Who Are the Mayor and City Council and
How Are They Elected?
The mayor and City Council members are ordinary citizens who have a special interest in improving their community. They have the
responsibility to represent other citizens in making decisions for the city. The mayor is elected by the registered voters of Phoenix
every four years. Council members are elected by the citizens of each district in non-partisan elections. Non-partisan elections don’t
use the political parties (Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or any other party). Federal, state and even county elections are partisan,
but in most places city elections are not. Some benefits to non-partisan elections are that council members are elected on their own merit
and, once elected, each has equal standing.
The mayor is responsible for setting the agenda for the City Council meetings, appointing council members to subcommittees and appointing
citizens to commissions. He or she generally sets the direction of the city.
Council members are elected to represent a City Council district for a term of four years. The mayor must be a resident of Phoenix.
The council members must live in the district in which they run and must be at least 21 years old. Not all council seats are up for
election at the same time, though. It might get confusing if eight new council members were elected all at the same time - sort of like
having a class made up entirely of students or teachers who were new to the school. To prevent that confusion, the council elections are
staggered. The mayor and council members from districts 1,3,5 and 7 are elected at one election, and council members from districts 2,4,6,
and 8 are chosen at an election held two years later.
