Republican J. Tyler Vogt, older brother of LD 30 House Rep. Ted Vogt, filed on Friday Feb. 25 to challenge 4 term Democratic Councilmember Shirley Scott in her re-election bid.

Tyler Vogt

A week ago Republican Mike Jenkins (who had run against Scott back in November, 2003), dropped out of this Ward 4 2011 race due to “personal issues”. His withdrawal press release can be read here. Jenkins had announced his challenge of Scott on January 24, 2011.

Tyler Vogt is a political newcomer and works in the Defense Industry in Tucson. He has lived here for over 10 years, and has two B.S. degrees, one in Marine engineering from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) and the other from Valparaiso University (Indiana) in electrical engineering.

As for military service, Vogt states “I received a commission in the US Navy Reserve – Merchant Marine Reserve after graduating from the USMMA in 1992. I served in the United States Merchant Marine until 2000 and I served as a Individual Ready Reserve Engineering Duty Officer until 2007. I attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander before separating from the USNR, receiving an honorable discharge.”

His campaign website “Vogt4Tucson” is under construction, email contact is vogt4tucson@aol.com.

His younger brother Ted, who graduated from the UA Law School last May, was appointed to the LD 30 House seat in March 2010, after Rep. Frank Antenori was appointed to the LD 30 State Senate seat. Rep. Ted Vogt won election to that House seat this past November, 2010.

City Council Wards 1, 2, and 4, as well as the Mayor of Tucson are up for re-election this year. Ward 1 Councilmember Regino Romero (D) is facing a challenge from Joe Flores (D) in the August 30 primary, and Ward 2 Councilmember Paul Cunningham (D) is running unopposed at the present.

Hey women (and male friends): “Girl’s night out!”

Sat. Feb. 26, from 7 p.m. ’til we drop @ Preloved Chica Clothing, 102 E. 31st street, next door to Fortin de las Flores, which fellow blogger 3 Sonorans wrote about back in December (click here).

The “Girls Night Out!” event will feature shopping, sipping margaritas, enjoying scrumptious desserts, fabulous door prizes, and “por supesto” (for sure) dancing, plus stand up comedy by Stephanie Howard. Adults only please, with a suggested donation of $5.00.

I dropped by yesterday for a preview of the gently used resale shop and the new advocacy for women “action center” Fortin de las Flores in the same building. The goal of Fortin de las Flores is “supporting families and creating leaders for social justice today.”

The open house/luncheon was attended by Ward 3 Councilmember Karin Uhlich, former Ward 5 Councilmember Steve Leal (now a talk show host on KJLL 1330 AM radio), and representatives from the City of Tucson Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, House of Neighborly Services, Center for Economic Security, CODAC Behavioral Health Services Inc., Sky Island Alliance, and Tucsoncitizen.com.

Mission statement:

Fortín de las Flores is a grassroots membership-based organization dedicated to promoting civil, economic and human rights of women throughout Southern Arizona. As an action center we work to create alternatives to confront the poverty and violence that plagues our families as well as maintaining a commitment to celebrating the positive and healthy accomplishments found within our community

The four program coordinators of this new organization are women activists with diverse backgrounds in student counseling, domestic violence, organizing, politics, and immigrant rights. These four are Lea Tanya Koppa, Lorena Howard, Maritza Broce, and Rosalva Fuentes, who can all be reached at 520-795-3460, or info@fortindelasflores.org. Website: www.fortindelasflores.org (under construction), mailing address is P.O. Box 77096, Tucson 85703. Bilingual services in Spanish/English will be available.

The location of this action center/soon-to-open resale shop is on the SE corner of E. 31st and S. 6th Avenue in South Tucson, five blocks south of the Sam Lena-South Tucson branch library. Lots of free parking in the back parking lot (towards the south).

Donations of new & gently-used items are needed right now – especially working women’s clothing, boys’ clothes, and books for all ages. Memberships are also available starting at $30, plus monetary donations to “directly help women build a better future for themselves and their families.” Please help these women get this agency/resale shop started, to help other sisters in need.

Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, a Mexican American Republican who immigrated to the U.S in 1986, is announcing her bid for the CD 7 U.S. House seat held by 4 term Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva. She is also known as “Gabby”, like Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of CD 8. Grijalva is not up for re-election until November, 2012.

Gabriela Saucedo Mercer

Her announcement will be made at 11 a.m. Wednesday March 2nd at the Inn Suites/Tucson Hotel, 475 N. Granada Avenue, Copper room in Tucson, 85701. Doors open at 10:30 a.m.

From her website:

Gabriela Saucedo Mercer lives on Tucson’s west side with her husband of 24 years, Ted Mercer. Gabriela, “Gabby” for short, set aside her work career with a defense electronics firm in order to raise her 3 children and continue her education. As the kids were growing up Gabriela became more and more concerned about the direction that her adopted country had taken in recent years. She legally emigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1986 in order to live in a nation full of opportunity and Constitutional protections of individual liberties. She became a proud U.S. citizen in 1991.

I happened to be at the Tucson City Council meeting last Spring when Gabriela stood up & spoke against the Council’s opposition of SB 1070, and Congressman’s Grijalva’s call for a boycott of the State of Arizona. Most of the Mexican Americans in the room spoke against SB 1070.

Campaign info: www.saucedomercer.com, 520-349-5600, gabriela@saucedomercer.com.

Congressman Raul Grijalva has served since January, 2003 and won his last November, 2010 campaign against political newcomers Republican Ruth McClung, Libertarian George Keane, and Independent Harley Meyer. Results of that recent race:

GRIJALVA, RAUL M. (DEM)
50.16% 79,935
MCCLUNG, RUTH (REP)
44.16% 70,385
KEANE, GEORGE (LBT)
2.71% 4,318
MEYER, HARLEY (I-N)
2.83% 4,506
Write-in
0.14% 228
159,372 total votes cast

3/3/11 UPDATE: 2 live videos of this campaign kick off event:

http://tucsoncitizen.com/in-the-aggregate/2011/03/02/gabriela-saucedo-mercer-releases-two-videos-in-race-for-cd-7/