State Representative Richard Andrade, D-Glendale, speaking with an attendee at the 2019 Legislative Forecast Luncheon hosted by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr/ CC-BY-SA-2.0
By Jeremy. Duda | Arizona Mirror
Rep. Richard Andrade has withdrawn his endorsement of Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner Katie Hobbs over her role in the firing of former Senate staffer Talonya Adams and is now backing Marco Lopez, one of her rivals in the primary elections.
Andrade, D-Glendale, announced on Friday that he’s endorsing Lopez. The Lopez campaign said Andrade is the first elected official to switch his endorsement to him from Hobbs. Hobbs announced Andrade’s endorsement last summer, about a month after entering the governor’s race.
In a joint statement provided to the Arizona Mirror, Andrade and Rep. Melody Hernandez, a Tempe Democrat who endorsed Lopez last month, said they were initially excited to support Hobbs in the gubernatorial race. But over the last several months, they said they’d lost faith in her ability to lead the state.
They specifically cited Hobbs’ responsibility for Adams’ firing in 2015. Adams was a staffer under Hobbs, who at the time was Senate minority leader. A federal jury in 2019 found that Adams, a Black woman, was underpaid due to her race and gender — staff pay is determined by Republican leadership — and a second jury last year found that she was fired for complaining about that discrimination. Both verdicts were against the Senate as a whole, not against Hobbs.
After the verdict, Hobbs initially defended the firing, saying race and gender weren’t factors in the decision. She has since acknowledged that discrimination took place and issued a public apology to Adams.
