Regina Romero
42nd Mayor of Tucson
Incumbent
Assumed office December 2, 2019
Preceded by	Jonathan Rothschild
Personal details
Born	September 1974 (age 49) Somerton, Arizona, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Ruben Reyes
Children	2
Education	University of Arizona (BA)

Regina Romero (born 1974) is an American politician serving as the 42nd Mayor of Tucson, Arizona since 2019. She is the youngest of her 6 siblings and descendant of parents who emigrated to Arizona from Mexico.^[1] Raised by her farmworker parents in Somerton, Arizona, Romero became the first person in her family to graduate from college and the first to vote. Regina Romero got her BA at University of Arizona and a postgraduate certificate from Harvard University’s School of Government.^[2] In addition to being the Mayor of Tucson, Romero is the Chair of the Latino Alliance of the U.S. Conference of Mayors,^[3] Co-Chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns,^[4] an inaugural member of the Mayors Alliance to End Childhood Hunger,^[5] and a member of the Climate Mayors Network.^[6] Regina Romero's family includes her two children and husband, Ruben Reyes.^[2]

Early political career

Regina Romero's political career started with roles as program coordinators in Pima County, Arizona. She began as the coordinator for Pima's youth internship program, serving from 1996 to 2000. From 2000 to 2005, Romero served as Pima's program coordinator for neighborhood reinvestment. Subsequently, from 2005 to 2007, Romero held the position of a council aide for Tucson, Arizona's City Council.^[7] Before starting her career as Tucson's first female mayor of Mexican descent, Regina Romero spent 2007 to 2019 as a three-term Tucson City Council member.^[8]

Mayor of Tucson

Romero ran in the 2019 Tucson mayoral election. She won the Democratic primary in August 2019, defeating state senator Steve Farley and developer Randi Dorman.^[9][10] After winning the mayoral primary, her main general election opponent was Ed Ackerley, who was a longtime Democrat running as an independent in hopes of receiving conservative votes. She defeated Ackerley in the general election.^[11] Romero became the first-ever female and first-ever Latina mayor of Tucson,^[12] and the first Latino mayor of the city since Estevan Ochoa, who was mayor from 1875 to 1876.^[12]

In June 2023, Romero’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year was approved by the city council. Money was included in the budget to upgrade roads, acquire new public safety equipment, and to keep up the city’s fare-free system.^[13] $1 million was included to fight climate change, however funds for the effort are much larger when state and federal funding are included.^[14]

In October 2023, Romero secured a $50 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Romero stated she plans to use the funds to develop more mixed-use and affordable housing in Tucson.^[15]

Re-election campaign

Romero announced her candidacy for reelection in the 2023 Tucson mayoral election on International Women's Day.^[16] She promised to serve and represent all Tucson residents, working with other mayoral candidates and equally representing her supporters and those who vote for other candidates.^[17] Expressed during her campaign for reelection, Romero wanted to focus on road infrastructure, climate change, public safety, and gun violence. Romero plans to continue using both the city’s general fund and the Highway User Revenue Fund to improve roads. For climate change, she wants to continue using federal funds to transition to lower-emissions buses, continue the goal of planting 1 million trees by 2030, and increase water levels in Lake Mead through reservoir usage. For public safety, Romero wants to continue developing her Community Safety, Health and Wellness Program that was launched in early 2022. Non-law enforcement citizens will respond to non-emergency calls to connect citizens to community organizations and agencies that address homelessness, mental health, substance use, and poverty in Tucson. Lastly, Regina Romero's campaign highlighted the combatting of gun violence through the efforts of the Place Network Investigations strategy. This strategy uses Tucson’s police department in collaboration with businesses, Tucson government departments, and citizens to address crime hotspots and networks.^[18]

In the end, facing Republican Janet Wittenbraker,^[19] Romero won reelection 61% to 31%.^[20]

During her re-election campaign, Romero asked voters to vote yes on Proposition 412. If passed, Tucson would agree to a new deal with a local power suppliers that will raise residents' electricity bill by less than $1 a month.^[21] She expressed to her voters that this change would help Tucson's fight against climate change, by sourcing electricity in a more sustainable way.^[22] Voters rejected the proposition.^[23]

In addition, Proposition 413 was passed in the November 7, 2023 election. Romero's salary was increased from $42,000 to $96,000 annually. In the same proposition, the city council's salary was matched to that of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, increasing from $24,000 to $76,660. Voters were split on the issue despite this measure resulting in the first increase in Tucson's salary for the mayor since 1999, and no longer falls behind Tucson's median household income of $48,058.^[24] Opponents of Proposition 413 called for staggered increases in salary, instead of the adopted method of immediate implementation.^[25]

Major local issues

The major local issues addressed by Regina Romero include public safety, infrastructure, affordable housing, and climate change. Mayor Romero approaches public safety from multiple directions such as strategies for reducing violent crime and general safety for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. The Arizona Department of Public Safety aids in the enforcement of state law. Public safety is a prevalent issue in Tucson, Arizona. As of 2023 violent crime is up 75.60% from 2022.^[26] The city of Tucson's Pedestrian Safety Action Plan moves to make walking safer for pedestrians by identifying strategies for high pedestrian involved collision areas.^[27] Other drafted strategies include managing vehicle speeds, improving pedestrian visibility, and data driven enforcement and evaluation.^[28] These strategies come from both policy changes and civil engineering improvements. Proposed policies include The City of Tucson's draft cross walk installation policy and redefining the limits of school zones to include areas where children often commute to school as pedestrians.^[28] Infrastructure in Tucson is a relevant issue. Tucson Department of Transportation and Mobility Public Information Officer, Michael Graham says "About 70% of our neighborhood streets are in failed to poor condition".^[29] Regina Romero supported an extension of Proposition 411.^[30] Proposition 411 is a 0.5% sales tax designed to generate revenue specifically for residential street repairs which passed in 2022 with 57,024 votes.^[31]

A recent purchase of a two acre plot in the Thrive '05 area is part of a development led by Mayor Romero's office as a step towards affordable housing. The purchase is part of the Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson which unanimously passed in December 2021.^[32] The HAST plan is focused on creating a pathway to homeownership and reducing the fiscal burden and responsibility of housing by creating affordable rentals.^[33]

Mayor Romero's position as a mayor of a geographical area significantly impacted by climate change creates space for many climate initiatives. The largest initiative for climate change in Tucson is the Tucson Resilient Together Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.^[34] This initiative works towards making Tucson's city operations carbon neutral by 2030.^[34] The Tucson Resilient Together Climate Action and Adaptation plan received funding from the federal government from the American Rescue Plan.^[35] Other initiatives such as the million trees program,^[36] storm to shade,^[37] and solar Tucson^[38] are example of more initiatives that create green jobs and reduce the cities cooling cost by investing in the cities green infrastructure.

Honors and awards

In 2021, Regina Romero was named Alumna of the Year by the University of Arizona's College of Social and Behavioral Sciences for her efforts towards solving social justice issues and years of public service in Tucson.^[39]

Electoral history

City Council

2007

2011

2015

Mayoral