In Pima County’s historically Republican District 4, Democrat Steve Diamond is looking to unseat incumbent Steve Christy in the Nov. 3 election.

District 4 encompasses eastern Pima County, including parts of Green Valley, Vail, Sahuarita and Mount Lemmon. There are about 56,000 registered Republicans, 49,000 registered Democrats and 42,000 Independents living in the area.

In the August primary, Christy garnered 64% of about 30,000 votes, defeating fellow Republican John Backer. Steve Diamond ran unopposed in the primary, bringing in over 29,000 votes from Democrats.

According to the most recent campaign finance data, Christy has raised about $78,000 for his campaign and Diamond has raised about $9,000.

Christy, who was elected to his first term in 2016, is a lifelong Tucsonan and local business owner. If reelected in November, Christy said his focus will continue to be on business and economic development, improving roads and maintaining a strong relationship with local law enforcement.

Our latest candidate chat features a discussion between the current incumbent on Pima County's Board of Supervisors, Republican Supervisor Steve Christy, and his Democratic challenger, Steve Diamond.

“Should the voters elect to keep me working for them, I will take my best attribute — the experience of being District 4 Supervisor for the last four years,” he said. “There are not many changes I will make, if reelected. I have the best district staff and I love my constituents. I will retain my current priorities and continue to advocate for them: fixing our roads, supporting our law enforcement community, and championing our businesses.”

Diamond, a longtime Pima County resident with a career in information technology, is the co-founder of the Pima County Democrats’ Labor Caucus and the co-leader of the Justice Alliance – Indivisible Southern Arizona.

For him, top priorities include addressing the public health crisis, the environment and education.

“I bring an appreciation for diversity and inclusiveness, for making sure that all voices in the community are heard and considered,” he said. “I believe that we build strong communities by supporting and uplifting each other, not by excluding some voices from the conversation. I also bring a broader, deeper knowledge of how complex businesses work, which applies to the many divisions of county government.”

With largely different priorities in mind, Christy and Diamond lie on the opposite ends of the spectrum on several major issues, including federal Operation Stonegarden immigration funding, property tax rates, funding for law enforcement and universal early childhood education.

When it comes to the economic recovery following the pandemic, Christy said his focus is on businesses and easing regulation, rather than implementing more.

“I’ve been a champion of businesses large and small, especially restaurants, who have faced the brutality, as I see it, of overreaching regulations imposed by the Board of Supervisors,” he said. “I believe that small businesses are the future of a reopening for a strong economy.”

Diamond, on the other hand, said the county should continue to enact “sensible regulations based on benchmarks” and continue to lobby that the Governor Doug Ducey to allow more leeway for local jurisdictions to manage their situations. He said he also hopes to initiate a comprehensive review of the county budget.

“I think the tendency in recent years has been to tweak the budget here and there without looking deeply enough to overhaul it,” Diamond said. “The goal of this combination of economic expansion and budget overhaul is to free up money without increasing taxes, money that we can allocate to necessary programs like expanded job training, expanded public health services, expanded assistance to tenants and landlords, early childhood education, and road repair.”

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Contact reporter Jasmine Demers at jdemers@tucson.com

On Twitter: @JasmineADemers