New lawmaker Q&A: Democratic Rep. Stephanie Simacek
A success story … No broligarchy … And how the tables turn.
This was the year that Arizona Democrats thought they would take control of Arizona’s Legislature.
Instead, Republicans ended up gaining an even wider majority.
But freshman Democratic Rep. Stephanie Simacek, who represents the competitive Legislative District 2 in north-central Phoenix, was one of the rare Democratic success stories.
Former Rep. Judy Schwiebert drafted Simacek to run for her position while Schwiebert vied for the district’s Senate seat.
Simacek learned she won the election while she was walking the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington D.C. and got the text that her opponent had conceded. It was a cinematic moment — but the victory brought a mix of emotions as Schwiebert lost her Senate bid.
“To find out that news at that moment was pretty magical and very exciting. At that point, I felt happy, but also knowing what I was getting myself into, and knowing that this was not going to be an easy thing,” she said.
Simacek is a former teacher and a current Deer Valley Unified School District Governing Board member. Her priority at the Legislature has been pushing for public education reform, and she spends her time on the House’s education committee trying to tell lawmakers what life in the classroom is really like.
As far as actually getting any Democratic-backed education reforms done, like reining in the ESA voucher program, Simacek said most of her work this session is playing defense. She’s put up 16 bills that didn’t get a committee hearing.
“It's really disturbing, because the stuff that does come through the education committee, I know is not what our teachers need … some of the stuff we heard is extremely alarming,” Simacek said.
“That stuff” includes Republican bills to let teachers carry firearms on campus and put chaplains in schools for mental health guidance, Simacek said.
While the new lawmaker knows a lot about public education, she also has firsthand experience with the maddening process of health insurance claims. Simacek’s HB2782 never got a committee hearing, but it would have established a consumer assistance program to help people file complaints with health insurance carriers.
When her daughter was two, she needed physical therapy after missing developmental milestones. Simacek’s insurance wouldn’t cover the therapy. While she was able to work out a deal with the therapist to get her daughter's care, Simacek knows a lot of people aren’t as lucky.
“This particular bill, and in creating this support, would help so many Arizonans — and these are the kind of issues I think that Arizonans want to have happen,” she said. “They don't care about chaplains in schools. They don't care about teachers being armed with guns in schools. But what they do care about is making sure that their families and themselves are properly cared for.”
It’s important to ask our state representatives about the political moves they’re making on our behalf and why — and we dedicate the first half of these Q&A sessions to doing that.
But there’s a lot you can gauge about a person by asking them personal questions that might have nothing to do with politics. That’s why we ask lawmakers five ridiculous questions at the end of every interview.
Here’s what Simacek had to say …
Q: If House Democrats had a Spotify playlist, what song would you add to it?
A: “tv off” by Kendrick Lamar, a song that’s helped Simacek get through frustrating moments at the state Capitol.
Q: What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned so far about the legislative process?
A: That lawmakers can vote to kill a bill, only to see it revived and passed shortly after.
“It’s mindblowing to me because we go through this process and it finally gets to the third-read process. And you vote on it and it gets voted down … But then they get brought back,” she said.
Q: If you could sponsor one bill that you knew would become law, which would it be?
A: Her bill to provide transparency to health insurance claim denials. But also “something in education for ESA transparency and accountability.”
Q: If there was a talent show for legislators, what hidden talent would you perform?
A: Simacek said she doesn’t have any hidden talents, but she’s gone from “someone who is rather quiet to starting to find (her) voice.” Perhaps a display in public speaking.
Q: Is there a personal story or experience that you’ve lived through that you feel has shaped your legislative views more than anything else?
A: She grew up in a small town in Oregon where “everybody was respectful and kind to everybody,” and moving to Phoenix was a very different experience.
“I really started to see divisiveness and real hate towards people for things that were just part of my life. I was raised like everybody should be treated equal and you have no idea what anyone else was going through. And I've carried that kind of thought through this whole process, to living here in Arizona, through the campaign, to serving for our state,” she said.
“If somebody is really upset about something, or when I'm having a really hard day, I know that someone else is having a harder day than I am, and to really have that empathy for other people and put yourself in their shoes, even when you're dealing with someone who you don't understand why they're voting the way they're voting … when things hit me really personal, I just have to think to myself, there's got to be more to the story here.”
Welcome to the circus: The Tucson Agenda chats with Daniel Hernandez, who is the first serious candidate to announce he’s running to replace Democratic U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva in Southern Arizona’s Congressional District 7. We’re watching for Grijalva’s daughter, Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva, to announce later this week, as well as Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.
Here’s an idea: U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s enormous rallies across the country, including in Tempe and Tucson last week, are energizing generally depressed Democrats, per the Wall Street Journal, and they may be the beginning of a leftist presidential campaign, the New York Times speculates. Sanders has said he’s not running again, but Ocasio-Cortez is an obvious heir apparent to his movement. A recent poll put Sanders in third place as the official who best represented Democrats’ core values — AOC was first, per the Journal.
Unplug: Protests at Tesla dealerships are spreading to Tempe, where about 50 people gathered over the weekend, the Republic’s Karen Bartunec reports. Organizers are planning a day of global protest next Saturday, March 29, per the Verge.
What’s a senator to do?: Like he did on the campaign trail, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego is trying to balance his liberal bona fides with hard-line immigration policies, the Arizona Daily Star’s Emily Bregel reports. Over the past few weeks, that meant dealing with the Trump administration invoking the Alien Enemies Act to bypass due process for Venezuelan immigrants, wrongly identifying Venezuelans as members of a violent gang and watching them end up in notoriously brutal prisons in El Salvador. Gallego says everybody deserves due process, but he supports deporting “hard-core criminals” to countries other than their homelands.
“I honestly don’t know if there is much of anything we can do,” Gallego said when asked how Congress can make sure innocent people aren’t sent to El Salvador prisons.
Border give and take: The Nogales City Council decided to go ahead with a federal grant that funds border enforcement by local police officers, the Nogales International’s Daisy Zavala Magaña reports. Last month, the council members tabled the discussion about Operation Stonegarden, partly due to worries that the program inflates police officers’ salaries, which leads to bigger pension payouts by the city. A few blocks from Nogales City Hall, merchants were worried about a slump in purchases by Mexican shoppers, the lifeblood of the local retail industry. They pointed to Trump’s hateful rhetoric about Mexican immigrants, Trump’s tariffs causing economic worries, and long wait times at local border crossings.
Keep ‘em caged: Gov. Katie Hobbs pushed back rules mandating that eggs come from cage-free chickens until 2034, saying she’s combatting the high price of eggs. The move is expected to save maybe $0.03 per egg, per Fischer. We first covered the regulations in an eggsclusive scoop in 2022.
Eggs are pretty expensive. We’ve got a discount on the Agenda today so you can get both.
The resistance roadshow: Attorney General Kris Mayes joined the “legal resistance listening tour,” as Politico called it, as she teamed up on Thursday with AGs from Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey and New York at a campaign-like rally in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Scared of people v. scaring people: Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani ducked out the back door to avoid protesters at a town hall at the Quail Creek Republican Club south of Tucson over the weekend, Green Valley News’ Dan Shearer reports. Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly spoke to a crowd of constituents in Tucson about potential Medicaid cuts, KVOA’s Megan Spector reports.
Flag for flag: Republican state Rep. Nick Kupper is killing his own bill aimed at limiting what kinds of flags can be displayed at state government buildings in Arizona, saying he knows that Hobbs will veto it to protect pride flags, and he doesn’t want her to have the final word, per Capitol scribe Howie Fischer. The bill would also ban confederate and Nazi flags from flying on government property, Kupper noted.
It’s another busy week at the Arizona Capitol and beyond. Here’s what we’re watching.
Monday – It’s the final week for Senate committees to hear House bills and vice versa, so expect some packed committee agendas at the Legislature all week.
Tuesday – Ahead of the final House Natural Resources, Environment and Water Committee meeting of the year, water conservationists are hosting a press conference to oppose Senate Bill 1520, the Big-Agriculture-backed solution for Arizona’s rural water woes. The Water Agenda did a deep dive into the bill if you wanna learn more.
Wednesday – U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva’s Funeral Mass and celebration of life ceremonies are at 10:00 a.m. at St. Augustine Cathedral, and 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. at El Casino Ballroom in Tucson, respectively. Meanwhile, if you can’t make it to Tucson, there’s a “No Oligarchy no Monarchy” rally at the state Capitol that Grijalva would have enjoyed.
Thursday – Conservationists are holding a “Protect our Public Lands” rally at the Capitol Thursday afternoon. And they have free buses from Tucson and Flagstaff if you need a ride.
Friday – Is our final day of publishing before we take a week off for our spring break. Yay! We even updated our publishing schedule to reflect the fact that we’re adopting a spring and fall break policy to keep ourselves semi-sane.
An Arizona family was forced to “self-deport” from Mexico after the Mexican government started cracking down on American tourists without visas.
The rule that Americans visiting Mexico must get a tourist visa has been in place for basically forever, but the Mexican government just recently started beefing up enforcement ahead of spring break, though officials later promised to loosen enforcement until May, the Daily Star’s Emily Bregel writes.
“You’re considered a coyote,” Ruben Cordova, a dual citizen and Rocky Point tour guide said officials told him when he was caught driving Americans around without tourist visas.
Also, you may want to leave your Bud Lights at home. Mexico is charging an additional 114% tax on any imported beer taken across the border.
