A Tucson native, Tom Prezelski is a seventh generation Southern Arizonan and University of Arizona graduate. He worked as an economic development planner for both the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and the Tohono O’odham Nation before serving three terms in the Arizona House of Representatives.

He has served on several city commissions and community boards. He is the author of Californio Lancers: The 1st Battalion of Native Cavalry in the Far West, 1863-1866 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2015). He is currently Senior Political Advisor for Rural Arizona Action, working on issues that include housing, clean energy, voting rights and water policy.