Priya Sundareshan Makes Senate History

Indian American Democrat Priya Sundareshan has been chosen to lead the Arizona Senate as her party prepares to take control of the chamber for the first time since 1992, promising lower costs for families and greater attention to Southern Arizona.

Senate Democrats selected the Tucson lawmaker and outgoing minority leader as president-elect on November 6. She is set to take the gavel when the new Legislature convenes in January 2027.

Democrats won 20 of the Senate’s 30 seats. That would give the party a two-thirds majority, up from its current 13 seats.

“We heard you loud and clear. Arizonans rejected partisan extremism and chose a new direction,” Sundareshan said in the leadership announcement.

“I am proud of what we accomplished together during my time as minority leader, and I'm ready to lead us into the next chapter.”

The election also put Democrats on track to win about 37 of the House’s 60 seats and returned Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs to office. Together, those results would give Democrats control of the governorship and both legislative chambers for the first time since 1966.

House Democrats chose Oscar De Los Santos as speaker-elect.

In an interview published Monday by KJZZ/Capitol Media Services, Sundareshan said her selection offered Southern Arizona a stronger voice in decisions made at the state Capitol in Phoenix.

“Southern Arizona has often complained about not having a representation in the majority at the legislature,” she said. “Well, here we are.”

She is the first Tucsonan chosen to lead the Senate in nearly 20 years. The last Democrat to serve as Senate president was Pete Rios, who held the post from 1991 to 1992.

University funding and roads are among the regional concerns facing the incoming leadership.

Sundareshan said Democrats would seek to avoid further university funding cuts and ensure that areas outside Maricopa County received fair treatment in the budget.

The incoming majority has identified lowering costs for working families as its leading priority.

“We're united in our commitment to earn your trust every day by delivering results you can feel in your daily life,” she said.

Sundareshan won re-election in District 18 with about 66 per cent of the vote.

Born and raised in Tucson in an Indian American family, Sundareshan attended local public schools and earned a chemical engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006. She received a law degree and a master’s degree in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Arizona in 2011.

Before entering the Legislature, she taught natural resources law at the University of Arizona and directed its Natural Resource Use and Management Clinic. She also worked on sustainable resource management with the Environmental Defense Fund. First elected in 2022, she took office in January 2023.