Here’s what you need to know about Phoenix City Council runoff election

PHOENIX — Early voting starts this week in the March 14 runoff election for two Phoenix City Council seats.

District 6 voters will select a new member to succeed term-limited Sal DiCiccio, and the District 8 race is between incumbent Carlos Garcia and challenger Kesha Hodge Washington.

Mail ballots we be sent out Wednesday to District 6 and 8 members of the Active Early Voting list. Registered voters who aren’t on the list but want to get an early ballot have until March 3 to request one from the City Clerk Department.

Mail ballots must get back to the City Clerk Department by 7 p.m. on Election Day to count. Officials recommend putting them the in the mail by March 7 to ensure that they arrive on time.

Registered voters who prefer to cast their ballots in person can do so from Wednesday until March 10 at Phoenix City Hall or at one of 10 voting centers that will operate on Election Day and the preceding Friday and Saturday.

The following vote centers will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 11, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on March 13 and 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 14:

• Sunnyslope Community Center, 802 E. Vogel Ave.
• Bethany Bible Church, 6060 N. Seventh Ave.
• Devonshire Senior Center, 2802 E. Devonshire Ave.
• Memorial Presbyterian Church, 4141 E. Thomas Road
• Burton Barr Central Library, 1221 N. Central Ave.
• Eastlake Park Community Center, 1549 E. Jefferson St.
• Broadway Heritage Neighborhood Resource Center, 2405 E. Broadway Road
• South Mountain Community Center, 212 E. Alta Vista Road
• Cesar Chavez Branch Library, 3635 W. Baseline Road
• Pecos Community Center, 17010 S. 48th St.

Registered voters can use any of the sites, regardless of where they live.

In District 6, Kevin Robinson and Sam Stone survived an eight-person battle royale in the November 2022 general election.

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, Garcia led a four-person field with 40% of the vote in November, 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.

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

Two other incumbents secured their reelection in November without needing a runoff: Laura Pastor, who was unopposed in District 4, and Jim Waring, who kept his District 2 seat by garnering 53% of the vote in a three-person race.

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.

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