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Our call — see the breakdown
The race
Decided earlier — on a spring calendar. Tempe has no city council race on the November 3, 2026 ballot. Tempe elects its council in March with a May runoff, and its 2026 council election is long finished: three at-large seats were decided in the March 10, 2026 primary and the May 19, 2026 runoff. Arlene Chin (incumbent) was re-elected outright in March with 11,821 votes (18.55%), clearing the charter's majority threshold. In the May runoff for the remaining two seats, challengers Brooke St. George (29%) and Bobby Nichols (26.3%) defeated incumbents Berdetta Hodge (23.7%) and Jennifer Adams (21%), per official results reported May 22. The winners took office for four-year terms. Tempe's one November 3 local item is Proposition 424, the 0.5% sales-tax measure, covered in our measures coverage.
The candidates
Arlene Chin — re-elected in March. The only candidate in the seven-person field to clear the majority threshold in the primary, avoiding the runoff entirely — the strongest single performance in the race.
Brooke St. George — elected in the runoff. A former Tempe City Council assistant and Tempe native, per her Arizona List profile. She ran as an underdog challenger and, with Nichols, framed the result as a voter mandate for change in city leadership, citing unpopular council decisions including the approved Arizona Coyotes arena plan that voters later rejected at the ballot box.
Bobby Nichols — elected in the runoff. Nichols' documented file is the most ideologically explicit in this batch, and we print it as sourced fact: he graduated from Arizona State University in 2016 and Golden Gate University School of Law in 2020, worked as an assistant attorney general in the Arizona Attorney General's Office representing the Department of Child Safety in abuse and neglect cases, and campaigned on affordability, upzoning and social housing, expanded transit, universal preschool, and non-cooperation with ICE as a sanctuary-city position, opposing Tempe's Flock Safety contract. He identifies as a democratic socialist, is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America's Red Star Caucus, organized with Phoenix-Metro DSA before his run, and was endorsed by Bernie Sanders and by local and national DSA organizations. Those are his own stated positions and affiliations as documented — voters weighing his tenure should start from them, stated plainly.
Hodge and Adams — the defeated incumbents. Both conceded or accepted the result; Hodge said after the runoff, "We respect the will of the voters… My commitment to Tempe does not end tonight."
Pros and cons
- Chin — Pro: Cleared a majority outright against six opponents — a verified electoral strength no other candidate in the field matched. Con: Continuity on a council whose direction the runoff voters then voted to change in the other two seats.
- St. George — Pro: A challenger who actually beat an incumbent, with inside knowledge of how the council office works from her time as a council assistant. Con: No elected record before this win; her program will be priced by her votes, not her campaign.
- Nichols — Pro: A real professional record — assistant attorney general on child-safety cases — and total transparency about his ideology; no voter can claim surprise. Con: By the standards this page applies symmetrically, a self-described democratic socialist and DSA caucus member is the extremist profile in any race he enters, and his platform (social housing, sanctuary non-cooperation) is that program stated in his own words. We price that as we would any candidate, of any party, running on an avowed socialist program.
- The result itself — a fact, not a flaw: Tempe's voters, at higher-than-usual turnout for the runoff (29.2%), chose change. That is their right and it is recorded here without relitigation.
OUR CALL
Our call: no November call — decided in March and May 2026; we record the outcome. Chin, St. George, and Nichols hold the three seats. For the permanent record: this page would not have endorsed Nichols, on the documented ground above, and we say so now, while it cannot change anything, because the record is the point. Tempe voters' live November decision is Proposition 424.
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
- City of Tempe, "Tempe This Week" community newsletter (March 16, 2026) — March 10 final results: Chin 11,821 (18.55%) re-elected; Adams, Hodge, Nichols, and St. George advancing to the May 19 runoff — https://mailchi.mp/tempe/tempe-this-week-march-16-2026
- azcentral, "Challengers win Tempe City Council runoff election, signaling change" (May 2026) — St. George 29% and Nichols 26.3% defeating Hodge and Adams; turnout 29.2%; the Coyotes-arena context — https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2026/05/19/tempe-voters-to-decide-2026-city-council-runoff-election/90148469007/
- Bobby Nichols biographical and campaign record — ASU 2016, Golden Gate Law 2020, assistant attorney general (child safety), platform, democratic-socialist identification, DSA Red Star Caucus membership, Sanders and DSA endorsements — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Nichols_(politician)
- Arizona List, elected-officials archive — Brooke St. George profile (Tempe native, former council assistant) — https://www.arizonalist.org/elected-officials-archive/
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.