Steve Montenegro | |
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Member-elect of the Arizona Senate from the 13th district |
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Taking office January 9, 2017 |
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Succeeding | Don Shooter |
Member of the Arizona House of Representatives from the 13th district |
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In office January 14, 2013 – January 9, 2017 Serving with Darin Mitchell |
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Succeeded by | Don Shooter |
Member of the Arizona House of Representatives from the 12th district |
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In office January 12, 2009 – January 14, 2013 Serving with Jerry Weiers |
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Preceded by | John B. Nelson |
Personal details | |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Melissa |
Children | Adelynn |
Residence | Litchfield Park, Arizona |
Alma mater | Arizona State University |
Website | Official websiteOther website |
Steve Montenegro is an American politician from Litchfield Park, Arizona who has served as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives since January 2003. He is a Hispanic Republican politician and current Speaker Pro Tempore. He was first elected in 2008.
In 2014, Montenegro was chosen to serve as Majority Leader in the 2015-2017 session.
Representative Montenegro was born in El Salvador and at age four immigrated to the United States with his family. He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Arizona State University with a B.S. in Political Science. He also holds an Associate of Arts in Theology from CBAN and Logos Christian University. Steve currently works in the district office of U.S. Congressman Trent Franks, where he assists with issues concerning the state department, immigration matters, and other federal issues that affect the west valley residents and businesses.
Steve Montenegro was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in November 2008. He represents Legislative District 12 (soon to be called District 13 after the new district lines are approved), which includes Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Avondale and also Luke Air Force Base. Steve is currently serving as Speaker Pro-Tempore (the #4 ranking Republican) and sits on the Government, Higher Education Innovation and Reform, and Rules committees. He is passionate about job creation, education issues, government transparency, protecting Second Amendment rights, and fiscal responsibility. Since his election, he has won awards as a “Friend of the Family”, “Friend of the Taxpayer”, and "Conservative Hero" from the Arizona Liberty Project. He has consistently been recognized as a defender of religious freedom. In 2014 he introduced legislation that would ensure that clergy do not have to perform a marriage that violates their religious beliefs.
He was the only Hispanic in the Arizona legislature to vote for the highly controversial Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. In response to accusations of racial profiling of Hispanics, he replied by saying that "This bill has nothing to do with race or profiling. It has to do with the law. We are seeing a lot of crime here in Arizona because of the open borders that we have."