The City of Tucson Mayor Debate and Forum hosted by the Rotary Club of Tucson will be held on Wednesday, July 24th at the TCC in the Turquoise & Crystal Ballrooms at 11:30 a.m. Thank you Visit Tucson and Arizona Lodging & Tourism Association for sponsoring the Event.
Meet our Moderator for the Debate:
Moderator - Lorraine Rivera is a veteran broadcaster having worked in the Yuma and Tucson television markets for the last decade. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona, School of Journalism with minors in English and Mexican-American Studies, and enjoys cheering on her beloved Wildcats. Rivera is product of Cochise County, born and bred along the U.S./Mexico border in Douglas. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to continue serving as a journalist in her home state. “It is a privilege to work with such a well-respected group of diverse journalists. I believe in the mission of Arizona Public Media to provide Arizonans with in-depth journalism.”Meet the Candidates for the Mayor Debate and Forum in alphabetical order:
Dr. Ed Ackerley was born in Tucson. In 1968 his family opened Ackerley Advertising, a full-service advertising agency now owned by Ed and Bill Ackerley. Ed’s wife Susan is a native Tucsonan and first grade teacher and they have three sons, Kyle, Kevin and Kasey and two grandsons, Nolan and Patrick. Since 1976, Dr. Ackerley has been an account executive at Ackerley Advertising and teaches at the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. His affiliation with the American Advertising Federation includes leadership roles in Tucson as President, and nationally as Chairman of the Council of Governors, a Governor, and member of the National Board of Directors. Awards include Advertising Professional of the Year, Hall of Fame and AAF Silver Medal. CreatingMAGIC is his book and seminar he presents nationally. Dr. Ackerley has a doctorate from Northern Arizona University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona. He is a 1976 graduate of Palo Verde High School. He is a member of Tucson and Hispanic Chambers, National Football Foundation, Rillito Park Foundation and is President of Coaches for Charity, an organization he founded to raise scholarships for student athletes. On January 11, 2019, he filed as a candidate for Mayor of the City of Tucson (No Party Affiliation - Independent), his first foray into elected public office.
Randi Dorman is a business and community leader, mom, and proud Tucsonan. Randi has been a businesswoman for 30 years and an infill real estate developer downtown for 20 years. After a successful career in global branding, Randi moved from NYC to downtown Tucson in 2001 where she and her husband purchased an old Ice Factory on the edge of downtown with partners and turned it into the Ice House Lofts, the first residential loft conversion in all of Arizona. Randi was President of the Museum of Contemporary Art and Chairwoman of the Downtown Tucson Partnership. She has been voted the Most Influential Woman in Tucson three years in a row in AZ Foothills magazine. Randi is running for Mayor because she thinks Tucson has limitless potential, and that the decisions we make in the next four years will have a profound impact on our next 40 years. She has spent the last 20 years helping to lead the revitalization of downtown Tucson and will lead the way in creating opportunities in each part of the city. She is running to be Tucson’s first female mayor because it is time we think differently about what is possible here and build the thriving 21st century city we deserve.
Steve Farley, father of two, is an artist and entrepreneur. Elected to the state Legislature in 2006, he rose to become House Assistant Minority Leader. Farley brings deep experience in infrastructure, water, transportation, education and economic development to the Mayor’s race. He was instrumental in gaining approval for a comprehensive regional transportation system (RTA) of roads, buses, bikeways and sidewalks, and the modern streetcar light rail line, which opened in Tucson in 2014 and has created hundreds and hundreds of jobs and more than $1 billion in private construction projects within three blocks of its route — all in the middle of the worst recession Arizona has seen. Farley is also a well-known artist and graphic designer who invented a new way of converting photographs to glazed ceramic tile. In addition to creating the tile mural that graces the Broadway underpass leading to Downtown Tucson, Farley has completed numerous mural projects around the U.S. He has run his own public art and graphic design business since 1991.
Regina Romero epitomizes the American Dream in the Southwest. Raised by immigrant farm workers in Somerton, Arizona, Regina is the youngest of six children and began breaking barriers early on as the first member of her family to vote and the first to graduate from college. She is a proud graduate of the University of Arizona and holds a post-graduate certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. In 2007, Regina became the first Latina elected to the Tucson City Council and the first woman to represent Tucson’s Ward 1. While on the Council, she has helped lift Tucson out of the Great Recession to its most prosperous decade in recent history, writing the City’s Primary Jobs Incentive program and calling for the Creation of an Economic Initiatives Office – both of which have resulted in thousands of long-term, good-paying jobs. She has championed issues such as equal pay for equal work and spearheaded the effort to pass universal earned sick and parental leave for City of Tucson families. Regina is a pro-child, pro-family and pro-choice mother of two bi-lingual, bi-cultural and bi-adorable children, Emiliano and Luciana, and has been married to Ruben Reyes for 15 years.
