Regina Romero
42ndMayor of Tucson
Incumbent
Assumed office December 2, 2019
Preceded by	Jonathan Rothschild
Personal details
Born	(1974-09-20)September 20, 1974 (age 51) Somerton, Arizona, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Ruben Reyes
Children	2
Education	University of Arizona (BA)

Regina Romero (born 1974) is an American politician serving as the 42ndMayor ofTucson, Arizona since 2019.

In addition to being the Mayor of Tucson, Romero is the Chair of the Latino Alliance of the U.S. Conference of Mayors,^[1] Co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns,^[2] an inaugural member of the Mayors Alliance to End Childhood Hunger,^[3] and a member of the Climate Mayors Network.^[4]

She is the youngest of her 6 siblings and descendant of parents who emigrated to Arizona from Mexico.^[5] Raised by her farmworker parents inSomerton, Arizona, Romero became the first person in her family to graduate from college and the first to vote. Regina Romero got her BA atUniversity of Arizona and a postgraduate certificate fromHarvard Kennedy School.^[6]

In 2021, Romero was named Alumna of the Year by theUniversity of Arizona's College of Social and Behavioral Sciences for her efforts towards solving social justice issues and years of public service in Tucson.^[7]

Romero worked as a program coordinator in Pima County, Arizona from 1996 to 2005. From 2005 to 2007, Romero was a council aide for the Tucson City Council.^[8] From 2007 to 2019, she was a Tucson City Council member.^[9]

Romero ran in the2019 Tucson mayoral election. She won the Democratic primary in August 2019, defeating state senatorSteve Farley and developer Randi Dorman.^[10][11] After winning the mayoral primary, her main general election opponent was Ed Ackerley, who was a longtime Democrat running as an independent in hopes of receiving conservative votes. She defeated Ackerley in the general election.^[12] Romero became the first-ever female and first-ever Latina mayor of Tucson,^[13] and the firstLatino mayor of the city sinceEstevan Ochoa, who was mayor from 1875 to 1876.^[13]

In June 2023, Romero's budget proposal for the next fiscal year was approved by the city council. Money was included in the budget to upgrade roads, acquire new public safety equipment, and to keep up the city's fare-free system.^[14] $1 million was included to fight climate change, however funds for the effort are much larger when state and federal funding are included.^[14]

Romero supported an extension of Proposition 411.^[15] Proposition 411 is a 0.5% sales tax designed to generate revenue specifically for residential street repairs which passed in 2022 with 57,024 votes.^[16]

During Romero's reelection campaign in the2023 Tucson mayoral election, she said she wanted to use the city's general fund and the Highway User Revenue Fund to improve roads; continue using federal funds to transition to lower-emissions buses, continue the goal of planting 1 million trees by 2030, and increase water levels in Lake Mead through reservoir usage; and allow non-law enforcement citizens to respond to non-emergency calls.^[17][18][19] She faced Republican Janet Wittenbraker,^[20] and won reelection 61% to 31%.^[21]

During her re-election campaign, Romero asked voters to vote yes on Proposition 412. If passed, Tucson would agree to a new deal with a local power suppliers that will raise residents' electricity bill by less than $1 a month.^[22] She expressed to her voters that this change would help Tucson's fight against climate change, by sourcing electricity in a more sustainable way.^[22] Voters rejected the proposition.^[23]

In addition, Proposition 413 was passed in the November 7, 2023, election. Romero's salary was increased from $42,000 to $96,000 annually. In the same proposition, the city council's salary was matched to that of thePima County Board of Supervisors, increasing from $24,000 to $76,660. Voters were split on the issue despite this measure resulting in the first increase in Tucson's salary for the mayor since 1999, and no longer falls behind Tucson's median household income of $48,058.^[24] Opponents of Proposition 413 called for staggered increases in salary, instead of the adopted method of immediate implementation.^[25]

Regina Romero has two children with her husband, Ruben Reyes.^[6] Reyes was the district director for the lateU.S. RepresentativeRaúl Grijalva.^[26]

2007

2011

2015

• List of mayors of the 50 largest cities in the United States

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRegina Romero.

• Profile atVote Smart
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1974 births
• Living people
• 21st-century American women politicians
• 21st-century mayors of places in Arizona
• 2020 United States presidential electors
• American politicians of Mexican descent
• Arizona city council members
• Arizona Democrats
• Hispanic and Latino American city council members
• Hispanic and Latino American mayors
• Hispanic and Latino American people in Arizona politics
• Hispanic and Latino American women in politics
• Mayors of Tucson, Arizona
• University of Arizona alumni
• Women mayors of places in Arizona
• Women city councillors in Arizona

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