2023 city elections: Zach Yentzer launches bid for Tucson mayor

This year, Tucson’s voters will elect the mayor and City Council members representing Ward 1, Ward 2 and Ward 4. The primary election takes place Aug. 1, followed by the general election Nov. 7.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero’s term ends in December, but she is seeking re-election. Two independent candidates, Zach Yentzer and Ed Ackerley, are also running for mayor.

Yentzer officially kicked off his mayoral campaign Wednesday:

Name: Zach Yentzer

Age: 32

Occupation: Executive director of Tucson Young Professionals

Party: Independent

Office sought: Mayor

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Experience: Yentzer spent five years hosting Tipping Point on 1030 KVOI the Voice, a Tucson-centered news and politics radio show. He previously served as the president of the Menlo Park Neighborhood Association and is currently the executive director of Tucson Young Professionals, a coalition of up-and-coming leaders and working professionals throughout the city.

Main priorities: Yentzer filed as an independent candidate for mayor in July 2022 “because I don’t believe we are the victim of someone else’s success, or that we are limited by somebody else’s failures somewhere else,” he said at a news conference Wednesday. The candidate said he has spent the last six months talking to residents about their main concerns, which have molded his priorities in running for office: housing affordability, neighborhood safety, homelessness and economic opportunity.

Yentzer’s top priority is housing access and believes it will take “an independent eye” to come up with solutions for homelessness, which he said has become a “politically charged issue.” Contrary to the housing-first approach Tucson relies on to address its unsheltered population, the candidate said he likes “a shelter first, treatment first, housing earned approach.”

Although he has been party-affiliated before, Yentzer said “either side of the political aisle was not fully a box that I could fit in” and believes bipartisan solutions are the most effective ones.

“I think that we have spent a lot of time in this community poking the eye of state and federal officials to the detriment, long term, of the success in our community. And that won’t be my style,” he said.

Website: zachfortucson.com

Collection: Get the latest 2023 Tucson election news and meet the candidates

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