House Minority Leader Lupe Contreras, D-Avondale, rarely saw his caucus at full strength during the 2024 Arizona Legislative session with numerous resignations among House Democrats. Despite that, Democrats saw one of their biggest legislative wins in years in repealing Arizona’s 1864 abortion law. At a thinly-divided House of 31-29, Contreras discussed the challenges of operating as the minority party and his hope to flip the Legislature in a recent interview with the Arizona Capitol Times .
The questions and answers have been edited lightly for style and clarity.
What were the biggest accomplishments for you this session?
Working through the dynamics of having to hurdle through not having all the 29 members there the whole year. When you have 29, you're right there at the cusp of being able to almost kill a bill because you just need one of them or two of them to pass a bill. We would gain a couple, and also boom, we’d lose one. Ultimately seeing the members overcome that, it was beautiful to see that.
How high does repealing the 1864 abortion ban rank among accomplishments Democrats have had?
When we did that Medicaid expansion back in 2013, I didn't grasp how impactful that was because this almost pummels. It wasn't just our state, it was countrywide. It was for the families, it was for hell, people like myself that had to hold my wife when we lost our son. My oldest son Lupe is a twin and we lost our twin Christopher. It's heart wrenching as a father having to hold your wife and go through a process. I can never put myself in my wife's shoes. I can never take the pain away from holding my wife and having to hold her on the couch for all those days. That's why I say, for some of us, it's a family battle. It was such a pivotal thing and it crosses aisles. The minority of the Republicans are the ones fighting against the majority of the Republicans that want us to stop this nonsense. I will forever be grateful for those who stood up alongside us.
What was the worst part of the session?
You come into a session and have expectations, hoping that they will be different from the past, especially bills being heard in committees. Being that the numbers were so close in line and us having a Democrat governor, that hopefully this session would have been different for most and after all the vetoes from last year. I thought that would have been something different to show more trying and trust and that wasn’t done.
Has the dynamic between the two parties ever been as tense?
These last two years have been the worst for the dynamics. I’ve said this since last year. It's because of a divided government. It just makes it a stickier place to be. It’s no different than in the past when the Republicans would fight with Ducey on the budget because they had all three chambers. The only difference is that now they're fighting with a Democrat governor. Look back to the changes that they made once the secretary of state went from “R” to “D.” They want to hold on to whatever power they can when they see any power slipping away.
What are the chances of having a special session for groundwater?
It would be nice but at the end of the day, you have to have buy-in from both the speaker and the president. I would hope that they would be willing and ready to negotiate and really work together in a bipartisan manner. We have to think of water as something in the future. It's our children and our grandchildren. I've worked in business almost my whole adult life. You can’t think that I don't care about business. But I care about our future, too. If we're not going to bring everyone to the table and listen to everyone and have everyone there, it's not gonna work.
What are the shortcomings of the budget?
I say yeah, it was a bipartisan budget but not all of us were in the room. We were told of what was being talked about. There's some stuff in education that just is not there. We're still giving some of the most wealthy the best tax breaks and we just have to straighten all that out.
Why can’t you and Senator Epstein just hash out the budget with the speaker and president?
They're holding on to whatever power they have because they know that's the last power they're going to have if the chambers flip. When the chamber flips, they will no longer be in that room to make those calls. I would hope that the same respect that they’ve given us to be in the room will be given to them.
What can you tell me about the status of a Proposition 123 renewal?
We were still trying until the 11th hour. The majority wants the majority of the majority on every bill that goes through the Legislature. And that’s what their rule of thumb was. They couldn’t get enough people backing it.
How frustrating is that?
The rule of 31 is not always the rule of 31. And that’s the issue. Even though there’s 29 of us, the rule of 31 and 16 has not always been the rule of 31 and 16.
We’ve got a big election coming up. What’s your message to voters?
I just want them to consider who’s been willing to be here every day knowing their bills may not have a chance in hell. They’re not here just for the gain.Just look at the individuals on the other side of the aisle that voted no on the budget. How they were kicking and screaming at their own for not getting the budget reconciliation bills, for not getting the spreadsheet that happens to us on a yearly basis. Just imagine if they had to ask a Democrat if they could use a conference room and being told no. (Speaker Ben) Toma and I battle but we still have respect for one another. Would they show the same respect for our speaker? It takes special people to endure this fight of being in the minority.
What would be the first thing that a Democrat majority goes after?
It’s not about one thing. When you’re in a family and you’ve fallen in a hole, you don’t get out of the hole with one paycheck. It would be the same thing here at the Legislature. Budget by budget and decision by decision.
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