Monday, January 5th, 2009...2:16 pm
Ward 5: Rabago Out, Nuñez in?
Vince Rabago released a statement today announcing that he will not be running for Pima County Democratic Party Chair. Instead, he will he seeking one of the vice chair positions with the Arizona Democratic Party. I asked him about speculation that he would be a candidate for the Ward 5 council seat being vacated by Steve Leal. He said no, which given the budget situation for our city, is totally understandable.
Anabelle Nuñez has let it be known to several people that she is interested in running in Ward 5. She’s an active member of her neighborhood association (National Cities) and has also been doing some outstanding work on health issues unique to our local Hispanic community.
One other possible candidate, Richard Fimbres, has garnered the support of ambos Eckstrom Brothers and also is the candidate prefered by Leal’s circle. I still wonder, though, if Fimbres would be someone that Janet Napolitano might want with her in Washington, given how much he had to work on with safety and security issues with Mexican trucks in his time with the Office of Highway Safety.
A knock I have heard against various “mentioneds” is how they would perform in a city wide election. Because of the, erm, unique nature of our election system, a Democrat that is strong in their own ward could be defeated by a Republican in the general election (Gayle Hartman, Paula Aboud…the list goes on). This, of course, assumes that the our local Republican party is in any sort of state right now to recruit and support a decent candidate.
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