By Jen Lebron Kuhney | The Arizona Republic
When Surprise Councilman Roy Villanueva died suddenly July 22, his wife, Rachel Villanueva, was overwhelmed with grief. The last thing on her mind at the time was the City Council seat her husband had occupied for 34 years.
But friends urged her to take up her husband’s mantle. Less than a month later, Rachel Villanueva was appointed to the seat and sworn into office.
“My friends said I knew my husband better than anyone, so I should be the one to carry on his dreams for the city,” she said.
Villanueva follows in the footsteps of at least two women in Arizona politics and dozens in Congress who were either appointed or elected to complete their husbands’ terms. While many initially planned to carry on their husbands’ memories, several have gone on to become political heavyweights.
