Carroll's Exit Marks Start of Pima County Campaigns

Pima County Board of Supervisors at a meeting in early April 2015.

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Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll announced Friday he will not seek re-election, and that prompted the Pima County Democratic Party to seek a candidate for the open seat.

Republican Marla Closen entered the race in 2015, expecting to challenge Carroll. He remains in office until January, 2017, and said Friday he would likely weigh in on the Republican primary race.

“I’ll survey the field and probably end up endorsing and working for a candidate in the primary," Carroll said.

Meanwhile, his announcement prompted the Pima County Democratic Party to make plans.

"We started looking once we knew that it would be an open seat," said Jo Holt, Pima County Democratic Party chairwoman.

The news marks the unofficial start of the county campaign season. So far, three supervisors face challenges.

Here are the people who have filed preliminary paperwork to run for supervisor seats:
District 1 northwest Pima County
- incumbent Republican Ally Miller
- Democrat Brian Bickel
- Democrat Jeff Farrell

District 2 southern Pima County
- incumbent Democrat Ramón Valadez
- independent Richard Hernandez

District 3 western Pima County
- Republican Christopher Wolff
- incumbent Democrat Sharon Bronson
- Republican Kimberly A. Demarco

District 4 north and eastern Pima County
- Republican Marla Closen

District 5 western Tucson Metro area
- incumbent Democrat Richard Elías

Any candidate who wishes to have his or her name on the primary ballot in August must file paperwork and nominating petitions by the beginning of June.