PHOENIX, AZ – On Wednesday, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors appointed Neal Carter and Teresa Martinez to the Arizona House of Representatives. The appointments of Carter and Martinez were made to fill the vacancies created by the recent passing of Representative Frank Pratt of Legislative District 8, and the resignation of Representative Bret Roberts in Legislative District 11.
Carter, an attorney, small business owner, and community volunteer from San Tan Valley, fills the vacancy left by Pratt.
Teresa Martinez, who currently serves as Director of Coalitions and Hispanic Outreach for Congressman Paul Gosar, fills the vacancy left by Roberts.
The conservative Carter nearly beat Frank Pratt for the 2nd House seat in the 2020 GOP primary and was the top choice of the precinct committeeman. He is expected to vote well to the right of the man he replaces, former State Rep Frank Pratt, and enjoyed the unanimous support of the Supervisors during the nomination process.
Martinez is viewed as more of a moderate, whose political connections were enough to snag the nomination, but the Supervisors were divided on her selection, as the other two nominees also received support from Supervisors. The Precinct Committeemen had made conservative former State Senator Steve Smith their top choice, but were overruled by the Supervisors on what was eventually a 5-0 final vote for Martinez.
“If you are a conservative then today was probably a bit of a wash,” said one Capitol observer. “Carter is well to the right of Pratt and could make a really good teammate with [Rep David] Cook. But Martinez isn’t anywhere near as conservative as Bret Roberts and she’s likely to be loyal to leadership, whoever that is, which makes her a less than ideal partner for [Rep Mark] Finchem.”