Green Party mayoral candidate Mike Cease might have had the toughest fight to get on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The Green Party had to sue the city of Tucson, challenging the city on minimum eligibility criteria for write-in candidates — eventually prevailing in Pima County Superior Court.
As a write-in candidate, Cease needed a minimum of 18 write-in votes during the primary from Green Party members and received 81 — qualifying for him for the ballot. He faces Democratic Councilwoman Regina Romero and businessman Ed Ackerley, running as an independent.
In a recent debate, Cease noted he was the only mayoral candidate to support the “sanctuary city” initiative known as Proposition 205, which will be decided by Tucson residents Nov. 5.
“The first priority of the mayor’s office is to protect the safety of all Tucsonans and their families,” Cease said.
His other top priority is what he calls the “Green New Deal,” which calls for, in part, energy retrofits on “hundreds of thousands” of homes in Southern Arizona.
A consultant, the 65-year-old Cease believes the massive program would create thousands of jobs in Tucson.
“There is an economic crisis and there is a climate crisis,” he said, adding it would require a massive citywide mobilization. “We are not here for small incremental changes.”
Cease, a longtime activist with the Sierra Club who has a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Arizona, ran as a Green Party candidate in 2017 for the Ward 6 race.
