Phil Gordon Incumbent is expected to win

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PHOENIX — The mayoral race in America's fifth-largest city presents voters with two clear choices: a veteran politician focused on remaking downtown or a political newcomer who favors a local crackdown on illegal immigration.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon faces lawyer Steve Lory in Tuesday's mayoral election, a low-wattage race the incumbent is favored to win.

James Svara, a professor at Arizona State University's School of Public Affairs, said he believes Gordon will win a second term, noting that he has high visibility in the community, strong name recognition and a well-financed campaign.

"It looks pretty clear that Gordon was strong going into the campaign, and his opponent is running a fairly low-profile campaign," said Svara, who studies local governments. "So I don't think there is going to be any surprise in the outcome."

Gordon sees downtown as the center of business, government and scientific research. He touts his part in helping Arizona State University open a downtown campus and locating a new University of Arizona medical school there. Downtown construction also has sprung up during his first term.

Downtown development is essential to the economic health of the city, metro area and state, Gordon said.

"If anybody wants to know what the next four years are going to look like, just look at the cranes in the sky," Gordon said.

Lory is a proponent of letting private interests lead downtown development efforts.

The challenger said the city ought to reverse its policies that prevent police officers from arresting people whose only violation is an infraction of federal immigration law.

"When they flat out say they aren't going to enforce (the law) and create a sanctuary city, it breeds lawlessness," Lory said.

Gordon said the federal government has done an inadequate job of enforcing immigration law and that Phoenix police have focused on arresting illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes.

"We are going to go after the ones that are robbing our homes and killing our children," Gordon said.

Another issue facing Phoenix is traffic, which has been worsened by the city's rapid population growth.

Gordon said the city has focused on improving bus service and building a light-rail system.

Phoenix's high quality of life and strong job opportunities prompt about 3,000 people to move into the city each month, Gordon said.

"That means more construction for roadways and mass transit and all the development that's going on, which does cause congestion while it's being built," Gordon said.

As a way to improve confidence in government, Lory wants to form a citizens' ethics committee to review the actions of city government.

Such a committee could examine incentives that the city gives to developers for locating their projects in the city, Lory said.

Lory has criticized the city's decision to give $97 million in sales tax rebates for a luxury development in northeast Phoenix.

"These things will get built there," Lory said. "There is no reason for the government to give this money away."

Gordon said no money was handed over to the developer, that the deal was struck to pay for the project's infrastructure and that in the end the agreement will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue to the city.

"In that sense, it's a smart business move," Gordon said.