Kate Gallego elected mayor of Phoenix

Phoenix voters elected Kate Gallego as the mayor of the United States’ fifth largest city Tuesday.

Gallego will be the second elected female mayor of the city.

It was announced a little before 9:00 p.m. last night that Gallego had defeated her opponent, Daniel Valenzuela, by 17 points.

“Thanks to all of you, we did it!” Gallego said at her victory party. “I’m so humbled to stand with you here today. For the last 17 months, you’ve been my partners as we crisscrossed the city…We’ve listened to Phoenix voters talk about their aspirations, their dreams for Phoenix and we worked to solve problems together… I’m going to work as hard as I can to be a mayor for everyone.”

Thank you, Phoenix! #PhxMayor pic.twitter.com/kbzvfzYIhZ

— Kate Gallego (@KateWGallego) March 13, 2019

Valenzuela conceded at 8:45 p.m. with a tweet thanking his supporters and congratulating Gallego.

“Thank you, Phoenix. I appreciate all you’ve done for me,” Valenzuela tweeted. “Tomorrow I will continue to serve you as a lifelong public servant. Congratulations to our next mayor, @KateWGallego.”

Thank you, Phoenix. I appreciate all you’ve done for me. Tomorrow morning I will continue to serve you as a lifelong public servant. Congratulations to our next mayor, @KateWGallego. pic.twitter.com/1auks5NSc5

— Daniel Valenzuela (@Daniel4PhxMayor) March 13, 2019

Gallego will be finishing the term of former Mayor Greg Stanton, who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November.

Gallego was first elected to the Phoenix City Council to represent District 8 in 2013. Prior, she worked in strategic planning and economic development for the Salt River Project and received an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University.

“Little Michael, my inspiration,” Gallego said referring to her toddler son. “We are going to build the city so cool, that he will be proud to call [it] home. I’m going to always be thinking long-term what kind of city do we want to leave for our children…We have a lot of work to get done and we’re going to start very, very soon.”

Gallego will be sworn in on March 21, 2019.