Trauma nurse and GOP lawmaker says she was 'called by God' to Arizona Legislature

LAUREN GILGER: And now let's turn to the next edition of our series, Ditat Deus, where we're exploring the role of religion at the Arizona state Capitol. Ditat Deus, by the way, is Arizona's state motto. It means "God enriches," and it points to a theme among Arizona's lawmakers that religion often plays a central role in their politics, their decision-making, and sometimes why they're there to begin with.

And that is true for the next lawmaker in our series, Chandler Republican Julie Willoughby.

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: I'm actually like a second-generation PK or a pastor's kid, right? So, my grandfather was a pastor, my father was a pastor. So, I was born on a Monday, and my parents said very clearly on the next Sunday I was in church.

LAUREN GILGER: In fact, Willoughby's grandfather and father both pastored the same small Christian church in Michigan where she was raised.

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: I remember very clearly the songs that we would sing and being in children's church and the nervousness I would get to have to sing in front of the church, 'cause sometimes they would have the kids come up and we would all sing together and just being nervous.

And then as I became a teenager and my father became the pastor, he would call me out to pray over the the congregation or the opening of the sermon.

LAUREN GILGER: When she's not serving at the state Legislature, Rep. Willoughby is nurse Willoughby, a trauma nurse who's worked in emergency departments for many years in the Valley.

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: I remember being a small child and asking like we would learn the gifts of the spirit and I would always want the gift of healing. I thought that was the coolest.

LAUREN GILGER: She was first appointed to the state Legislature after the ouster of controversial lawmaker Liz Harris in 2023. But she ran for office twice before that, the second time losing by just 275 votes.

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: I had lost, I'm like I'm not going to publicly lose like this ever again. I— it's a lot, and it's a lot of strain on my family to be doing all of that.

And I actually enrolled in my master's program and I did all these things because I was moving my life in a completely different direction, and then a hard right came and the opportunity for me to be appointed, and I, I absolutely accepted that because that's where I really wanted to be.

LAUREN GILGER: As far as her politics, Willoughby is a staunch conservative but has said she is not an election denier. She supports abortion restrictions, school choice and parental rights.

She was a key player in negotiating a deal last year between GOP lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, when the Department of Developmental Disabilities faced a budget crisis.

And she told me her faith is at the root of her work as both a lawmaker and a nurse. But that's not where she thought her life would take her.

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: Growing up, I wanted to be a a female CEO that took over the world. Like, that's what I wanted. I wanted to dominate the business world. And in 11th grade, I had a teacher that assigned us all going and finding the person that you want to shadow, that the career that you want to be in.

Well, I was in a small town and there was no women CEOs for me to shadow, so I did the next best thing, which was my brother's girlfriend's mom at the time, she was a labor and delivery nurse, and they let me shadow her. That was the epitome of when I knew I was going to be a nurse. I watched all of that. I was there helping her and they, we delivered a baby and, just watching all that happen, I'm like, "Okay. CEO, I don't care. This is what I'm going to do." So, at that point, my entire career changed based off of that one assignment.

LAUREN GILGER: That's amazing. You got to help deliver a baby? What a shadow day. I mean, so, your decision to become a nurse and and and enter the Legislature seems that they come from this kind of internal drive that you have.

Let me bring the conversation back to religion and ask you if that's all connected for you in some way.

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: Yes. I believe that it was all definitely God-driven because I wanted to dominate the world and be a female CEO, and and one day, one experience changed that for me completely. It was just a moment in a snap that brought me into healthcare.

And then from being in healthcare, it brought me to this political ideology of helping people and looking at the the Legislature as a way to achieve that. So, I do believe that it was guided for me, 'cause these things were so like just automatic that it wasn't even something that I questioned or like worried about or concerned about or, you know, sometimes you are like, "What if I do this, then that?"

It was just, "No. I know that this is it. This is what I'm doing." So, there was just a certainty there that goes beyond just my decision-making.

LAUREN GILGER: So, I've heard lawmakers of various stripes say they felt called by God to be in the position that they're in. Is that what you're describing here?

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: Yes, absolutely. I believe I was called by God and I like to say even further than that, I was appointed. I wasn't just elected. I've been elected since, but I was appointed.

And when you go through the Bible, there's a lot of strong individuals that were appointed and anointed to their positions. So, I tie that all back together, yeah.

LAUREN GILGER: So then let's talk about how this applies in the work that you do and the laws that you support, and the issues you tackle here as a lawmaker.

I mean, any bills, any issues, any moments in your service at the ledge so far that have really felt driven by that? Where you've said, "This is why I'm here. Now I know why."

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: I don't know if there is any one decision. I think all of it kind of encompasses together. I, you know, I pray every morning for God to give me discernment, right? To make the right judgment call. To give me the wisdom to understand what I'm looking at and to make the right decision.

And there's just a such a clarity when those decisions do come that it's easy for me to stand on that, for me to know that this is where I should be and this is what I'm going to do. And I've never really had to question that thereafter. So, my my religious relationship with God has really brought me to the ability to make those decisions and to stand on them.

And I think, honestly, my nursing background has done that for me as well, because in a trauma situation, you have to make a decision, you have to make it now, and you have to go with that and run it down until it doesn't work, and then you make another decision and run it down until it doesn't work.

So, I think both my professional life and my religious life together have got me to where I know how to make decisions morally and ethically and physically to to my best ability to help other.

LAUREN GILGER: You were a big force behind the scenes, I think mostly, in the big debate last year about disability funding and caregiver funding, funding the Department of Developmental Disabilities. This was one of those instances it seems like you were the one to break the logjam, maybe not go against your party, but but be willing to negotiate with the other side.

Was that a moment when you felt like your religion came into play for you?

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: Yes, absolutely. I believe very strongly that life is is created by God and is important through the entire spectrum. I think politically sometimes we want to argue that just in in the womb. We forget that there's a lot more life outside of the womb that we should be protecting just the same.

And those that are, you know, disabled, are unable to care for themselves, it talks about it all the time in the Bible, the widows and the orphaned. And, you know, these individuals may not be orphaned, but they are still in need of care and love and and being concerned for and over. And I think that's where I started moving in the direction uh during the the DDD stuff last session.

LAUREN GILGER: So, that's a moment when it kind of intersected for you. Have there been other moments when it's been challenging for you? When you feel like in order to represent the people of your district, right, which is sort of the the oath you take, you've had to do something that felt like it was in conflict with your religion?

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: No, I honestly, I have not had that experience. And I'm very grateful that I haven't. Anywhere that I have campaigned, I've campaigned very solidly that I am a Christian first.

I try to describe myself, we all have quantifiers on our lives, right? Like, I'm a a woman, I'm a mom, I'm a nurse, I'm a sister, I'm a daughter, quantifiers. My quantifier always starts with I'm a Christian. So, on my website, when I campaign, anywhere I go, I'm very clear about that's where I'm at, and I was elected based off of that campaigning. So, I feel that if the individuals didn't want me to represent them in that way, I wouldn't have been elected to office.

LAUREN GILGER: Do you think that there is a a line where your religion shouldn't cross into public life?

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: You know, that's actually a really good question because we want to talk about not being able to legislate morality. But we do. We we already have. We've done it with, you know, homicide laws, we've done it with child protection laws, we've we've already legislated morality. So, I think the big misnomer of having to separate these two is is not truly there. I feel like it's it's more of a a stance or a principle that we like to argue about.

But I do believe that we have the obligation to care for people in the best way that we can, and I take that from a very personal, religious perspective because, you know, God says my role is to go out and spread the good news and to share it with everyone that I can, and I believe that I can do that through legislation, and that's the the route I'll take. I think everybody down here has their opinion that is typically based in their own version of morality.

LAUREN GILGER: So, do you feel like it's a value to have a diversity of religion in that way in the Legislature and also, you know, in the country?

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: I believe that having different perspectives only makes somebody wiser and smarter, to be able to take time and hear other people, but to be able to then disagree respectfully, I think is even more of a value thereafter.

I mean, I say this all the time, I love my husband dearly. I don't agree with him all the time, right? So, having other people's perspective doesn't mean that you automatically accept their their perception or their opinion, but it does mean that you take it into account when making final decisions.

LAUREN GILGER: Do you feel like you can and do represent people of all various faiths and religions, even though you are pretty staunchly, you know, representing your own faith?

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: Yes, I do because I do take the time to listen to other individuals' sides. When emails come in, I try to always understand the perspective that they are bringing forward to me. I take it very seriously when constituents email me because they are my constituents and I do want to know what they're hearing and what they're saying.

But I also want them to be able to hear and see what I have to say too, right? It's a back and forth on, you know, because, like, as a mom, sometimes I tell my kid, "No, don't touch something" because I know it could hurt them, not because I want to regulate them, right? And sometimes when we're making rules and laws down here, constituents might not know the whole picture. So, I do believe regardless of my religion or the religion of somebody that lives in my district, that I am representing them properly.

LAUREN GILGER: Rep. Julie Willoughby, thank you so much.

JULIE WILLOUGHBY: Thank you.