Ron Van Why enters Yuma City Council race, eyes growth and access

Ron Van Why is entering the Yuma City Council race with a message aimed at the city’s fastest-moving pressure points: growth, access and the strain that comes with both. He says Yuma needs a stronger foundation in city government, and he wants to focus on infrastructure, workforce development and safer working environments, arguing the city has not kept pace with its expansion.

Van Why is leaning on a mix of law enforcement, construction and education experience as the basis for that pitch. He has spent 22 years in education, and his background also includes service as a Cocopah Tribal police officer. On his campaign website, Van Why says he has lived in Yuma for 53 years, graduated from Yuma High School, attended Arizona Western College and earned a master’s degree from Columbia Southern University.

The race carries immediate stakes for local voters. The City of Yuma says the 2026 election will include a mayor, three city councilmembers and a presiding municipal judge, and Van Why is listed among the council candidates on the July 21 primary ballot. Other names on that ballot include Carol Smith and Henry Valenzuela, along with write-in candidates Derek Egeberg and Priscila Ruedas. Online voter registration closes at 11:59 p.m. Monday, June 22, and early voting begins June 24.

The growth numbers underscore why Van Why is framing the race around access and infrastructure. Census Bureau estimates put Yuma’s population at 103,559 on July 1, 2024 and 105,227 on July 1, 2025, up from 95,548 in the 2020 census. That increase has real consequences for streets, utilities, public buildings and the daily movement of workers and families across the city.

City leaders are already wrestling with those issues. The city and the Yuma Metropolitan Planning Organization are developing a countywide FY 2026 to FY 2050 Long-Range Transportation Plan and a city Integrated Multimodal Transportation Master Plan, both of which point to long-term decisions on traffic, mobility and development. The City of Yuma also held the annual Strategic Planning Retreat on April 9 to align priorities for the year ahead.

Van Why’s campaign now asks voters to decide whether his background and his emphasis on accessibility would change how City Hall approaches that growth. In a city where population gains are reshaping transportation, budgeting and service demands, the contest is as much about governing style as it is about one seat on the council.