An incumbent councilmember looks likely to lose his seat in a razor-thin council race in the square-mile city of South Tucson.
Incumbent Cesar Aguirre and newcomer Eduardo Baca held the lead for two seats on the South Tucson City Council as of midday Wednesday, but challenger Debbie Federico trailed behind Baca by only 3 votes. Aguirre had 28%, while Baca and Federico were virtually tied at 25%.
South Tucson has only 2,256 registered voters, according to the Pima County Recorder’s Office, meaning seats are sometimes decided by a handful of votes.
Brian Flagg, was first elected to South Tucson's city council in 2022. He was part of a coalition of candidates intertwined with the left-wing Casa Maria Soup Kitchen that included current Mayor Roxanna Valenzuela and fellow incumbent Cesar Aguirre. Flagg trails Aquirre and two other candidates for two open seats, early election results show.
Incumbent Brian Flagg, a longtime community activist, was trailing behind with 21%, about 30 votes behind Federico.
Flagg was first elected as part of a coalition of candidates intertwined with the left-wing Casa Maria Soup Kitchen in 2022 that included current Mayor Roxanna Valenzuela and Aguirre.
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Valenzuela earned enough votes for another term in this summer’s primary election, leaving two seats to be decided in the general election.
Pima County had about 80,000 ballots left to count as of mid-afternoon Wednesday, but it’s unclear how many South Tucson ballots remain.
Hannah Cree covers local government for the Star. Reach her at hcree@tucson.com.
Hannah Cree
Government Reporter
