Tucson Government

Tucson follows the "weak mayor" model of the council-manager form of local government. The 6-member city council holds exclusive legislative authority, and shares executive authority with the mayor, who is elected by the voters independently of the council. An appointed city manager, meanwhile, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the city.

Both the council members and the mayor serve 4-year terms, and none face term limits. Council members are nominated by their wards via a ward-level primary held in September. The top vote-earners from each party then compete at-large for their ward's seat on the November ballot. In other words, come election day, the whole city votes on all the council races up for that year. Council elections are severed: Wards 1, 2, and 4 (as well as the mayor) are up for election in the same year (most recently 2007), while Wards 3, 5, and 6 share another year (most recently 2005).

Tucson is known for being a trailblazer in voluntary partial publicly-financed campaigns. Since 1985, both mayoral and council candidates have been eligible to receive matching public funds from the city. To become eligible, council candidates must receive 200 donations of $10 or more (300 for a mayoral candidate). Candidates must then agree to spending limits equal to 33¢ for every registered Tucson voter, or $79,222 in 2005 (the corresponding figures for mayor are 64¢ per registered voter, or $142,271 in 2003). In return, candidates receive matching funds from the city at a 1:1 ratio of public money to private donations. The only other limitation is that candidates may not exceed 75% of the limit by the date of the primary. Many cities, such as San Francisco and New York City, have copied this system, albeit with more complex spending and matching formulas.
Robert E. Walkup (R) was elected mayor on November 2, 1999, re-elected for a second term on November 4, 2003 and again for a third term on November 6, 2007.[23] He was preceded by George Miller (D), 1991-1999; Tom Volgy (D), 1987-1991; Lew(is) Murphy (R), 1971-1987; and Jim Corbett (D), ?-1971.

Tucson is divided between the 7th and 8th congressional districts of Arizona. The city center is in the 7th District, represented by Raul Grijalva, a Democrat, since 2003, while the more affluent residential areas to the north and east are in the 8th District, represented by Gabrielle Giffords, also a Democrat, since 2007.*

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