After Election Day, several institutions in Southern Arizona will have new leadership for the first time in several decades. In Santa Cruz County, that applies to the sheriff’s department. This week, Arizona 360 heard from the candidates vying to replace Sheriff Tony Estrada, who is retiring after nearly 30 years in his post.
Our interviews with the candidates appeared in alphabetical order as follows: independent Joe Agosttini, Democrat David Hathaway and independent Andrew Ibarra.
Before Santa Cruz County’s longest-serving sheriff retires, 77-year-old Tony Estrada reflected on his time in office with Lorraine Rivera. They discussed his career in law enforcement, his views on the expanding border wall, his advice to whoever wins his seat on Election Day and how he hopes the community will remember his decades of service.
As groups across Southern Arizona attempt to register more voters ahead of the election, Tony Paniagua reports on the drive to get more Latino residents to the polls. He spoke to some first-time voters in this growing demographic.
Nineteen-year-old Ashley Trujillo said this is an important opportunity because her parents moved to the Phoenix area from Mexico and Trujillo is the first of three sisters born in the United States.
Tucson artist Eduardo Lemus, 22, also plans to vote for the first time. Lemus could have voted in the 2016 presidential election but said he didn’t understand the process or importance of participating.
As the largest ethnic minority in the country, University of Arizona political scientist Lisa Sanchez said the growing Latino population is vital for both parties. While Sanchez said most Latinos register as Democrats, Paniagua also heard from Tucsonan Debe Campos, who is a registered Republican and attended a roundtable event in Phoenix that featured President Donald Trump and was hosted by the group Latinos for Trump.
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