Democrat Vanessa Bechtol to Oust Election Denier Republican on Pima Supervisors. Help Put Her on the Ballot!

Democrats in Pima County have the best chance in eight years of capturing an additional Supervisor seat this year and ousting a Republican election denier and anti-vaxxer.

Democrat Vanessa Bechtol is running for Supervisor in District 4, which includes Tucson’s east side, Vail, and Green Valley. The district leans Republican, with 36% of voters registered as Republicans, 31% registered as Democrats, and 33% registered as independents.

Bechtol, age 46, is Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Visit Tucson, where she was hired in 2019. She previously headed the Santa Cruz Heritage Alliance, which successfully lobbied Congress to designate the federal Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area in 2019.

Her campaign co-chairs are Democratic powerhouses Jonathan Rothschild, the former Mayor of Tucson and Betsy Bolding, a retired high school teacher, TV host, Special Assistant to former Governor Bruce Babbitt, and charity board member. They will be especially helpful with fundraising, which the 2020 Democratic Supervisor candidate struggled with.

Her youthful presence is an advantage over the dour countenance of aging Steve Christy.

Political kidney stone

She is running against political kidney stone Steve W. Christy, age 69, the lone Republican on the five-member Pima Supervisors. With a grim track record, Christy:

• Refused to certify the election results in 2020 and 2022.
• Voted against regulation of the Pima gun bazaar at the County Fairgrounds.
• Voted against The Prosperity Project, a county project to fight intergenerational poverty.
• Voted against preschool scholarships.
• Opposes private/public partnerships that benefit the business community.
• Christie is a COVID conspiracy peddler who voted against requiring county employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
• Christy has encouraged Republican hecklers organized by the Pima Republican Party who disrupt the Supervisors’ call to the public and waste everyone’s time.

He is an ex-car dealer who votes against local business interests and against consumers as well. He was first elected in 2016 along with Trump.

Put her on the ballot.

District 4 residents can sign Bechtol’s petition to put her on the ballet at https://go.azsos.gov/yh46. You can find your Pima County District at www.recorder.pima.gov/VoterStats/PrecinctDistrictSearch

Bechtol is a Certified Destination Management Executive with 20 years of professional experience in public service. This includes working with nonprofit organizations focused on heritage-based economic development, cultural and historic preservation, sustainable tourism, and supporting local businesses. Her expertise includes operations management, public outreach, stakeholder engagement, and building strategic collaborations for destination stewardship.

As Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Visit Tucson, Vanessa’s work focuses on destination stewardship, emphasizing sustainable tourism, placemaking initiatives, strong community engagement and strategic planning.

She was also the Arizona Land and Water Project Director from 2004 to 2006.

Her education includes:

• Master of Science and Planning degree from the University of Arizona in 2003
• Sustainable Tourism Destination Management Certificate from Cornell University in 2023.
• A certificate from the University of Arizona, Eller College of Management, in Nonprofit Leadership & Management in 2021.
• B.A. degree from the University of Arizona in 2000.

During her eight years as the Executive Director of the nonprofit Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Alliance, she collaborated with elected officials, community leaders, and nonprofit partners in the shared pursuit of preserving and promoting southern Arizona’s rich heritage. In that role, she co-authored the first nomination to designate the City of Tucson as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, the first in the U.S.