With 2 in Senate, 5 in House, Arizona Dems gain clout in a new Washington
Arizona and its majority-Democratic congressional delegation is in a new position of having power, seniority and political value at a moment when the party assumes control of the federal government this week.
The state’s two Democratic senators, its narrow vote for President-elect Joe Biden in November, and some wellplaced allies in the House of Representatives give the delegation outsized importance at the beginning of a critical two-year window.
“The president-elect won Arizona by a slim margin. He will be focused on Arizona because it will be a state that he will want to keep in his column,” said Ron Ober, a Phoenix-based Democratic consultant. “The fact that (Sen.) Mark Kelly is up for reelection in 2022 also brings more attention to the state, and the administration wanting to be help
ful. … (Rep.) Ruben Gallego was very, very active in the fall campaign, was the only member of Congress outside of California to endorse Kamala Harris in the primaries.”
Arizona’s Democratic congressional delegation is “well positioned” to leverage its relationships to deliver for the state, Ober said.
In some ways, Arizona’s political transformation became complete in 2020. Voters chose the Democratic presidential nominee for the first time in 24 years and, in consecutive elections, they chose Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, DAriz., and Kelly. It gives Arizona its first pair in that chamber since 1953.
And the state’s nine-member House delegation has five Democrats in it. One of them, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, chairs the House Natural Resources Committee.
Others are spread across committees that have special interest to Arizona: Appropriations, Armed Services, Energy and Commerce and Transportation.
This could impact policy matters from water rights, mining near the Grand Canyon, the future of Arizona’s two major defense bases and infrastructure needs of a rapidly growing state.
Arizona’s political needs will be tempered by the Democrats’ thin margins in the House and Senate, as well as the broader needs of a nation still struggling to manage the coronavirus pandemic and the related recession.
Still, Arizona’s left turn on Capitol Hill seems largely in sync with the national mood.
Paul Senseman, a Republican political consultant, said the state could reap the benefits of its rising clout on nearly every front, from health care to low-income housing, water rights to the defense industry and the protection and expansion of its military presence.
“Our defense, our military presence here, is historically very strongly supported” in Congress, Senseman said.
“Given the backgrounds of many in the delegation, you’re going to see a continued defense of that and hopefully acceleration of further missions ... and then those industries that support our defense is vital to Arizona’s economy,” he said.
A Democrat-controlled Senate
Sinema, a moderate Democrat, is one of a small number of centrist senators whose support could be critical for any legislation moving forward.
She voted against Trump’s known legislative agenda 74% of the time since joining the Senate, according to a tally by FiveThirtyEight. Only Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., sided with Trump more often in the past two years.
Now Sinema is joined by Kelly, who ousted former Sen. Martha McSally, RAriz., by running as a centrist Democrat in the Sinema mold.
Kelly faces reelection in 2022 in the state that had the closest presidential election last year. It is expected to test Kelly’s partisan loyalties.
While the senators’ committee assignments are still unknown, they are expected to work with the majority leader to broaden their reach through assignments rather than doubling up on them.
Sinema has done much of her higherprofile work through her position on the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, where she is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management, which has oversight of the federal workforce.
Kelly, who won a special election last November and was sworn in ahead of the new class of senators, will have an advantage over other freshmen on committee assignments. Given his experience as an engineer, naval aviator, and NASA astronaut, Kelly may be aiming for the Senate’s Armed Services or Commerce, Science, and Transportation committees.
“Sinema and McSally, they didn’t work together well for obvious reasons, but I think she and Kelly will work very closely together, and being in the majority will benefit Arizona,” said former Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz. “They’re both centrist Democrats. They’re not way off on the left side. And that should help them win over Republicans in the Senate.”
Key slots in the House
Grijalva, who is one of the most liberal members of the House, acknowledged the need to work with the state’s more-measured senators.
“I’m going to advocate for what I think is really, really important, but, I think we have to work within the pragmatism that the senators are going to bring to this question,” said Grijalva, who is the dean of the state’s delegation.
For his part, Grijalva said Arizonans can expect to see several things immediately: an effort to permanently protect the Grand Canyon from mining and a stop to border wall construction.
Beyond that, Grijalva said he hopes the Democratic delegation can have a more collaborative relationship with Gov. Doug Ducey about the allocation of resources to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We want to have a say in that to put it quite bluntly,” Grijalva said. “I want to really build up the public health departments in the counties across the state.”
Grijalva also hopes the delegation can push ahead on transportation infrastructure. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., is part of the House Transportation Committee that could help make that happen.
Stanton sees hope with the new partisan dynamics for advancing the proposed Interstate 11 corridor, water infrastructure and Biden’s immigration plan through his role on the Judiciary Committee.
“We’re really going to be digging in to make sure all of our interests are set,” said Seth Scott, Stanton’s chief of staff. “He’ll be the leading voice on immigration and then on infrastructure, as well, and making sure a lot of these interests we have been talking about for a long time get to move forward ...
“A lot of these things that Arizona has been waiting on a long time will get to move forward now.”
Gallego, beginning his fourth term in Congress, is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and is expected to chair a subcommittee on special operations and intelligence. That could have special relevance to Fort Huachuca near Sierra Vista. That Army post includes a school for training in military intelligence.
He noted that Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
“With me on defense and Ann on Approps,
it basically assures that a lot of the Arizona military initiatives are going to be authorized as well as funded, which I think is a great combo,” he said.
Specifically, it suggests that Luke Air Force Base should receive its allotted supply of F-35 fighter jets, Gallego said, and that the near-term future of the A-10 fighter jets at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base should be secure.
Meanwhile, Gallego said he will continue to push for other equipment to be set up at Davis-Monthan to ease the blow if the Air Force succeeds in retiring the A-10, as it has sought to do for years.
Gallego is part of Grijalva’s Natural Resources Committee and has in the past chaired the subcommittee with oversight of tribal matters there. That should give Native Americans a pair of Arizona allies on Capitol Hill.
“That’s so important because the majority of land in Arizona is owned or controlled by Native Americans or the federal government,” DeConcini said. “Now, with a Democratic president, I think it will be a much, much better situation for Arizona, depending on how you look at it, if you want environmental controls and good management of public lands.”
Within the Appropriations Committee, Kirkpatrick has worked on subcommittees that oversee water and national defense, two areas important to the state’s economic fortunes.
“Especially now that we have the White House, Senate, and House in Democratic hands, our laser focus will yield results and bring real reform for Americans, from pressing issues like combatting the raging pandemic to ensuring water projects throughout Arizona are funded for generations to come,” Kirkpatrick said in a written statement to The Arizona Republic. “As Arizona’s only Appropriator, I am proud to work day-in and day-out to bring key funding to our state and make it the best possible place to live, work, and grow.”
Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., is a member of the House Agriculture and Energy and Commerce committees and is a leader within the centrist Blue Dog Coalition.
He has long pushed for expanded access to broadband in rural Arizona and for better forest management.
“Sinema and McSally, they didn’t work together well for obvious reasons, but I think she and Kelly will work very closely together, and being in the majority will benefit Arizona. They’re both centrist Democrats. They’re not way off on the left side. And that should help them win over Republicans in the Senate.”
Dennis DeConcini
Former Democratic senator for Arizona