections bids last week, winning their city-wide contests by several thousand votes each.
However, both Democrats lost to their Republican challengers in the wards they represent. This is the second election in a row where Democrats failed to get a majority of the votes in the wards they represent.
A third Democratic council member, Regina Romero, was victorious Nov. 3 in both the ward-only results and the city-wide tally.
TheΒ Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruledΒ Tucson's system β a ward-only primary election and an at-large general election β was unconstitutional.Β
Circuit CourtΒ Judge Alex Kozinski described the system as "unusual" and "odd" that favors Democrats.Β
An analysis by the Arizona Daily Star of precinct data had Kelly Lawton, the Southern Arizona director at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, receiving 958 more votes in Ward 2 than Cunningham. In city-wide results, however, Cunningham beat his Republican rival by more than 12,000 votes.
In Ward 4,Β teacherΒ Margaret BurkholderΒ had 2,610 more votes than Scott. Β City-wide, however, Scott beat Burkholder by more than 9,213 votes.
The only other council race had Romero beating her Republican rival Bill Hunt both city-wide and in her ward. She won by more than 3,100 votes.Β
Lawton said Tuesday that ward-only representation is long overdue, questioning why the city hasn't moved away from the hybrid system it uses.Β
He said he is confident a ward-only representation would benefit residents since "we will be able to represent the people in the ward."
Burkholder said she has not reviewed the precinct numbers, but was confident throughout the election that she would win in the Ward 2 precincts.
She said that if she would run again, she would only run if the council races were ward-only.
"I firmly believe that government should be close to the people," Burkholder said.
She added that if the entire state was allowed to vote for every seat in the state legislature, a single Democrat could not be elected.
Cunningham could not be immediately reached for comment while Scott declined to discuss the issue, citing a family emergency.
