Mary Manross is an American politician who served as mayor of Scottsdale, Arizona. First elected in June 2000, she served two terms and lost her campaign for a third term as mayor in the November 2008 runoff mayoral election to her opponent, former

Certified Public Accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

and businessman and former

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

man Jim Lane.

Education

Manross earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

and a teaching credential from

Minot State University Minot State University (MSU or MiSU) is a public university in Minot, North Dakota. Founded in 1913 as a normal school, Minot State University is the third-largest university in North Dakota, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs. ...

Career

Before her election as councilwoman, Manross served on several city government commissions and in leadership positions for local charitable organizations, as well as being

campaign manager {{Political campaigning A campaign manager, campaign chairman, or campaign director is a paid or volunteer individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote ( ...

for Mayor Herb Drinkwater's 1984 and 1988 mayoral campaigns. Manross served four terms on the Scottsdale city council from 1992 to 2000. Although the election and office of the mayor of Scottsdale is

nonpartisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

, Manross is a registered Democrat. Manross was endorsed by both the Democratic

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Janet Napolitano Janet Ann Napolitano (; born November 29, 1957) is an American politician, lawyer, and university administrator who served as the 21st governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009 and third United States secretary of homeland security from 2009 to 20 ...

and the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

, and the Scottsdale Area

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

as well as the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

. Prior to the challenge from Jim Lane, her party affiliation was not an impediment in the conservative, largely Republican city of Scottsdale. As mayor, Manross was instrumental in leading the city council to approve workplace protections for

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

employees. State-mandated changes in the election calendar which moved the traditional spring city election to align with fall federal and state elections brought more partisan voters into play in the 2008 election. Manross lost to Republican Jim Lane by less than 1/2 of 1 percent of the vote.

Election history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manross, Mary Living people Mayors of places in Arizona Politicians from Scottsdale, Arizona University of California, Los Angeles alumni Minot State University alumni Women city councillors in Arizona Arizona Democrats Arizona city council members Women mayors of places in Arizona Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians