Now that Republican state lawmakers decisively control both the Arizona House and Senate, the GOP caucuses in each chamber elected new leaders on Tuesday.
Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear) was chosen as Speaker of the House, while Republicans in the Senate reelected Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) as president.
Following the vote, Montenegro touted the gains made by Republicans in both chambers.
“We are stronger than ever before, right now. The last election cycle has shown it, where the Democrats had spent tens of millions of dollars trying to flip the chambers, but they’ve done so unsuccessfully,” Montenegro said.
As House speaker and Senate president, Montenegro and Petersen will have tremendous influence over the Legislature. They assign committee chairs, control the flow of bills, and have the power to unilaterally shelve legislation that’s not to their liking.
Montenegro was first elected to the House from 2009-2017 and served as the majority leader for a term. He has also served in the state Senate.
Montenegro’s rise to power is another twist in his political career, which took a hit during his unsuccessful 2018 congressional run after he admitted he traded text messages with a junior legislative staffer — a staffer who accused Montenegro of encouraging her to send him nude photos. Montenegro denied having an inappropriate relationship with the woman.
Rep. Matt Gress (R-Phoenix) said Montenegro’s past didn’t come up in the election.
“All of the candidates were future-focused,” he said.
Republican leaders credit Montenegro as integral to their efforts this election cycle to boost support for GOP candidates among Latino voters.
“I think he [Montenegro] reflects the modern Republican party. We saw particularly among Hispanic voters a sizable share are now in the GOP, and I think that his speakership is historic and is reflective of the times of our party,” Gress said.
Montenegro beat out two of his colleagues to replace outgoing Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria).
Rep. Michael Carbone (R-Buckeye) was elected to be the House majority leader, and Rep. Julie Willoughby (R-Chandler) was selected as House whip, the person in charge of counting votes among the GOP caucus.
In the Senate, Petersen said he’s keeping Sen. T.J. Shope (R-Coolidge) on as his president pro tem.
Senate Republicans also elected Sen. Janae Shamp (R-Surprise) as majority leader and Rep. Frank Carroll (R-Sun City West) as whip.
The Senate votes, cast in secret, used slightly different qualifications for lawmakers than in years past. Only those Republicans who’d won their races, or were ahead in the polls, were allowed to participate in the Senate leadership election.
Petersen said his leadership team’s approach will be similar to what it has been – that formula, he said, appears to be working.
“The public awarded us for that,” he said, a reference to the GOP picking up seats in both chambers.
Petersen said his priorities will include the economy, crime, border, fast election results, education and water security.
As for the Democrats. Rep. Oscar De Los Santos (D-Phoenix) was elected House minority leader and Sen. Priya Sundareshan (D-Tucson) was chosen as Senate minority leader.
De Los Santos and Sundareshan are replacing Rep. Lupe Diaz (D-Avondale) and Sen. Mitzi Epstein (D-Tempe) respectively; though both are still in office.
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