Tucson’s Aug. 1 Democratic primary elections have attracted the attention of outside groups that are spending tens of thousands of dollars on mail, phone and digital campaigns.
Several independent expenditure committees have emerged in Ward 1 this week, dropping mailers that target both incumbent Lane Santa Cruz and challenger Miguel Ortega.
The mailer hammering Santa Cruz was funded by the Arizona Prosperity Initiative, a nonprofit formed in April 2023, according to Arizona Corporation Commission records.
While the funders of the effort remain shrouded in secrecy, Arizona Prosperity Initiative’s filing with the state lists three principals: Donald Justin Harris, who is registered to vote as an independent in Ward 3 and who has a variety of data security businesses, according to public records; Joel Rhoads, an Oro Valley Republican who has worked in real estate and operated healthcare companies, according to his online biography; and John Holden, a former Tucson Republican who now lives in Tennessee.
The statutory agent for the group is Timothy La Sota, a Phoenix attorney and lobbyist who is well known in GOP circles. He has represented Donald Trump in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Kari Lake in her efforts to uncover wrongdoing in the 2022 election and Kanye West in his effort to get on the ballot as a presidential candidate.
Arizona Prosperity Initiative did not file paperwork with the Tucson City Clerk’s office before sending the mailer or deliver a copy to Santa Cruz.
La Sota did not respond to requests for comment from the Tucson Sentinel.
Santa Cruz said they were surprised that an independent expenditure campaign was boosting Ortega, but “he’s been kind of doing a smear campaign from the get-go.”
Ortega said he had never heard of La Sota.
“Obviously, I don’t support Trump policies,” Ortega said.
He said the third-party mailers were “indicative of the interest in the race. It’s the only one that’s really competitive in town. It’s the race to watch.”
The mailer includes a photo from police body-camera footage taken during a rowdy 2020 protest in downtown Tucson in the wake of the death of George Floyd, which sparked nationwide protests against police brutality. In the clip, Santa Cruz can be heard asking the officers where the captain in charge of the police is.
“Where is Captain Dennison?” Santa Cruz asked in the footage, which was uploaded to YouTube. “I am your fucking City Councilmember.”
Santa Cruz told the Sentinel that “young people were being pulled out of the crowd and so the situation I walked into was pretty intense.”
Santa Cruz said they called then-Police Chief Chris Magnus, who told them to talk to the police captain on the scene.
The flier also alleges that Santa Cruz is “spending your taxpayer dollars on vacations!”
The claim is related to complaints raised by Scott Egan, a Barrio Hollywood resident who pens a political newsletter that is frequently critical of Santa Cruz and Mayor Regina Romero.
Egan flagged expenses in the Ward 1 Council Office budget for roughly $15,000 that covered expenses for 12 airline tickets and hotel rooms for a 2022 Lánzate conference in Philadelphia sponsored by Mijente, a nonprofit organization involved in political organizing and supporting undocumented immigrants and other marginalized people of color.
Santa Cruz said that money did not come from taxpayers but from a $50,000 grant from Mijente to the city. They used most of the grant money to cover the cost of door-to-door canvassing in Ward 1 to learn more about the priorities of residents.
Since there were funds remaining after that work was done, Santa Cruz got permission from Mijente officials to use the grant dollars to send people to the group’s conference, they said.
Santa Cruz has worked for Mijente in the past and the organization has paid for them to attend conferences in Massachusetts, Chile and Argentina.
Mijente is also involved in the Ward 1 race on behalf of Santa Cruz. The organization has reported spending just over $13,200 on mailers encouraging voters to support the incumbent Democrat, according to records filed with the Tucson City Clerk.
The Mijente mailer praised Santa Cruz for their efforts to increase housing, improve streets and expand childcare opportunities.
Another organization, Arizona Working Families Party, sent a mailer criticizing Ortega for “trash talking” Santa Cruz and encouraging voters to support the incumbent.
Arizona Working Families Party is spending $16,624 to boost Santa Cruz, according to paperwork filed with the City Clerk’s Office. It alerted the Ortega campaign of the mailer as required by law.
Ward 2: Big bucks from Realtors, apartment lobbyists
In East Side Ward 2, the Arizona Multihousing Association and the National Association of Realtors are combining to spend roughly $75,000 on behalf of Lisa Nutt, who is seeking to unseat incumbent Councilman Paul Cunningham.
AMA is spending $39,416, while the NAR is spending $35,249, according to reports filed with the City Clerk’s Office.
The AMA had already sent at least one mailer and text messages on Nutt’s behalf earlier in the campaign.
Nutt is a local real estate agent who is making her first run for public office.
Courtney Gilstrap LeVinus, CEO of the AMA, said the organization supports Nutt because her experience as a Realtor gives her an understanding of “the depth of the crisis and its solutions.”
“We support Lisa because she supports building more housing to help Tucson families,” LeVinus said. “She understands the need for more affordable housing and how we must reform zoning laws and reduce regulations that drive up the cost of housing.”
Cunningham said the additional spending did not worry him.
“I think we all see what’s happening here,” Cunningham said. “Someone who changed their registration days before announcing their candidacy has completely failed to connect with primary voters, so the out-of-town, right-wing special interest groups that do support her know their only chance to beat me is by flooding Ward 2 with outside spending. Good luck with that. Personally I don’t think primary voters are going to fall for it.”
Early ballots for the races were sent to Tucson voters on July 5. City officials advise that the last day to mail back a ballot for the primary election is July 26. Voters can also cast a ballot in person between now and Aug. 1 at the Tucson City Clerk’s Elections Center, 800 E. 12th St.
Voting centers will be open in each of the city’s wards on Election Day to cast ballots in person. Voters can drop off completed ballots at the offices of the Pima County Recorder between through Aug. 1. The recorder has offices downtown at 240 N. Stone Ave., on the South Side at 6550 S. Country Club Rd., and at 6920 E. Broadway.
