Priya Sundareshan

The post-session rebrand: The Capitol Times dropped a series of Q&As recapping the 2025 session with Arizona’s legislative leaders, and some lawmakers are taking an interesting approach to reframing this year’s chaos. House Speaker Steve Montenegro said the “relationship between the House and the Senate is fine” after this year’s budget feud, while Senate President Warren Petersen said “unnecessary division within the party made the process more difficult than it needed to be.” Democratic leaders Rep. Oscar De Los Santos and Sen. Priya Sundareshan highlighted their party’s budget wins and called for a clean renewal of Prop. 123 next year. (July 22, 2025)

With or without you: Over the weekend, more than 250 people gathered in midtown Tucson to discuss President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” The town hall was the latest in a string of public meetings critical of Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani and his refusal to hold public, in-person town halls in his district. These events are not new — but the panel of high-profile Democrats, including Pima County Supervisor Rex Scott, state Sen. Priya Sundareshan and state Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, as well as congressional candidates JoAnna Mendoza and Deja Foxx1 show the dwindling list of Democrats in Pima County willing to work with Ciscomani. (June 23, 2025)

Citizens, not residents: State Sen. Jake Hoffman says state officials should take over the counting for the decennial census, at an estimated cost of $158 million, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer reports. He wants to get a measure on the 2026 ballot for voters to decide whether non-citizens should be included in the count, even though the census is meant to include all residents, not just citizens. Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan called it “gerrymandering,” while Sen. Lauren Kuby, also a Democrat, said officials knocking on doors and asking if people are citizens could have a “chilling” effect on people responding to the census. (February 19, 2025)

The next Minnesota: Tucson-area Democratic Sen. Priya Sundareshan pointed out an obvious flaw in SB1055, the bill the Arizona Senate passed this week that would force police to immediately contact ICE after an arrest, per Capitol scribe Howie Fischer. “So there has been no evidence provided, jury trial provided, or anything that proves that anyone that might have been arrested is, in fact, guilty,” Sundareshan said. (February 26, 2026)

Confusing the issue: State Sen. Priya Sundareshan isn’t happy with how Republican lawmakers are writing the language that will appear on ballot measures in November, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer reports. The Tucson Democrat says the Legislative Council (which is made up of lawmakers) is supposed to use an impartial analysis for the summaries of ballot measures, but GOP lawmakers approved language that basically advocates for measures they favor and adds a negative tone to the ones they don’t like, including the Protect Education Act that would rein in the school voucher program. (July 10, 2026)

Wasn’t worried about it to begin with: In case you were scared that Sharia law would take over Arizona, state lawmakers have you covered, per Capitol scribe Howie Fischer. The Arizona Senate approved SB1018, which would include Sharia law in the list of foreign laws that are unenforceable in Arizona. The bill also bans a list of practices, like spousal abuse that is justified by cultural norms, that are already illegal in Arizona. (March 4, 2026) “So really, what this bill does is it singles out a group of people, and it singles out a religion for harassment and discrimination merely by the fact that we are talking about this,” Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan said. (March 4, 2026)