Gregory John Stanton (born March 8, 1970) is an American politician who serves as Mayor of Phoenix. He won the November 8, 2011 runoff election to succeed term-limited mayor Phil Gordon. Stanton, a Democrat and former Phoenix City Council member, defeated Republican political consultant/lobbyist Wes Gullett after a contentious campaign that resulted in large election turnout. Stanton was sworn in as 59th Mayor of Phoenix in January 2012.
Video Greg Stanton
Early life, education, and career
Stanton was born in Phoenix and graduated from Cortez High School of west Phoenix in 1988. He then attended Marquette University and graduated in 1992 with a B.A. in history and political science and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1995, Stanton earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. Stanton then worked as an education attorney from 1995 to 2000. In 2014, Stanton became an adjunct professor at Arizona Summit Law School.
Maps Greg Stanton
Political career
Phoenix City Council (2000-2009)
Stanton was elected to the Phoenix City Council for District 6 in 2000, 2001, and 2005 and served the district until 2009. This district included the affluent Phoenix Biltmore Area centered around the Biltmore Fashion Park and Arcadia areas, as well as non-contiguous Ahwatukee.
2011 campaign for mayor
During his 2011 campaign for mayor, questions arose of the legality of near $70,000 in contributions from Stanton's former treasurer Mindy Shields. Stanton opposed the embezzlement prosecution of Shields and fired her in October 2010.
On August 30, 2011, Stanton and Republican candidate Wes Gullett were the top two candidates in the Phoenix mayoral primary, with Stanton getting about 38% of the vote and Gullett 20%.
Mayor of Phoenix (2012-present)
Stanton advocated against the 2013 federal budget sequestration by meeting with members of Congress multiple times.
Mayor Stanton was re-elected on August 25, 2015. In 2017, Governing magazine named Stanton one of its Public Officials of the Year for his efforts to expand light rail, bike lanes, and sidewalks while reducing the city's greenhouse gas emissions.
2018 U.S. House campaign
After current Democratic Representative for Arizona's 9th congressional district Kyrsten Sinema decided to run for the US Senate in 2018, challenging incumbent U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, Stanton - who is term-limited as mayor - decided to run for this seat in the 2018 election.
Political positions
In an interview a few weeks after the November 2011 election, Stanton stated his support for repealing the city food tax. Stanton also supported public pension reforms including more employee contributions to their own retirement funds and longer work experience before retirement benefits. However, in March 2013, Stanton decided against repealing the food tax due to projections that ending the tax would cause layoffs of nearly 99 police officers and 300 other city employees.
See also
- List of mayors of the largest 50 US cities
References
External links
- Office of the Mayor
- Greg Stanton for Congress - Campaign website
- Appearances on C-SPAN
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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