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Paul Cunningham
Paul Cunningham (Democratic Party) is a member of the Tucson City Council in Arizona, representing Ward 2. He assumed office on May 11, 2010. His current term ends in 2027.
Cunningham (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Tucson City Council to represent Ward 2 in Arizona. He won in the general election on November 7, 2023.
Cunningham completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
A native Tucsonan, Cunningham graduated from Rincon High School and earned a B.A. in history from the University of Arizona in 1997. He went on to receive an M.S.W. (Master of Social Work) from Arizona State University in 2007.[1] His professional experience includes the following:[2]
- 2014-Present: Vice mayor, City of Tucson
- 2010-Present: City councilman, City of Tucson
- 1998-2010: Juvenile probation officer, Pima County
- 2001-2007: Basketball coach, Sunnyside Unified School District
- 2005-2006: Chairman of the board, TEAM TUCSON (A charity combating teen homelessness)
- 1992-2001: E-5, U.S. Army[1]
Elections
2023
See also: City elections in Tucson, Arizona (2023)
General election
General election for Tucson City Council Ward 2
Incumbent Paul Cunningham defeated Ernie Shack and M. Pendleton Spicer in the general election for Tucson City Council Ward 2 on November 7, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Paul Cunningham (D)  | 63.4 | 59,972 |
 | Ernie Shack (R) | 32.8 | 30,980 | |
 | M. Pendleton Spicer (L) | 3.7 | 3,513 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 115 | ||
| Total votes: 94,580 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2
Incumbent Paul Cunningham defeated Lisa Nutt in the Democratic primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2 on August 1, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Cunningham | 76.6 | 6,728 |
 | Lisa Nutt | 23.1 | 2,027 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 26 | ||
| Total votes: 8,781 | |||
| = 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
- Helena Owens (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2
Ernie Shack advanced from the Republican primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2 on August 1, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ernie Shack | 98.3 | 5,222 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.7 | 90 | ||
| Total votes: 5,312 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Libertarian primary election
Libertarian primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2
M. Pendleton Spicer advanced from the Libertarian primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2 on August 1, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | M. Pendleton Spicer | 95.8 | 46 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 4.2 | 2 | ||
| Total votes: 48 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Cunningham in this election.
2019
See also: City elections in Tucson, Arizona (2019)
General election
General election for Tucson City Council Ward 2
Incumbent Paul Cunningham defeated Ewart Williams Jr. and William Peterson in the general election for Tucson City Council Ward 2 on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Cunningham (D) | 60.0 | 59,513 |
| Ewart Williams Jr. (R) | 34.5 | 34,251 | ||
| William Peterson (G) | 5.4 | 5,337 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 118 | ||
| Total votes: 99,219 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2
Incumbent Paul Cunningham advanced from the Democratic primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2 on August 27, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Cunningham | 100.0 | 8,357 |
| Total votes: 8,357 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2
Ewart Williams Jr. advanced from the Republican primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2 on August 27, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Ewart Williams Jr. | 100.0 | 5,116 | |
| Total votes: 5,116 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Green primary election
Green primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2
William Peterson advanced from the Green primary for Tucson City Council Ward 2 on August 27, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | William Peterson | 100.0 | 31 | |
| Total votes: 31 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2015
The city of Tucson, Arizona, held elections for mayor and city council on November 3, 2015. Because only one candidate from each party filed to run, the primary scheduled for August 25, 2015, was called off. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was May 27, 2015, for primary candidates and was September 24, 2015, for general election candidates. Three of the six city council seats were up for election. In the Ward 2 race, incumbent Paul Cunningham (D) defeated Kelly Lawton (R) in the general election.[3]
| Tucson City Council Ward 2, General election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Paul Cunningham Incumbent |
57.5% | 45,296 | |
| Republican | Kelly Lawton | 42.2% | 33,231 | |
| Write-in votes | 0.31% | 246 | ||
| Total Votes | 78,773 | |||
| Source: Pima County Elections Department, "Official Canvass Consolidated Elections November 3, 2015," November 9, 2015 | ||||
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Paul Cunningham completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cunningham's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Paul served on the Arizona Juvenile Justice Commission, the Correction Officer Retirement Local Board, has been active in volunteering with Youth on their Own, Our Family, National Youth Sports, the YMCA, Friends of the Library, and the Community Prevention Coalition. In 2006 he founded a nonprofit (Team Tucson) to meet the challenges of Teen Homelessness. Paul also served as president of the EL GHEKO neighborhood association, was a member of the Belle Capri Homeowners Association Board, and served as Vice President of his Pima County Probation Officers Association.
Paul is a 12 year veteran of the Pima County Juvenile Probation Department, and has taught public school in Tucson for the past decade. He is a proud member of the Tucson Education Association. He has also been a coach in multiple sports from Basketball to Flag Football to Softball. He married his wife Alisa in 2015 and has three sons.- I believe in a city that works. I am from Tucson and four generations of Cunninghams have called Tucson home so I know Tucson’s potential. With our wonderful climate and beautiful Sonoran desert, I know that we can make Tucson’s next century even better than the last. We have done a lot of things right in the last 15 years in Tucson and I am looking forward to continuing to make Tucson a safe, desirable and prosperous place to call home.
- My top priority as a City Council Member is addressing the unsheltered crisis that is happening in our city. We simply have to come up with new ways to address homelessness and to improve the lives of all Tucson residents. No one has all the answers but a lot of people have some of the answers and I am committed to continuing dialogues across our community to come up with solutions that make sense for Tucson.
- I will, of course, maintain my long held priorities of delivering a high quality of life for my constituents in Ward 2 and throughout the City. I will continue my focus on delivering high quality recreational opportunities for youth and adults throughout our City. I will continue my work improving Ward 2 parks and ensuring Tucson’s water supply for our children and grandchildren.
Tucson Vice Mayor Steve Kozachik
Former Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild
State Representative Stephanie Stahl-Hamilton (LD21)
State Senator Priya Sundareshan (LD18)
State Representative Chris Mathis (LD18)
State Representative Nancy Gutierrez (LD18)
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2019
Paul Cunningham did not complete Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Cunningham has two sons and is married to Alisa Alonzo Cunningham.[4]
See also
2023 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Tucson City Council Ward 2 |
Officeholder Tucson City Council Ward 2 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Tucson City Council Ward 2 2010-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| |||||||||
