Mayor of Phoenix; Arizona

Gregory John "Greg" Stanton (born March 8, 1970) is an American politician who serves as Mayor of Phoenix. He won the November 8, 2011 runoff election to succeed term-limited mayor Phil Gordon. Stanton, a Democrat and former Phoenix City Council member who represented areas of north Phoenix, defeated Republican political consultant/lobbyist Wes Gullett after a contentious campaign that resulted in large election turnout. Stanton was sworn in as 59th Mayor of Phoenix in January 2012. Under his leadership, Phoenix became the first community in the country to end homelessness among military veterans.

Since taking office in 2012, Mayor Greg Stanton has worked tirelessly to build a modern economy that works for every Phoenix family. By boosting trade with Mexico, investing in the biosciences, and lifting up local small business, Stanton is leading the way to create an innovation-based, export economy built to last.

Stanton is committed to making our community a more welcoming and open place. Under his leadership, Phoenix became the  first U.S. city to  end chronic homelessness among veterans.  Phoenix also earned national recognition as a leader on LGBT issues, and became the first Arizona city to earn a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's municipal equality index.

Stanton attended Marquette University on the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, and earned a law degree from the University of Michigan. Before he was elected to his first term mayor in 2011, Stanton served nine years on the City Council and as Arizona's Deputy Attorney General.

In 2015, Stanton won reelection and also successfully led one of the most ambitious transportation initiatives in the country – a plan that will triple Phoenix's light rail system over the next 35 years. In his second term, Stanton will 

During his 2011 campaign for mayor, questions arose of the legality of near $70,000 in contributions from Stanton's former treasurer Mindy Shields. Stanton opposed the embezzlement prosecution of Shields and fired her in October 2010.

On August 30, 2011, Stanton and Republican candidate Wes Gullett were the top two candidates in the Phoenix mayoral primary, with Stanton getting about 38% of the vote and Gullett 20%.

Greg Stanton briefs reporters at a press conference at City Hall.
Stanton advocated against the 2013 federal budget sequestration by meeting with members of Congress multiple times.
Mayor Stanton was re-elected on August 25, 2015.

In an interview a few weeks after the November 2011 election, Stanton stated his support for repealing the city food tax. Stanton also supported public pension reforms including more employee contributions to their own retirement funds and longer work experience before retirement benefits.However, in March 2013, Stanton decided against repealing the food tax due to projections that ending the tax would cause layoffs of nearly 99 police officers and 300 other city employees.





Phoenix

Phoenix,is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona. With 1,563,025 people (as of 2015), Phoenix is the sixth most populous city nationwide, the most populous state capital in the United States, and the only state capital with a population of more than 1 million residents.

Phoenix is the anchor of the Phoenix metropolitan area, also known as the Valley of the Sun, which in turn is a part of the Salt River Valley. The metropolitan area is the 12th largest by population in the United States, with approximately 4.3 million people as of 2010. In addition, Phoenix is the county seat of Maricopa County and is one of the largest cities in the United States by land area.

Settled in 1867 as an agricultural community near the confluence of the Salt and Gila Rivers, Phoenix incorporated as a city in 1881. Located in the northeastern reaches of the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix has a subtropical desert climate. Despite this, its canal system led to a thriving farming community, many of the original crops remaining important parts of the Phoenix economy for decades, such as alfalfa, cotton, citrus, and hay (which was important for the cattle industry). In fact, the "Five C's" (Cotton, Cattle, Citrus, Climate, and Copper), remained the driving forces of Phoenix's economy until after World War II, when high-tech industries began to move into the valley and air conditioning made residences much more comfortable in the very hot summers.

The city averaged a 4 percent annual population growth rate over a 40-year period from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s. This growth rate slowed during the Great Recession of 2007–09, and has rebounded slowly. Phoenix is the cultural center of the Valley of the Sun, as well as the entire state.