2 Phoenix City Council races to be decided by runoff elections in March

PHOENIX – Two Phoenix City Council seats will be decided by runoffs because none of the candidates received a majority of the votes in the Nov. 8 election.

The runoffs will be held March 14. Phoenix City Council elections are nonpartisan.

In District 6, Kevin Robinson and Sam Stone survived an eight-person battle royale for the seat being vacated by Sal DiCiccio, who is term limited.

Robinson emerged with 20% (12,072 votes), 3 percentage points ahead of Stone (10,548 votes).

Stone, DiCiccio’s chief of staff, edged out Moses Sanchez and Joan Greene for the second runoff spot by about 500 votes.

Robinson, a former assistant police chief in Phoenix, is endorsed by Mayor Kate Gallego.

In District 8, incumbent Carlos Garcia will have to hold off Kesha Hodge Washington to retain his seat.

Garcia led the four-person race with 40% of the vote, but Hodge Washington was close behind at 38%. The margin was just 525 votes.

Garcia is a community activist and organizer who co-founded the Puente Human Rights Movement before running for office.

Gallego endorsed Hodge Washington, a Phoenix attorney who previously worked in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

Two other incumbents secured their reelection without needing a runoff, including Laura Pastor, who was unopposed in District 4.

Jim Waring kept his District 2 seat by garnering 53% of the vote in a three-person race. Heli Nielson was a distant second at 30%.

Pastor, Waring and whoever wins the runoffs will start four-year terms on April 17.

They’ll join sitting council members Ann O’Brien (District 1), Debra Stark (District 3), Betty Guardado (District 5) and Yassamin Ansari (District 7), who don’t face reelection until 2024.

Follow @kstonezone