Tucsonan in House leadership post announces he's quitting

PHOENIX — The top Arizona House Democratic leader announced Saturday he is quitting at the end of this legislative session, more than a year before his term is up.

Tucsonan Andrés Cano, the chamber’s minority leader, said he has been accepted into the Harvard Kennedy School to pursue a graduate degree in public administration. The one-year program begins in early July in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Cano said there appears to be a deal on a state spending plan for the new fiscal year that begins July 1, making this an ideal time to leave.

Once he quits, it will be up to the Democratic precinct committee members in Legislative District 20, which covers Tucson from the Rillito River east to Country Club Road and much of the south side, to nominate three individuals to replace him for the balance of the term, which runs through 2024.

The final decision is up to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, which must choose from that list of all Democrats.

Cano, 30, is the only Tucsonan from either party in a state House or Senate leadership post.

Spending priorities

He said he will stay through the end of the current budget talks.

House Republicans said they intend to release a plan this week, something they said is close to a final deal they are negotiating with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

Cano said Democrats have been “at the table,” though he said they have been “looking to the governor’s office” for leadership in dealing with the majority Republicans.

“The bottom line is, we want a bipartisan budget,” he said.

“We do believe the priorities we have advocated for, K-12, environment and water, are key priorities,” Cano said. “And I do think that we will see the fruit of those negotiations very soon.”

He was less firm about whether the final budget will see the demand by Hobbs to roll back the universal vouchers approved last year that allow any parent to get state funds to send children to private or parochial schools. That has proven to be a bigger drain on the budget than anticipated as applicants include students whose parents already were sending them to private schools at their own expenses.

“It’s a top concern for many members of our caucus and I do believe we are close to a negotiation on vouchers,” Cano said in an interview Saturday.

Leadership loss for Democrats

Cano’s departure is the second leadership loss this session for Democrats.

Democratic Sen. Raquel Terán of Phoenix resigned last month to pursue a congressional bid. Maricopa County supervisors are scheduled to pick a replacement this week.

The minority leader represents the interests of the Democratic caucus in not just budget negotiations but other priorities. Those in leadership of both parties have some clout in ensuring the needs of their individual districts are addressed.

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“I’m not concerned at all about Southern Arizona being represented,” Cano told Capitol Media Services Saturday, calling the rest of the delegation “tested and resilient.”

Being elected by your colleagues to leadership does not guarantee the majority of the caucus will follow.

That was proven recently when Cano found he was one of just 11 House Democrats out of 28 on the floor voting against what had been dubbed the “tamale” bill to expand the kinds of home-cooked foods that could be legally sold to the public. It was only after Hobbs vetoed the measure that most Democrats came around to his side.

Cano plans to return to AZ

Cano was first elected to the Legislature in 2018.

He said he plans to return to Arizona, where his family is located, after getting the degree. As to future political outings, he said, “all options remain open.”

“I ran for office at the height of the Red for Ed movement,” Cano recalled, the time when teachers and their allies demanded and eventually got state lawmakers and then-Gov. Doug Ducey to approve a 20% pay raise over four years.

“As as product of public schools and a first-generation college graduate, the next chapter in my public service was having an opportunity to represent my district in the state Capitol,” he said.

That was not his first foray in the political arena.

Cano previously was a senior aide to the late Pima County Supervisor Richard Elías. He was also director of the LBGTQ+ Alliance Fund, which provides grants to organizations.

“I came from nearly eight years in local government understanding the connection between local and state governments and how this place has in more ways under a Republican Legislature caused more harm to the people of Arizona than good,” he said.

He said much of his political awakening came during the national debate over Senate Bill 1070, the law approved by the Legislature in 2010 to have the state take an active role in finding and deporting those not in this country legally. While most of the law has since been struck down, one portion remains: Requiring police to check the immigration status of those in a vehicle they have stopped.

“That was an eye-opener for me,” Cano said. “As a student, I recognized that my passion was in fighting for people from my district who needed voice and who needed meaningful representation here,” including the LBGTQ community, low-income individuals and immigrants, he said.

One of Cano’s early political battles in the House was against Republican Ducey and GOP lawmakers who wanted an across-the-board cut in state income tax rates. He pointed out that did little for lower-income residents.

“Instead of giving a tax break to mom, this bill puts more money into the hands of millionaires and billionaires who don’t have to worry about where or how their child is sleeping, what they’re eating, or how they’ll pay this month’s bills,” Cano said at the time.

Cano also played a role in the 2019 repeal of a 1991 law, dubbed “no promo homo,” that governed how schools can teach about AIDS and HIV. The law made illegal any course that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle” or “portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style.” It also said teachers could not suggest “some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex,” though there was no similar bar on teaching about “safe” heterosexual sex.