On Tuesday, August 29, 2017, Michael Cease was the winner of the Green Party Primary in Ward 6 of the City of Tucson Council Election. Cease defeated his primary opponent, Michael Oatman, with 64.71% of the vote (55 votes), versus 31.76% of the vote (27 votes) for Oatman. Mr. Cease will now move on to the November 7, 2017 General Election to face Republican challenger Mariano Rodriguez, and Democratic incumbent Steve Kozachik. While most municipalities in Arizona have non-partisan elections, Tucson is unique because its elections for mayor and city council are partisan (candidates may run with a party designation, or run as independent).

Michael Cease is the chairperson of the Green Party of Pima County (GPPC). Last year, he ran as the Green Party candidate for Pima County Recorder in the November 2016 General Election. He set a personal and Green Party record when he received 80,588 votes (22.20% of the vote).

As a Ward 6 Council candidate, Michael's top 3 campaign issues are:

• A Green New Deal for Tucson: thousands of fair wage, sustainable energy jobs, retrofitting hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses with energy conversation, solar energy and water harvesting.
• $15 NOW: adopt a city-wide minimum wage of $15/hour now.
• Sanctuary City: adopt a strong and substantive Sanctuary Cities ordinance, joining dozens of cities nationwide in solidarity, making Tucson a welcoming community for immigrants.

For more information on Mike's campaign, please visit his campaign website at: https://www.ceaseforcouncil.org/, or visit his campaign Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/cease4council/.

If you are a registered Green Party voter in Tucson and/or Pima County, please volunteer to Get Out the Vote (GOTV) for Mike's campaign between now and the November 7, 2017 General Election. Congratulations, Mike!

(Photo credit: Libby Hubbard)