Two Republican state senators are going head-to-head this year to compete for a senate seat after a falling out. 

Sen. Jamescita Peshlakai, D-Cameron, said a low salary and a new job with the Biden administration led to her December 22 resignation from the Senate just two weeks before the start of the legislative session.  

Apache County supervisors voted February 9 to appoint a 25-year-old Stanford University graduate to the Legislative District 7 House seat recently vacated by Arlando Teller’s resignation.

Rep. Arlando Teller, D-Chinle, has left the Legislature to take a job with the Biden administration.

The commute, time commitment and low pay have contributed to a high turnover rate among legislators from the state’s largest legislative district.

New lawmakers could change dynamics of Senate

Two new lawmakers arrived at the Legislature this summer to fill vacancies in the Arizona Senate, potentially altering the dynamics of a chamber that left the Capitol bitterly divided on the issue of Medicaid expansion.

The newest senator from northern Arizona brings a different perspective to the Senate, one that is in large part guided by an upbringing as a Navajo and the unique needs of the state’s rural areas.

New senator has lived in many homes far from his district

By all accounts, new state Sen. Carlyle Begay is highly qualified for public office.

He has impressed lawmakers, county and city officials and even the Governor’s Office with his credentials as a student of public health. And he boasts extensive work with American Indian communities as the vice president of business development at the American Indian Health Management and Policy group in Phoenix, where he has worked since 2006.

Gilbert or Ganado — New senator faces challenge over residency

Mere hours after he was sworn into the Arizona Senate, Democrat Carlyle Begay faced a challenge to his seat on the grounds that he doesn’t live in the district he was appointed to represent.

Only hours after he was sworn into the Arizona Senate, Democrat Carlyle Begay faces a challenge to his seat on the grounds that he doesn’t live in the district he was appointed to represent.