Arizona House chamber
By Ray Stern | Arizona Republic
Pima County Board of Supervisors and staff on Dec. 7, 2021
The Arizona Legislature is almost back to full capacity after Pima County supervisors filled two of the last three seats left vacant in a year marked by lawmaker departures.
The five-member panel, which has a 4-1 Democratic majority, voted to appoint real estate investor Morgan Abraham as the representative for Legislative District 10, which includes both Tucson and unincorporated areas around the city, including the historic Casas Adobes community.
The supervisors appointed Christopher Mathis as the new representative for Legislative District 9 after rejecting Anakarina Rodriguez, the lone female candidate for the district. The one Republican on the Board of Supervisors abstained on all the votes. The appointees replace Democrats who resigned from the House.
The board’s actions bring the total number of state representatives and senators up to 89 in a year in which an unusually high number have left. Mathis will replace Randy Friese, who resigned from the House last month, while Abraham will replace Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, who resigned in October after she was appointed to fill the Senate seat vacated by Kirsten Engel, who’s running for Congress.
