Group Working To Recall Tucson Mayor Regina Romero

TUCSON, AZ — A group of Tucson residents will petition to recall the city's first Latina mayor.

Former Republican District 2 congressional candidate Joseph Morgan is leading the effort to recall Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, along with residents Dawn Polotto and Alexander McKenna. The team filed a petition with the city clerk's office and now have 120 days to gather 24,700 signatures. If they are successful, Romero has five days to resign or be placed on a recall ballot in August.

The petition cites Romero’s “failure to fulfill her duties” as mayor, the Arizona Daily Star reported. But Romero said the decision is up to Tucsonans.

"Tucsonans can evaluate whether they believe masking up protects our community’s public health," Mayor Regina Romero, a Democrat, told Patch in a statement. "I happen to disagree with this group, who gathered outside my personal residence earlier this year, that wearing masks is 'tyrannical.'"

Morgan led a small group of protesters in June outside Romero’s house after she signed a proclamation instituting a citywide mask mandate to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. The Pima County Board of Supervisors later issued a mask mandate as well.

The group also disagrees with Romero's decision to remove police officers from election polling sites and her approval of a “Black Lives Matter” banner at city hall.

“A lot of the stuff that I find complete government overreach,” said Morgan, who also runs a social media group called RecallRegina2020, according to the Associated Press. “The destruction of businesses through the Covid lockdown measures, they have no constitutional merit or basis. The mask mandate being a small outcropping of that.”

Romero was elected to the office in November 2019 and her term ends in 2023. She previously served on the Tucson City Council for 12 years.

Officials in the reliably blue city don't believe the recall effort will succeed.

“I do think it’s a futile effort. The mayor has a lot of support in this town. I think it’s kind of waste of time and energy,” Pima County Democratic Party Chair Alison Jones said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.