Democrats in the Arizona Senate have a new leadership team, and the decision was a surprise.
The caucus was meeting to vote for a new assistant minority leader, since Linda Lopez of Tucson was stepping down from that post, but a majority of Democrats decided to do more than that, voting Minority Whip Anna Tovar of Tolleson the new leader, Lynne Pancrazi of Yuma the assistant leader and Steve Gallardo of Phoenix the whip.
The now former Senate minority leader, Leah Landrum Taylor of Phoenix, told the Arizona Capitol Times there was no reason to remove her from leadership since her team had been effective last session. Gallardo said the move was not personal but a desire to move in a different direction.
The newspaper reports five of the 13 Senate Democrats stormed out of the caucus room after the vote.
