A resident of Phoenix for 14 years, Moses Sanchez aims to shake up what he describes as the status quo of city politics by running for mayor.
“I’m frustrated like a lot of Phoenix families with the state of our city,” Sanchez said. “We haven’t had a mayor come from outside of City Hall in over three decades now.”
Sanchez announced his candidacy on Jan. 16, joining a four-way race with Kate Gallego, Daniel Valenzuela and Nicholas Sarwark.
This candidacy will add to Sanchez’s already busy life. He teaches at South Mountain Community College, owns a digital marketing company, is a senior enlisted Navy serviceman, and helps take care of his grandchildren.
Days start early.
“Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I’m up around 4:45 a.m. I go to the YMCA to play basketball,” Sanchez said. “8-8:30 a.m. I’m out the door for sales meetings.”
His Mondays and Wednesdays also include economic lectures at South Mountain.
Sanchez’s business experience has driven his campaign’s ideology. He said his guiding question would be: “What are the problems we can solve today?”
“I can’t envision my company being a 20 billion dollar company,” he explained. “I have to focus on the day-to-day operations.”
His personal insights translate to how he wants to handle Phoenix’s issues.
Sanchez believes this approach is better for Phoenix families hurt by the interests of City Hall, which are–in his words–“Subsidies, development, really the next election cycle.”
Sanchez supports initiatives like the Phoenix C.A.R.E.S homelessness reduction program, the light rail expansion and pension reform bills. However, he criticized City Council’s management of these issues so far.
“I think our community has a lot service organizations that are experts at what they do,” Sanchez said, referring to the homelessness epidemic in the city. “Some of these service organizations have capacity to have more beds, but they’re running into issues with communication with the city.”
Downtown Voices currently remains neutral on Sanchez as well as the other candidates. Chairman of the Downtown Voices Coalition, Tim Eigo, said in an email: “[Downtown Voices] may not endorse or take a formal position.”
The mayoral election will proceed between August and November of this year, depending on when current Mayor Greg Stanton steps down. As the election draws closer, it is reasonable to conclude many organizations will be more comfortable expressing support for the candidates.
As for Sanchez, he aims to continue to build support among Phoenix residents leading up to the election.
Contact the reporter at jspevace@asu.edu.
