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Let's Shine Brighter Together!

I stand on the sacred land of the Phoenix Indian Boarding School, where Native children were taken from their families, and as a citizen of the Delaware Nation, I reclaim this ground for future generations, running to serve on the City Council of the very city where this happened to our people.

✍️ Sign for Michael

I need 200 D4 voters to sign by July 6 to get on the November ballot — help elect the first Native American to the Phoenix City Council and build the District 4 we want, together.

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🌟 Serving the Community

Michael Mazzocco knows how bright Phoenix can shine. Raised in a household with an army veteran/union leader and an educator, Michael had the opportunity to live all over the country. He moved to Phoenix in 2006 and spent the next two decades leading and building. In 2017, he started his own events company, helping raise millions for nonprofits across the Valley. He has served on nearly a dozen boards and committees, helping to make Phoenix a more welcoming, diverse, and equitable city.

Phoenix has grown. But wages haven't kept up, rents keep climbing, and neighborhoods are losing the families who built them. Michael believes that Phoenix should be delivering for its residents, lifting all who live here. That is why Michael is running to be your next City Council member for District 4, the heart of Phoenix.

Michael will advocate for working families, stand up for small businesses, keep longtime residents in the neighborhoods they built, and keep District 4 shining bright.

Read more about Michael →

🗳️ Why This Race Matters

For the first time since 2013, District 4 has a choice to make.

206,000 people call this district home. The council member we elect will shape decisions on housing, development, public safety, and city services — decisions that won't just affect us, but our children, and their children after them.

Michael has spent nearly 20 years here — not passing through, but planting roots. Building organizations. Running a small business. Showing up for our communities, in all their beautiful diversity, long before any campaign signs went up.

District 4 deserves a council member who doesn't just represent us on paper — but who is us. Someone who is culturally rooted, who knows what it means to be marginalized, who rents here, works here, and has fought for this community from the inside out.

A blue-collar small business owner. A neighbor. One of us.

🎯 Priorities

Homelessness

D4 voters bring up homelessness more than any other issue. PHX C.A.R.E.S. calls have quadrupled since 2018, and the city is missing its own 7-day response goal.

Michael will build a coordinated command structure, expand civilian crisis teams into D4 corridors, and connect people to wraparound services — housing navigation, behavioral health, substance treatment, and job placement.

Affordable Housing

D4 is Phoenix's only majority-renter district. 55% of residents rent. The median household income of $64k is the lowest in Phoenix, and half of D4 renters spend more than 30% of their paychecks on rent each month.

Michael will launch eviction diversion programs, hold negligent landlords accountable through proactive code enforcement, and build a housing affordability task force with D4 renters at the table. He will push the state Capitol to change laws that favor landlords over renters and fight for an equitable renter-landlord bill of rights.

Economic Development

D4 has 3,400 commercial parcels. Over 1,100 sit vacant while Phoenix ranks as the 9th-most-gentrified city in the country, and the entrepreneurs who want to change that navigate permitting, licensing, and leases on their own.

Michael will create an Office of Economic Empowerment in his Council office with dedicated staff who walk entrepreneurs from application to open doors, with priority on Miracle Mile, the Melrose Curve, and 27th Avenue. The Heard Museum and the Phoenix Art Museum sit half a mile apart; Michael will fill that corridor with local businesses to keep cultural tourism dollars in D4.

Historic Preservation

D4 holds 28 historic districts across 1,900 acres, and has more renters than any other district in the city. Both of those facts are why Michael wants Phoenix to build more housing, not less, especially the kinds of homes (duplexes, triplexes, ADUs, courtyard apartments) that fit the scale of existing blocks.

Michael went to the legislature to advocate for a historic-neighborhood amendment to prevent the new middle-housing bill from accelerating the teardown of older, historic housing. He believes in affordable housing that fits, not teardowns that price longtime residents out.

Families & Education

D4 has 14,400 children under 6. Nearly two-thirds have both parents working. When childcare falls through, parents drop out of the workforce. Every dollar invested in early childhood returns $4 to $9 to the local economy. Eight school districts serve D4 from pre-K through 12th grade, and most don't pay enough to retain their best educators.

Michael will expand preschool and childcare access, advocate for educator wages at every level, and treat education as economic development for D4.

Safety

D4 carries the highest crime rate in Phoenix: 558 crimes per 1,000 residents, double the citywide median. Violent crime hit its highest level on record in 2025.

Most crime in D4 occurs within apartment communities — renter safety is a public safety issue.

Michael will fight for D4's fair share of city public safety resources and expand the Community Safety Plan model that cut violent crime 40% on 27th Avenue.

Transportation

The switch lanes on 7th Avenue and 7th Street reverse direction at different times of day. The result: head-on collisions, cyclist deaths, and pedestrians caught in a system designed for commuters, not neighbors.

Michael will remove the switch lanes and replace them with dedicated bike lanes, safer crosswalks, and consistent traffic flow. He will push for light rail expansion and more frequent bus service for D4's transit-dependent precincts.

Climate Action

Phoenix hit 105°F in March 2026, the hottest March temperature in city history. In 2024, the city endured 113 consecutive days above 100°F. Over three years, 1,680 people in Maricopa County died from heat. Of those who died indoors, 70% had broken air conditioning.

Michael will build cool corridors, plant trees in D4's most heat-vulnerable blocks, and push for a city-funded emergency AC repair program for low-income and elderly residents.

Proactive Leadership

D4 is home to some of the most diverse communities in Phoenix — LGBTQ+, Native, Hispanic, refugee, and more. The Melrose District on 7th Avenue is the city's LGBTQ+ cultural corridor. Miracle Mile, Melrose, and 27th Avenue are neighborhoods where community pride runs deep.

Michael will protect these communities by strengthening citywide anti-discrimination protections and ensuring every diverse community in D4 has a voice at City Hall. Community leadership means community pride — for all of us.

Indigenous Representation

Phoenix sits on the ancestral lands of the Akimel O'odham and Piipaash peoples. The city holds the fifth-largest urban Native American population in the country, and 10,300 urban Native residents live in D4. The Phoenix Indian Center, the Heard Museum, and Native American Connections all operate here. No Native American has ever served on the Phoenix City Council.

Michael will hold a seat at the council table and vote directly on these communities' priorities. He will connect urban Native residents to city programs currently out of reach and push every city service provider toward cultural competency.

Read the full platform →