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A woman Mayor of Tucson?

by on Sep. 05, 2011, under Life, Politics

Mary DeCamp, Green candidate for Mayor

After Mayoral candidate Mary DeCamp won the Green primary election on August 30 over fellow Green activist Dave Croteau, someone asked me if other women had run for Mayor of Tucson. Yes, a few have in the Mayoral primaries in the past, but I can only remember former 2 term Ward 6 Councilmember Molly McKasson running as a Democrat in the General election of 1999. That was the year when Republican political newcomer Bob Walkup won and went on to serve 3 terms as Mayor.

Does anyone else remember other women running in the General election for Mayor of Tucson? 4 term Councilwoman Shirley Scott (Ward 4) pointed out to me last Fall when she was considering a bid for Mayor that there had not been a woman Mayor in the City of Tucson, ever. (Scott is currently running for re-election in her own ward).

There was even one woman in the Democratic Mayoral primary back in 1971 (read my previous blog, “In what year were 10 candidates running for Mayor of Tucson?” Click here.)

Mayoral candidate Mary DeCamp announced today (Labor Day 2011) that Dave Croteau has agreed to become her campaign manager for the General Election, in the collaborative spirit of the Green Party of Pima County. Her campaign press release also emphasized the “decentralization, respect for diversity, and grassroots democracy” of the Green Party.

Her campaign website: www.decampformayor.org
or call 520-327-4705. A former college instructor and Nebraska native, Mary’s extensive bio is on her website, click here. Her previous experience in politics was when she ran for the Ward 3 Council seat in 2009 against incumbent Karin Uhlich (D) and Ben Bueller-Garcia (R).

By the way, the final vote tally for the first-ever Green Party Mayoral primary on Tuesday August 30:
Dave Croteau 127 (24.33%)
Mary DeCamp 369 (70.69%)

Having a woman Mayor is not new for me having grown up in Hawaii County where there have been at least two women Mayors (Helene Hale and Lorraine Jitchaku-Inouye), but it would be new for the City of Tucson.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 5th, 2011 at 9:35 am and is filed under Life, Politics. Tags for this post: , , , , , , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • Dave Croteau

    Join us at the Labor Day Picnic at Reid Park today. Mary is awesome!

    • Carolyn Classen

      Yes, the Pima Area Labor Federation picnic is today at Reid Park bandshell, till 2 p.m.  Both Mary and Dave were at one of the Green Party’s booths.  Also saw candidates Regina Romero, Beryl Baker, Shirley Scott there, as well as lots of other labor information booths.

  • alohapuna

    Thanks, Carolyn. The media usually treats Mary DeCamp as if she didn’t exist.

    Both Lorraine Inouye and Helene Hale served their terms well. Helene Hale later served as a state senator. And she’s also a formidable Scrabble player. lol

    • Carolyn Classen

      Right, and Lorraine served as a State Senator as well.  I still run into Helene at political/community events as she kept active long after she served.

  • http://www.DeCampForMayor.org Mary DeCamp

    Thanks so much, Carolyn! 
    We’ve never had a woman mayor, and we have never had a citywide contested Green Primary election, and we have never before seen a mayoral race where at least one of the the major political parties could not manage to get at least 2 candidates’ names printed on the ballot.  Times are changing!  Greens are bringing good ideas and reintroducing civility to the political process – long past due, but here at last!

    • Carolyn Classen

      Good luck to you Mary.  I was surprised that you were not mentioned in today’s Star article about  this Mayor’s race. With 67,000 Independents registered to vote in the City of Tucson, this 3 way race is not a “done deal”.

  • Alohapuna

    Both Helene and Lorraine served their terms well. Helene Hale later served as a Hawai’i state senator. She is also a formidable Scrabble player. lol

  • Plain ol’ B.O. not Hussain

    I would rather read about the Green candidate than more about Glocks- So keep up the good work, If she’s a Nebraska native, that’s good enough for my vote

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