A former city employee is tapped to serve as an interim council member in Phoenix.
The council appointed Vania Guevara to fill the seat once held by her boss, Daniel Valenzuela. Valenzuela resigned the 5th District seat to run for mayor and, on Wednesday, the council chose Guevara over five other people who applied.
“I respect all of you enormously,” she said after the vote. “You’re people that I, I want to work with and, again, I seek your advice. I’m at a loss for words. I’m just really overwhelmed with gratitude.”
Guevara previously handled constituent services and community initiatives for the district. The other candidates who applied for the interim appointment were Audrey Bell-Jenkins, Betty Guardado, Lydia Hernandez, Justin Johnson and Arian Mohammad.
A similar process will take place later this month to fill the 8th District seat once Councilwoman Kate Gallego resigns to run for mayor. In March, Phoenix voters will be asked to fill council seats in the 5th and 8th Districts — and on November 6, the mayoral electionwill take place.
In addition to Democrats Valenzuela and Gallego, Republican Moses Sanchez and Libertarian Nicholas Sarwark are running to lead the nation’s 5th largest city.
