Justine Wadsack

Justine Wadsack is an American politician and former member of the Arizona Senate. Wadsack was elected in 2022 to represent District 17 as a member of the Republican Party. Wadsack defeated incumbent State Senator Vince Leach in the 2022 Republican primary. In July 2024, Leach defeated Wadsack in the 2024 Republican primary.

Political career 2020 campaigns Before running for office, Wadsack was a real estate agent and political activist. She first filed to run for office in 2019, and in 2020 unsuccessfully sought election to the U.S. Congress and Arizona State Senate. She told The Arizona Republic in September 2022 that she was unaware at the time of what QAnon claims involved, and later realized it was "crap." She ran in the newly created Legislative District 17, which covers most of Tucson's northwest and far east sides, as well as Rita Ranch.

In the August 2022 Republican primary election, Wadsack defeated incumbent Vince Leach, the senate president pro tempore. Supporters of Leach and other candidates sued to block Wadsack from the ballot, arguing that Wadsack did not live in LD 17 and was thus ineligible to be a candidate. Wadsack won 63,501 votes to Nickerson's 60,420 votes.

Tenure in state Senate Wadsack is aligned with the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus group of legislative Republicans. During Governor Katie Hobbs' State of the State address in January 2023, Wadsack and fellow Republican Anthony Kern stood and turned their backs to the governor, while four Republican representatives walked out mid-speech. After the speech, Hobbs said that it was "unfortunate that some members chose an immature stunt instead, but we have really tough issues in front of us and we need to work together to stop them." She attracted attention for introducing legislation (SB 1700) to give parents the power to ask schools to ban books they deem inappropriate. The legislation passed the Senate on a party-line vote in March 2023.

Wadsack introduced a bill to amend the Arizona Constitution to end city charters in Arizona. The bill would have stripped 19 Arizona municipalities of their home rule rights, but was targeted at the City of Tucson.

Wadsack claimed that the State Bar of Arizona had threatened lawyers with disbarment if they represented litigants challenging COVID-19-related mandates and restrictions. The bar said that Wadsack's claims were false, and Wadsack refused to offer any evidence in support of her claims. Several Republican lawyers who had taken cases challenging COVID-19-related mandates said that Wadsack's claims were untrue. In 2023, she introduced legislation (SB 1402) that would open the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind (ASDB) to students with all disabilities. Wadsack contended that the School's residential campus in Tucson was underused and that its mission should be expanded to accommodate other special needs students. The proposal prompted an outcry from blind and deaf students, as well as their parents and advocates. They said Wadsack's proposal would reduce capacity for students with visual and auditory impairments and fundamentally alter the school's curriculum, which is geared toward instruction in Braille and American sign language.

In March 2024, Wadsack was pulled over by Tucson Police for driving 71 mph in a 35 mph zone. Wadsack was not cited at that time due to legislative immunity, which prevents lawmakers from getting arrested while the legislature is in session. Wadsack refused to sign a citation after the legislative session ended, accusing the police of "political persecution". In response to her comments, the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police retracted their endorsement of Wadsack in the 2024 Republican primary race.

In July 2024, Wadsack was formally charged for the March 2024 speeding incident, including a charge for failure to provide proof of insurance. Wadsack is set to appear in Tucson City Court on August 21, 2024 and faces up to 30 days in jail, a $500 fine and one year of probation.

2024 campaign

In 2024, Wadsack ran for reelection to the Arizona state senate from Legislative District 17. In the July 2024 Republican primary election, Wadsack was defeated by former-Senator Vince Leach, whom she had defeated in the 2022 primary. In the November 2024 general election, Leach will face Democratic nominee John McLean.