The incoming 2025 Arizona Legislature is choosing leadership and committee positions, and selected State Rep. Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear) as speaker of the house on Tuesday. The longtime legislator, who was born in El Salvador and describes himself as MAGA and America First, will be Arizona’s first Latino speaker of the house.
The Arizona Sun Times spoke to Montenegro shortly after he won the three-way race with 18 votes from 33 Republican voting members. He defeated Rep. Joseph Chaplike (R-Scottsdale), a member of the Freedom Caucus, and current House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci (R-Lake Havasu).
Montenegro (pictured above) said he was born in San Salvador, where his parents engaged in ministry work, and immigrated legally to the U.S. with his family when he was 5. They lived three years in California, then his father was called to be a pastor in Colorado. After that, his father became a missions supervisor in Canada for four years. The family lived the first two years in Detroit, however, “due to Canada’s tough immigration laws,” Montenegro said with a chuckle.
Next, when Montenegro was 14, the family moved to Surprise for his father to become a pastor He began high school at Dysart High School, and went on to Arizona State University for college. He loved the “amazing” topics of law and justice, due to the American justice system, so began majoring in Administration of Justice. He said there is a “value of honor among law enforcement and military in the U.S.,” which isn’t present in much of the rest of the world. The U.S. system has “honor and integrity” and the “peaceful transition of power,” and law enforcement is respected on the streets.
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