Carol Smith launches reelection bid, touts smart growth and spending discipline

Carol Smith opened her reelection campaign by tying her political future to two numbers Yuma residents can measure: a $547,121,059 city budget and a $100 million water-reclamation expansion already under construction. At her April 17 kickoff, the Yuma City Councilmember said she wants another four years focused on smart growth and responsible spending, casting the race as a judgment on whether the city is expanding with enough roads, water, utilities and public safety behind it.

Smith’s pitch lands in the middle of a crowded 2026 city election. Yuma’s primary is set for July 21, and voters will choose a mayor, three city councilmembers and a presiding municipal judge. The city lists Smith, Henry Valenzuela and Ronald Van Why as council candidates, and the seats are elected at large, so every voter in the city limits will help decide the outcome. Candidates needed 998 signatures to qualify for the ballot because of high turnout in the 2024 presidential election, and the filing deadline was March 23. At that point, Smith was the only incumbent councilmember seeking reelection.

The heart of Smith’s campaign message is infrastructure first. She has argued that Yuma cannot keep pushing outward without making sure water, roads, utilities and public safety keep pace. That warning is more than campaign language. The City Council set the FY 2026 budget maximum at $547,121,059, about $26 million more than the previous year, and nearly half of that spending is tied to the capital improvement program. The proposed budget includes a $212 million Capital Improvement Plan, with projects such as East Mesa Park Phase I, the Hotel Del Sol redevelopment, the Innovation District and a Spaceport FAA application. For voters, those are the visible markers of whether “smart growth” means concrete results or just a slogan.

Water is the clearest test case. On November 8, 2024, the city and PCL Construction broke ground on the Desert Dunes Water Reclamation Facility expansion, a $100 million project designed to double treatment capacity from 3.3 million gallons per day to 6.6 million gallons per day. City utilities officials said the plant was master-planned for future expansion, and the project is meant to support residential and industrial growth without straining service. If Smith’s reelection argument is that development must be financially sustainable, Desert Dunes is the kind of project voters can point to when they decide whether the city is building ahead of demand or chasing it.

Smith’s public-service background gives the campaign its personal edge. Raised in Yuma, she works as a registered nurse and nurse educator in the NICU and pediatrics fields at Yuma Regional Medical Center, now Onvida Health, and she has also served on the Crane Governing Board. She became deputy mayor in February 2025, which places her squarely inside the leadership team that has overseen the city’s recent budget and planning decisions. In a race built around discipline, growth and delivery, her record is now part of the ballot question.