Marco Lopez (left) poses for a picture with Gov. Doug Ducey in Mexico in 2017 with two unidentified men. /Photo by AztecaMujer /Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0
By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
Marco Lopez, an international business consultant, former Napolitano administration aide and advisor to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, announced his candidacy for governor, kicking off the race for the state’s highest office in 2022.
Lopez is one of several candidates expected to vie for the Democratic nomination in next year’s gubernatorial contest, and is the first notable candidate to enter the race from either major party. Gov. Doug Ducey is termed out, leaving a wide-open race for governor.
Lopez came to prominence in 2001 when he was elected mayor of Nogales at age 22, making him one of the youngest people to ever serve as a mayor in the United States. He served Gov. Janet Napolitano as executive director of the Arizona-Mexico Commission and later as a policy advisor on Latin America and foreign trade. Napolitano later appointed him director of the Arizona Department of Commerce.
