← Election Series · Down-ballot coverage · Arizona

Endorses Robinson

The race

District 6 covers the Arcadia neighborhood and Ahwatukee. Incumbent Kevin Robinson is seeking a second term against challenger Michael Del Prete. The race is nonpartisan; if neither candidate wins a majority on November 3, 2026, they meet again in a runoff on March 9, 2027 — with two candidates, that means a near-tie.

The verified roster is: Michael Del Prete and Kevin Robinson.

The candidates

Kevin Robinson (incumbent) is a Phoenix police officer who retired as an assistant police chief after 36 years with the department, per azcentral. Elected to his first term in 2022 — after successfully winning a residency challenge to his candidacy — he works as a criminology and criminal justice instructor at Arizona State University and served as chair of the city's Public Safety subcommittee for two years. He is a former Republican, now unaffiliated with any party, who considers himself a fiscal conservative. The Greater Phoenix Chamber's 2026 voter guide endorses him.

His record in this term includes one episode voters should know in full. Robinson received a $5,000 campaign contribution in March from Jane Vaughan, a partner at Menlo Equities and chief development officer for Menlo Digital, the company building a million-square-foot, five-building data center in Ahwatukee that neighbors are fighting. Robinson told azcentral he had not known who the donor was, flew to the company's headquarters in August to hear neighbors' concerns, and gave the same $5,000 amount to the Ahwatukee Community Alliance, the opposition group — saying it "just looked bad" and that giving the money to the nonprofit was "the right thing to do." The opposition group's leader was not impressed, per the same report. The facts cut both ways, and both are printed here: he took the money, and when it became an issue, he handed an equal sum to the project's opponents.

Michael Del Prete is a real estate investor who works as executive director of the Arizona Real Estate Investors Association, per azcentral. He owned We Heart Houses, a real estate company, until 2022, and owned a Phoenix hair salon with his wife for 12 years. His campaign argues District 6 housing costs and slow permitting are the district's core problems, and states — as a challenger's claim, labeled as such — that the city budget was "balanced" by raising water, trash, and sales taxes instead of running the city better.

Pros / Cons

OUR CALL

Our call: endorse Kevin Robinson.

The basis is stated and sourced: a 36-year Phoenix Police career ending as assistant chief, two years chairing the council's Public Safety subcommittee, an explicitly fiscal-conservative posture, and the business community's endorsement through the Greater Phoenix Chamber. Public safety is the first job of a city council, and Robinson is the only candidate in this race who has done it at scale and in office. The data-center donation was a real error in judgment about appearances; his remedy — flying out to hear the neighbors and giving the money to the opposition — is also on the record, and it is the response of a man who understood the problem once he saw it. Del Prete's critique of City Hall may be right in parts, but a critique is not a record.

For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.

Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Sources

Election result — November 4, 2026

Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

← Full down-ballot enumeration