Christopher Elsner

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Christopher Elsner

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 5, 2025

Education

Associate

McHenry County College, 2004

Bachelor's

Northern Illinois University, 2008

Graduate

University of Arizona, 2013

Personal

Birthplace

Pinetop-Lakeside, Ariz.

Religion

Agnostic

Profession

Higher education administration

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

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Personal LinkedIn

Christopher Elsner (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Tucson City Council to represent Ward 5 in Arizona. He lost in the Democratic primary on August 5, 2025.

Elsner completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Christopher Elsner was born in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona. He earned an associate degree from McHenry County College in 2004, a bachelor's degree from Northern Illinois University in 2008, and a graduate degree from the University of Arizona in 2013. His career experience includes working in higher education administration and as a volunteer with the Peace Corps. He has been affiliated with The Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Southern Arizona.

Elections

2025

See also: City elections in Tucson, Arizona (2025)

General election

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for Tucson City Council Ward 5

Selina Barajas is running in the general election for Tucson City Council Ward 5 on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Selina Barajas (D)

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Tucson City Council Ward 5

Selina Barajas defeated Jesse Lugo and Christopher Elsner in the Democratic primary for Tucson City Council Ward 5 on August 5, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Selina Barajas	58.7	2,422
	Submit photo	Jesse Lugo	32.8	1,353
		Christopher Elsner	8.1	335
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	15

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,125
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Fabian Danobeytia (D)

Endorsements

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Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Christopher Elsner completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Elsner's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I was born in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona and moved to Tucson in 2011 to attend graduate school at the University of Arizona (UA) after serving for two years with the Peace Corps in Ukraine as an Education Volunteer. I earned my B.A. in English from Northern Illinois University and my Master of Public Administration degree and Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship from UA in 2013. I’ve worked in a variety of roles at UA and currently run the Peace Corps Prep program – encouraging students to pursue careers in public service.

Throughout my life I have been committed to public service and servant leadership and have worked with the Tucson community in a variety of ways since moving here. I have served on a variety of nonprofit boards and I’ve worked closely with the local startup community and understand the passion and energy that goes into trying to build something from nothing. I also learned firsthand the importance of learning from your successes and especially your failures. I was recently elected to my third term as President of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Southern Arizona (aka the Desert Doves).

Over the past few years, building community and trying to bring people together has been a focus for me and something I want to prioritize as a council member.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• At my core, I am a progressive and I seek to build a just and equitable future for our families, community, and country. However, I'm also pragmatic and understand that not everyone will agree with me on all things, and that's okay. I believes in ideas like universal health care, a living wage, strong unions, small businesses, and free public education. I believe strongly in the public sector as citizens’ best protection against exploitative corporate power. I seek to find innovative ways to invest in public institutions and leverage technology, so they are effective and serve the public’s interests.
• Many people are frustrated with our current system. They feel like politicians don’t listen and government doesn’t work. I’m committed to meeting people where they’re at to hear their needs and concerns. We need to find ways as elected officials to be more responsive to those we represent and I support ideas like participatory budgeting and digital democracy platforms. Government also needs to be more effective in serving the people, so they see and feel the impact of their tax dollars. I’m committed to reducing red-tape and streamlining projects, so we can be better at getting things done in our community. I want to be better as an elected official, and I want to make sure the government does better to serve the people.
• Our current electoral system is broken and is eroding our democracy. Our two-party duopoly, partisan primaries, and gerrymandered districts push candidates and parties to ideological extremes. The end result is that many people in the middle are left out of the conversation and feel like their choice comes down to the least-bad option. This is why I support electoral reforms like ranked choice voting and open primaries which incentivize civil discourse and push candidates to represent a broader, less extreme, set of interests. Money is also a corrupting influence in our system, and I would support stricter campaign finance rules, publicly funded campaigns, and bans on dark money and political action committees.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Government has got to be more effective – especially at the local level. We need to find ways to get the roads repaved more quickly and better maintained over time. We need to make sure we are good collaborators with our private and nonprofit partners so we can address the pressing issues of housing affordability, homelessness, and addiction. We need to better support our local small businesses and entrepreneurs and make it easier and quicker for them to get up and running. And we need to plan for changing future by being responsive to the challenges of climate change and adapting to new technologies like AI.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

City government has a significant impact on our daily lives – from the roads we drive and cycle on, to utility services, to public safety and public transportation. It has an outsized impact on our lives but is often overlooked by many people. It is also our most local and accessible part of our representative democracy, and someplace where every day people can often have an impact.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I've always been inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. His commitment to making the world a better place through non-violent resistance, his amazing use of language and rhetoric, and his vision for what could be - rather than what is - are all things examples I aspire to follow.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

“Plurality” by Audrey Tang, Glen Weyl, and the community and “Abundance” by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson are two books which resonate with me and influence my thinking about government and public policy.

I listen to a lot of podcasts which inform my political thinking this includes Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, The Ezra Klein Show, The Bulwark, The Lex Fridman Podcast, Your Undivided Attention, and Strict Scrutiny. I also listen to NPR on the radio and several of their podcasts as well.

For state and local news, I follow the Arizona Agenda, the Tucson Agenda, AZ Luminaria, the Tucson Sentinel, and the Tucson Spotlight. For national and international news, I like the Guardian, the Atlantic, the Intercept, NPR, and the New York Times.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Elected officials should have integrity and be honest. They need to be excellent communicators, understand how to connect with people, and good listeners. They should have compassion and understanding for those they serve – even those they disagree with. They should be curious and pragmatic and open to new ideas and different perspectives.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I'm humble and have a deep desire to serve my community. I can get along with and talk to almost anyone and appreciate learning from everyone I meet. I love thinking about and talking about ideas and how things work. I'm deeply curious and always seek to learn more about the world around me.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

I think the most important responsibility for any elected official is a deep desire to serve the community. They should seek to put the needs of others before their own and do everything they can to improve the lives of those they represent.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I want to leave the world better than I found it and hope to create a more just, equitable, peaceful, and prosperous society for my family and yours.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

9/11 is the biggest event that comes to mind. I was 19 at the time and distinctly remember waking up to a phone call from my aunt who led with "we're at war!" I remember getting dressed and heading to class at my local community college, only to see the footage on every TV in the building and finding out shortly thereafter that all classes were cancelled. In the days and weeks that followed, I mourned with the rest of the country but became increasingly alarmed at the disproportionate response of our country and feared that vengeance and rage would blind us. In the years that followed, I think we learned all the wrong lessons from that horrible event and to this day the legacy of "war on terror" haunts us.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Picking just one is too hard, but I love science fiction. Some of my recent favorites are "Ministry for the Future" by Kim Stanley Robinson, "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and the entire "Expanse" series by James S.A. Corey.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Wesley Crusher from Star Trek. Being able to control time and space with your mind captured my imagination when I watched TNG as a kid. Seeing that story element brought back and expanded upon in Star Trek: Prodigy and getting to watch the show with my kids was awesome.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Like many Americans, I've struggled most of my life with mental health issues and depression in particular. I'm lucky that it does not manifest in extreme or destructive ways for me, but it has made life challenging many times. It has taken a lot of work to get to where I'm at now, and it requires constant attention and effort to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

I think any elected official should have some advanced education and a college degree. Public policy, government, and law are often complex and difficult to understand. Many of the problems and challenges our communities face are complicated systemic issues that can have multiple causes and impacts and defy simple solutions. Without an education, it’s hard to navigate these things, much less find solutions to them.

Tell us your favorite joke.

I'm a man of few words. Any questions?

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Accountability and transparency are essential to building trust, and things that – unfortunately – have become increasingly absent at many levels of government. We need to do everything we can to restore accountability for government and elected officials if we ever hope to restore faith and trust in the public sector.

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Tucson City Council Ward 5

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