Victoria Lem

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

Victoria Lem

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 7, 2023

Personal

Birthplace

Tucson, Ariz.

Religion

Christian

Profession

Recruiter

Victoria Lem (Republican Party) ran for election to the Tucson City Council to represent Ward 1 in Arizona. She lost in the general election on November 7, 2023.

Lem completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Victoria Lem was born in Tucson, Arizona. Her career experience includes working as a recruiter.

Elections

2023

See also: City elections in Tucson, Arizona (2023)

General election

General election for Tucson City Council Ward 1

Incumbent Lane Santa Cruz defeated Victoria Lem in the general election for Tucson City Council Ward 1 on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Lane Santa Cruz (D)	61.8	58,296
		Victoria Lem (R)	38.0	35,845
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	207

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 94,348
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Tucson City Council Ward 1

Incumbent Lane Santa Cruz defeated Miguel Ortega in the Democratic primary for Tucson City Council Ward 1 on August 1, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Lane Santa Cruz	62.8	4,789
	Submit photo	Miguel Ortega	36.9	2,812
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	28

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,629
= 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 1

Victoria Lem advanced from the Republican primary for Tucson City Council Ward 1 on August 1, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Victoria Lem	98.1	1,254
		Other/Write-in votes	1.9	24

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,278
= 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

• Frederick Gomez (R)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Lem in this election.

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Victoria Lem completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lem's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am Victoria Lem, a proud 2nd generation American of Latin and Chinese descent. Born and raised in Tucson, I have spent over 40 years living in Ward 1 and I am blessed as a mother of two. As a long-time resident of Tucson, I have witnessed the challenges that my community faces which fuels my drive to make a difference and help those around me. My deep love for our beautiful community inspired me to pursue a career in real estate, advising clientele in Tucson since 2014. In addition to my real estate business, I currently serve as the President of the Tucson REALTORS Charitable Foundation, where we give back to our community by providing grants to local non-profits that serve the Tucson community, focusing on supporting education, housing, and healthcare initiatives. As a lifelong volunteer, I have previously served as President of Kiwanis Tucson Borderlands Young Professionals; as the Liaison between Raytheon and the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind; a volunteer and committeeman for the Blair Charity Group; and I provided years of volunteer service in my church Victory Worship Center (Zion Church), just to name a few. Prior to real estate, I also worked at Raytheon Missile Systems supporting our service men & women for 11 years. Through extensive professional and volunteer experience, I have gained valuable skills in leadership, community outreach, and public service. I’m dedicated to making a positive impact in my community now and for generations to come.

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?

• REDUCE CRIME: Fully fund and enable officers to enforce our laws & protect our community, clean up toxic inhumane encampments, fight the fentanyl/overdose crisis, work alongside proven and effective nonprofits in our community which offer housing, counseling and rehabilitation opportunities and a path to become productive citizens.
• REBUILD OUR ROADS: Stop making minor repairs to major potholes & prioritize a budget that incorporates fully repaving roads in need, which at this point is just about everywhere within the city limits.Whether you are in your own vehicle, biking, ride-sharing or using public transportation, we all need this valuable piece of infrastructure to work with us and not against us. Without this, our efforts to attract revenue from tourism and high paying jobs/businesses looking to relocate to Tucson will continue to fail. Transit affordability does not equate to free. The cost to our community is taxpayer funded buses which currently offer open drug use, bus drivers who are assaulted. Hard working people in Tucson deserve safe transportation.
• ECONOMIC RESPONSIBILITY: Put a stop to current reckless spending and create an environment in Tucson where individuals and businesses can thrive and grow in our economy. Enhance our workforce by creating new opportunities to collaborate with community colleges (PCC), JTED, and UofA to develop programs and courses which serve our current industries and upcoming job market growth. Attract new businesses and current business growth in our community then get out of the way. We need to create avenues for employers and employees to discover the benefits of choosing Tucson. Create well paying employment opportunities, supporting credit & finance education prepares and encourages citizens to develop roots and grow our community.

Community Question Featured local question

How would you address crime and public safety? Do you have a different stance than current city council policy?

Our current city council and mayor has openly funded an encampment at Estevan Park at the tune of $75,000. The encampment took over the park with open-air drug use, fentanyl use and sales, new $350,000 playground equipment destroyed in a fire started by the encampment inhabitants. The community could not use this public asset. It grew to over 80 inhabitants and with pressure from the community and the Tucson Crime Free Coalition, the city was finally pressured to clean up the park. Within weeks, the city council and mayor approved a liquor license for a group next door supporting the encampment and then quickly encouraged the group to apply for more funding. This is one of the most inhumane ways to live, amongst feces, toxic fumes from drugs, assaults, theft, and crimes committed within the group, affecting and spilling out into the neighborhood businesses and homeowners.

Instead of fuding and enabling addiction and crime, I will fully fund and enable officers to enforce our laws & protect our community, clean up toxic inhumane encampments, fight the fentanyl/overdose crisis, work alongside proven and effective nonprofits in our community which offer housing, counseling and rehabilitation opportunities and a path to become productive citizens.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Increased crime is happening in all of our backyards! The city council has a duty to our citizens to enforce the law. I will push to fully fund our police department, give them their pensions back and get them back on to our streets where they can PROTECT OUR CITIZENS. We also need to reduce the wait time for processing at the county jail and hold the DA accountable because right now, they are sending offenders right out the back door and back on the streets to re-offend. The current city council is enabling the problem by funding some of the encampments instead of enabling our first responders to protect and defend our communities.

Many families in our community have personally faced the opioid crisis with first hand experience; unfortunately, mine is not absent from such heartaches. Cities who do not face this issue directly with strict enforcement, offering connections to programs for rehabilitation, and enable dealers, transportation of illegal drugs and use are part of the problem. We need to send a clear message to drug traffickers that Tucson has zero tolerance for them at any level and prosecute offenders swiftly. Enablement only makes things worse. Releasing criminal offenders while they are still high gives no opportunity to get clean in a safe and monitored environment, instead, we release with no hope, no resources all while the individual is ready for their next hit. We need to physically connect to every person in need to the available resources.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My very first job was as a Library Page at the Pima County Public Library - El Rio location as part of a teen summer jobs program from the county at 14 years old.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Tucson Association of REALTORS; Pima County GOP; REALTORS® of Arizona Political Action Committee

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.

Note: Community Questions were submitted by the public and chosen for inclusion by a volunteer advisory board. The chosen questions were modified by staff to adhere to Ballotpedia’s neutrality standards. To learn more about Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection Expansion Project, click here.

See also

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