PHOENIX — With a trifecta secured, Democrats in the Arizona Legislature elected on Friday a House speaker and Senate president for the first time in six decades.
State Rep. Oscar De Los Santos, a former teacher and Rhodes scholar who has been the party’s leader in the Arizona House since last year, will be Arizona’s first openly LGBTQ+ speaker of the House.
He promised his caucus would “govern like adults.”
“We will work with anybody of any party and any chamber at any time to get good things done and to deliver for the people,” said De Los Santos, who represents a Phoenix district.
Do you have a concern in your community or a news tip? We want to hear from you!
Connect with us: share@abc15.com
But he declined to say whether Democrats would keep the majority-of-the-majority rule, in which the speaker will not schedule a floor vote for a bill unless it is supported by a majority of the majority party, saying Democrats would “get to an answer on that.”
Senate Democrats elected state Sen. Priya Sundareshan as Senate president. Sundareshan, a Tucson senator who became Senate minority leader last year, will oversee a Democratic supermajority in the Arizona Senate.
“We heard you loud and clear,” she said in a statement. “Arizonans have rejected partisan extremism and chose a new direction.”
Earlier in the day, the Associated Press called enough races to confirm both the House and Senate had flipped to Democratic control.
“It is a victory for Arizona, and we will make it a victory for affordability, a victory for health care, a victory for public education, a victory for working families and middle-class families who are struggling to get by,” De Los Santos told reporters after this election as speaker.
Republicans now in the minority
Meanwhile, House Republicans, who are now in the minority, elected outgoing House Speaker Steve Montenegro as the minority leader on Friday.
“Look, we understand that the voters have made their decision,” he told reporters. “Our principles have not changed.”
Montenegro said his caucus would oppose tax increases, support ways to lower costs for Arizonans, and support school choice and the state’s school voucher system.
“We want to make sure that we're fighting and standing for parental rights,” he said. “Parents should have the rights to raise their families and their children in the way they choose.”
Montenegro told ABC15 that Republicans want to protect public dollars and ensure there is accountability. But he said their No. 1 priority would be “standing with parents and their choices.”
“Republicans are united, we're organized, and we're ready to get to work in January,” he said.
Democratic priorities
De Los Santos said he expects to have a productive working relationship with Senate Democrats and Gov. Katie Hobbs.
“I am confident we will find solutions that advance affordability for the people,” he said.
He said Democrats will invest in public schools and end waste, fraud, and abuse in the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts school voucher program.
“Look, we are focused on protecting our wallets, protecting our water and building our workforce, and that includes investing in our public schools,” he said.
Incoming House Majority Leader Nancy Gutierrez, a longtime public school teacher from Tucson who has been the assistant minority leader, said their ESA plan starts with the reform measure that failed to make the November ballot.
“We're going to move forward the way we should, which is not quick and not without thought,” she said, adding that they will be talking with families and other stakeholders.
Tax hikes – which lawmakers cannot pass without a supermajority, which Democrats do not have in the House – do not appear to be on the table. De Los Santos pointed to his support for the individual income tax cuts congressional Republicans passed last year that state lawmakers mirrored in this year’s state budget: no tax on tips and overtime. Lawmakers also passed an additional deduction for seniors.
“And how do we pay for it?” he said. “By cutting tax giveaways to billion-dollar corporate data centers.”
Lawmakers included a three-year free on sales-tax exemptions for data centers in this year’s budget. However, the state has approved 107 new applications for the incentives, making it unclear how much money would actually be saved.
De Los Santos told ABC15 that Democrats are working on a plan to address data centers.
The next legislative session begins in January.
Other lawmakers in leadership
The Democratic Party’s other House leadership includes state Reps. Brian Garcia of Tempe and Kevin Volk of Tucson as majority whips and state Rep. Quantá Crews of Phoenix as speaker pro tempore.
On the Republican side, state Rep. Michael Carbone, the outgoing majority leader whose district includes Yuma County and part of Maricopa County, will be assistant minority leader, and state Rep. Lupe Diaz, who represents a southeastern Arizona legislative district, will be minority whip.
In the Senate, Democrats elected state Sen.-Elect Christine Marsh of Phoenix as majority leader. She is a public school teacher who was previously a state senator from 2021-2025.
State Sen. Analise Ortiz of Phoenix will be majority whip.
And Sundareshan appointed state Sens.-Elect Alma Hernandez of Tucson and Edgar Soto, who represents a district in Pima and Pinal counties, as president pro tempore. She also named state Sen. Rosanna Gabaldón from a southern Arizona legislative district and Aaron Lieberman of Phoenix as Democratic majority chairs.
Senate Republicans have not yet elected new leadership.
