Priscila Ruedas, a write-in candidate for Yuma City Council, said she would prioritize “centering the everyday Yuman” by involving residents in decisions on growth, heat mitigation and services for immigrant and low-income families.
Ruedas, a public health worker at the University of Arizona who grew up in Yuma as the child of farmworkers from Mexicali, told a crowd she wants city leaders to pause before approving large projects and hold community listening sessions rather than rely on conclusions from officials alone.
“I would like to be an advocate of just pausing before we make decisions and making sure that the community is aware, involved and approves of the work that we are trying to do,” she said. “As a city council representative, that’s your job: to represent the community, not to push through things that are potentially easy.”
Her campaign platform focuses on practical, local measures, including more shade and cooling centers to address extreme heat, assistance for low-income residents struggling with utility bills, and a precautionary approach to data centers proposed for the region.
“They’re just not another coffee shop that’s coming to town,” citing a recent Arizona State University study she said found data centers raised temperatures by about four degrees in parts of Maricopa County. “They consume so much water. In a place like Yuma, where we pride ourselves in agriculture, how could we prioritize a data center when it’s going to contaminate everything around it ?”
Ruedas said she would support moving forward on data centers only if “true data” demonstrates clear benefits and the community approves. “At this moment, data centers are something that is being pushed on us,” she said.
By day, Ruedas helps lead research linking agriculture and public health. In 2024 she helped complete a statewide estimate showing 79% of Arizona’s farmworkers live in Yuma County, work she says informs her focus on bringing resources and opportunities to farmworker families.
