Republicans and Democrats in the state House and Senate elected caucus leaders Tuesday, and a new House Speaker is set to be installed in the next legislative session.
House Republicans elected Rep. Steve Montenegro, R-Goodyear as speaker in a closed caucus meeting.
“We are stronger than ever before right now,” Montenegro said. “The last election cycle has shown it where the Democrats have spent tens of millions of dollars to try to flip the chambers, but they’ve done so unsuccessfully. The people of Arizona have spoken.”
Multiple Republican lawmakers confirmed Montenegro got 18 out of 33 votes. Current Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu City, and Rep. Joe Chaplik, R-Scottsdale, also sought the speakership.
Montenegro has held leadership positions in previous terms of service at the House, including majority leader and speaker pro tempore.
Several Freedom Caucus Republicans publicly supported Chaplik. Chaplik ran for speaker in 2022, but the caucus elected Rep. Ben Toma, R-Peoria.
“(The legislature) is going to be about the budget, like it always is,” Toma said after presiding over the caucus election for the new speaker. “Some of the other policies, I don’t know what’ll happen over the next two years but what I do know is we’re going to look to grow this and take some of these executive offices back in ‘26.”
House Republicans also elected Rep. Michael Carbone, R-Buckeye, as majority leader and Rep. Julie Willoughby, R-Chandler, as caucus whip.
Current Majority Whip Teresa Martinez, R-Casa Grande, and representative-elect Justin Olson ran for majority leader, according to Republicans leaving the meeting. Carbone received 18 votes and Willoughby ran uncontested.
Olson, a Mesa Republican elected in Legislative District 10, was a former member of the Arizona Corporation Commission and previously served in the House from 2011 to 2017.
Rep. David Livingston, R-Peoria, said he views Montenegro as a “strong” Republican that will help guide the GOP-controlled House into working with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs over the last two years of her term.
“There are no two speakers that are the same … All the people that ran today had a similar message of Arizona first, America first, citizens first, economic development, border security, family security, that was all very common.”
Montenegro commended the outgoing leadership team and how Toma, Biasiucci and Martinez have worked with the Hobbs administration while pushing for conservative policy goals.
“We want to build on what they’ve started, what they’ve continued to do,” Montenegro said. “United as a caucus, we’re going to take it to the next level.”
In 2018, Montenegro ran in the Republican primary election to be a U.S. House candidate in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District but his campaign took a negative hit after several news outlets reported he had been involved in a sexting scandal with a Senate staffer.
Montenegro said in a written statement in 2018 that he had allowed the relationship with the staffer to become “too familiar” but maintained that never solicited photos from the staffer.
The staffer accused Montenegro of revenge porn after the woman learned that the photos she sent Montenegro were shared to others.
Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, said Tuesday the caucus didn’t discuss the controversy that previously surrounded Montenegro.
“All the candidates were future-focused,” Gress said.
House Democrats also held its caucus organizational meeting Tuesday morning. The caucus elected Rep. Oscar De Los Santos, D-Laveen, as minority leader. De Los Santos is the current assistant minority leader.
Democrats elected Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, D-Tucson, as assistant leader. Reps. Quantá Crews, D-Phoenix; and Stacey Travers, D-Tempe, will be the caucus whips.
“It’s an honor to be chosen to lead this outstanding caucus,” De Los Santos said in a written statement. “This is a strong, smart and experienced team who will fight for you, for your public schools, for your rights, for our state’s precious resources, for your bottom line and for your neighborhood. We have tremendous challenges ahead as a state, and as a country, but we will not back down from extremism, and we will face them together.
Some Democrats had other candidates in mind. Rep. Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, called for a woman to be minority leader on Monday and her sister Rep. Consuelo Hernandez, D-Tucson, was rumored to be seeking the position.
Alma Hernandez ran to be minority leader after former Rep. Andres Cano resigned from the position in 2023, leading to a nine hour organizational meeting where she challenged Minority Leader Lupe Contreras, D-Avondale, for the spot.
“After two years of talking about unity and involving all voices of our caucus, we have returned to the same playbook. Good job, Dems, and good luck with that,” Alma Hernandez wrote in a post on X after the House Democrats minority leader election Tuesday.
Some Republicans also have already taken shots at De Los Santos for being endorsed by the Arizona Communist Party. Livingston told reporters he believes De Los Santos needs to refute the endorsement.
“If the minority leader doesn’t want that endorsement, he should publicly make a statement to that effect. Otherwise it is assumed he’s accepted it and is part of it,” Livingston said.
Senate Republicans elected Sen. Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, to lead the chamber again. Petersen was first elected president in 2022. Petersen first announced he was elected president uncontested in a post on X.
“I am grateful for their confidence. The media got something right. This is the most conservative Legislature in history,” Petersen wrote in his post. “We will continue to deliver a conservative agenda that will protect liberty and promote prosperity.
The Senate GOP caucus also elected Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, as majority leader and Sen. Frank Carroll, R-Sun City West, as majority whip.
Democrats elected Sen. Priya Sundareshan, D-Tucson as minority leader of the Senate. Sen. Flavio Bravo, D-Phoenix, was elected as assistant minority leader.
“It is a great honor that my fellow caucus members have elected me as their Minority Leader for the upcoming legislative session,” Sundareshan said in a written statement. “The fight ahead will be uphill and the work will be hard. I am confident that along with my newly elected leadership team, we will deliver the very best possible for the people of Arizona.
Sen. Rosanna Gabaldón, D-Green Valley, will be the Senate minority whip, while Sen. Lela Alson, D-Phoenix, will be the caucus chair.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
