Realtor Pat Darcy considering bid for Mayor of Tucson, as an Independent (updated)

Pat Darcy

Pat Darcy, formerly a Democrat now an Independent, is considering a bid for Mayor of the City of Tucson. From his website at CB Richard Ellis:

Pat Darcy has been serving the business community of Tucson, Arizona since 1985. Mr. Darcy is a Senior Associate at CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) and specializes in retail properties. He carries an unequaled track record of solving a multitude of commercial real estate issues for local, regional and national clients. As a long-time Tucsonan, Darcy has taken his passion for the local community and focused his career on building relationships that spur economic growth and improve quality of life for the people of Pima County.

Prior to joining CBRE, Mr. Darcy was a major league baseball player with the Cincinnati Reds and in 1975 became the first high school player from Tucson to appear in a World Series game and also the first person from Tucson to play on a world championship team.

• ICSC Member (International Council of Shopping Centers).
• Lead recruiter for the City of Tucson in bringing in the Colorado Rockies to Tucson for their spring training headquarters.
• Eight years as a member of the City of Tucson Parks and Recreation Commission with the last four years as Chairman.
• Was acknowledged for his leadership role in having impact fees for parks passed by the Tucson City Council.
• Speaker for Linking Sports and Communities, a not for profit organization helping underprivileged young people.
• Community Relations Council for the Fred Acosta Job Corps Center.
• Active member Catalina United Methodist Church.
• Youth Coach
• Member Pima County Sports Hall of Fame.
• Master of Ceremony for Pima County Hall of Fame annual dinner and press conference.
• Southern Arizona Mental Health Association
• Dinner Committee, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
• Arizona Daily Star’s Tucson Festival of Books panel moderator
• Speaker at schools, clubs and youth leagues on value of education and sports.

Education

* Bachelor of Arts, University of Arizona

Darcy ran for Mayor before in the September, 1999 Democratic primary along with Betsy Bolding, Ward 2 Councilmember Janet Marcus, and Ward 6 Councilmember Molly McKasson. McKasson was the winner, but went on to lose to then-political newcomer Robert Walkup in the General Election. Walkup has been Mayor since then but announced on February 22 that he is not seeking re-election to his 4th term.

Results from that 1999 Democratic primary election:

Betsy Bolding 9019 34.09%
Pat Darcy 2281 8.62%
Janet Marcus 3165 11.96%
Molly McKasson 11,864 44.84%

Darcy may enter the field of Mayoral candidates, which already has one Democrat — political newcomer Jonathan Rothschild, and two Republicans Shaun McClusky (who ran in the Nov. 2009 Ward 5 Council race and lost), and former District 1 Pima County Supervisor Ron Asta, who served in that capacity before (1972 to 1976) as a Democrat. McClusky and Asta will face off in the August 30 Republican primary.

Darcy hasn’t filed as yet for the office of Mayor per the Tucson City Clerk’s Office, but can be reached via email at Patrick.Darcy@cbre.com or at 520-323-5154. His campaign website is under construction.

5/13/11 Ted Prezelski at Rum Romanism Rebellion reporting that Darcy finally took out papers to run for Mayor of Tucson: http://www.rumromanismrebellion.net/2011/05/13/mayor-race-update/ — as an Independent. Stay tuned.

Do Pima County Independents vote for Independent candidates?

Do Independent voters vote for Independent candidates? About 29% of the registered voters in Pima County are now declaring No Party/Independent/Other affiliation (see Pima County Recorder’s Office website by clicking here.)

For the first time (as far as I know) there were more Independent candidates in a legislative race (LD 28 Senate) than candidates from the major parties. There was one Democrat (the incumbent), one Republican, and two Independents running in that legislative race.

But it seems that Independent candidates don’t receive a lot of votes.

November 2006 General Election: Jay Quick ran as an Independent in CD 8 House, and got 1.68% of the vote (3523 votes). This past August, 2010 he ran again for CD 8 House as a Republican in the primary, and received 2.29% of the vote (1648 votes), slightly more percentage wise.

November 2008 General Election: Ralph Nader ran for U. S. President as “Nonpartisan” and got only 0.51 % of the vote in Pima County (1995 votes). He formerly ran for President as a Green Party candidate.

November 2010 General Election: Harley Meyer just ran in CD 7 House as an Independent, and got 2.83% of the vote (4506 votes).

In LD 27 Gene Chewning just ran for State House as an Independent & got 6.46% of the vote (4,114 votes). He ran before for the same seat as a Republican in November 2006, and got 19.54% of the vote (11,327 votes)– which shows that major party affiliation does help.

And in LD 28 Senate, Ted Downing (formerly a Democratic legislator) got 6.25% of the vote (3,085 votes) running as “Nonpartisan and Independent”, while Dave Ewoldt as an Independent (formerly with the Green party) got 2.86% of the vote (1,414 votes). Final tallies are not complete for these two races either.

Downing ran for this same seat in the September, 2006 Primary as a Democrat and got 45.71% of the vote (7746 votes). He only got 3085 votes this time in the 2010 General Election, so leaving the Democratic party seems to have lessened his chances of vote-getting.

Running as an Independent frees the candidate from a Primary Election challenge, but they don’t have a political party “machine”/resources to help them get out the vote, nor a political party platform to assist the voters in deciding what these candidates stand for. Being “independent” minded may not be enough for today’s discerning voter.

And I suspect that voters who choose “Other/No Party/Independent/Non partisan” status do so as they want to avoid party labels (or are unhappy with their former party), the closed Primaries, and want the freedom to pick & choose between all the Political Party candidates (Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Independent, etc.) in the General Election.

Time will tell if any independent/non partisan candidate will win a seat in Southern Arizona in the future.

UPDATE: Only Independent politicians in Southern AZ have been Ward 2 Councilmember Carol West (who changed from a Democrat), and District 3 Pima County Supervisor Ed Moore (who changed from a Republican).