Jackie Hai/KJZZ

Vania Guevara.

It’s election season — as we all know — and, as a result, the Phoenix City Council is looking a little different these days. Councilmembers Kate Gallego and Daniel Valenzuela stepped down recently to run for mayor, a position left vacant after former mayor Greg Stanton left his seat to run for Congress.

After Valenzuela left his seat representing west Phoenix's District 5, there was a dramatic vote at City Hall over who would replace him for the next seven months or so until elections for those seats are held in March. While many expected the seat to go to Justin Johnson, the son of former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson, Vania Guevara ended up getting the job.

The vote surprised even her, though, she told us, she somehow knew it was going to happen.

Some said it was her speech to the sitting members of the City Council that day that clinched it for her, as she told her story as a first-generation Salvadoran-American.

Early on, Guevara made the decision to go into public service. She moved to Arizona to complete ASU’s public administration master’s program and, even though she had no family or friends here, she said she felt an overwhelming sense of purpose here.

She went on to work with the Dreamers coalition and then in City Hall for District 5 and, when The Show got with her recently to talk more about her new role at City Hall, she told us more about the district she now represents.