By Staff Reporter |

A north central Phoenix legislative district may have a chance to replace its open-borders Democrat state senator in the upcoming November election.

State Senator Christine Marsh is running for reelection in Arizona Legislative District 4 this November. Based on her history of election finishes, Marsh may be in for another close contest in the swing district, and her continued opposition of legislative efforts to help secure the state’s border and support law enforcement may cost her votes in this contest.

Marsh has served in the Arizona Legislature since January 2021. In the November 2020 General Election, she defeated Republican State Senator Kate Brophy McGee by fewer than 500 votes in Legislative District 28 (under the last redistricting lines). The previous election, McGee had bested Marsh by 267 votes in the 2018 General Election.

In the first election under the new redistricting lines for the decade, Marsh won another narrow victory over Nancy Barto by less than 1,200 votes for the right to represent the citizens of Legislative District 4.

Throughout her time in the Arizona Legislature, the Democrat legislator has been a fierce opponent of her state’s meaningful efforts to help secure the border and support law enforcement attempting to protect local communities from many of the harms stemming from the escalating crisis. In 2021, Marsh voted against SCR 1011, which “declare[d] that the Legislature calls on the President and Congress to take immediate and decisive action to secure the southern border and complete the southern border wall.” She also voted against HCR 2029, which “commend[ed] the courage of the United States Border Patrol and recognize[d] the role they play[ed] in safeguarding Arizona and the U.S.”

The following year, Marsh voted no on a $700,000 appropriation from the state General Fund in FY 2023 to the Border Security Fund for the construction and maintenance of a physical border fence (SB 1032). Additionally, she opposed an authorization for the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs “to use up to $250,000 from the Border Security Fund to pay for additional full-time equivalent positions” (HB 2591).

In the first year of her most-recent term in office (2023), Marsh continued her streak of opposition to proposals that would secure the border. She voted no on HCM 2007, which “expressed the legislative desire that Congress enact the State Immigration Enforcement Act.” According to the history provided by the Arizona House of Representatives, this act “would allow states or political subdivisions of states, to enact, implement, and enforce criminal penalties that are prohibited in the criminal provisions of immigration laws.”

This year, Marsh voted no on HB 2157, which would have “prohibit[ed] a court from using a defendant’s deportation as the sole reason for early termination of probation or intensive probation.” She opposed SB 1231, which would have made “it unlawful for a person who is an alien to enter Arizona from a foreign nation at any location other than a lawful port of entry.”

When Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed SB 1231, she wrote, “This bill does not secure our border, will be harmful for communities and businesses in our state, and burdensome for law enforcement personnel and the state judicial system.”

However, Republicans felt differently about the failure of this bill to receive a green stamp of approval from the governor – especially the sponsor, Senator Janae Shamp. The first-term lawmaker said, “The Republican-controlled Legislature will continue to prioritize closing our border and providing law enforcement with the tools they need. This veto is a slap in the face to them, Arizona’s victims of border-related crimes, and other citizens who will inevitably feel the wrath of this border invasion in one way, shape, or form at the hands of Hobbs and Biden.”

Marsh also voted against SCR 1042, which “proclaim[ed] the Legislature’s support for the people and government of the state of Texas in its efforts to secure [the United States’] southern border.”

More recently, Marsh refused to support a legislative effort to refer a border security measure to the ballot in this November’s General Election – HCR 2060, voting against the bill when it was considered by her chamber. The proposal, if passed by voters in the fall, would empower local law enforcement to better secure their communities from the increasing calamities from the border crisis.

It’s not just her votes in the Arizona Legislature that have propelled Marsh into being one of her party’s leading open-border advocates; it’s also what she has said to others about her extreme left-wing positions about the issue. Earlier in her career, Marsh was interviewed by a group over Zoom and was asked if she would “work to end the collaboration of local law enforcement with ICE in an effort to stop state sanctioned violence against some of our most vulnerable community members and especially our undocumented LGBTQ community.”

The Democrat lawmaker responded, “Yeah, absolutely. Our treatment of the LGBTQ+ immigrants by every level of law enforcement needs to be made more humane, and I will definitely look for ways once in office to make sure that that happens.”

Marsh added, “I actually did quite a bit of research on this particular question and it’s fascinating, and I did not know that there was basically state-sanctioned violence, and I find it just totally offensive.”

According to a website reporting some of Marsh’s key positions and votes, Marsh supposedly “liked a tweet calling for abolishing ICE” back in 2018 from Alyssa Milano.

Marsh ran unopposed for the Democrat nomination for state senator in the July primary election. She will face off against Republican Carine Werner in the November General Election.

According to the Arizona Legislative District 4 Democrat Party, Republicans control 38% of the district’s voter registration, compared to 27% Democrats and 35% Other. In 2022, LD 4 had a higher voter turnout than both Maricopa County and the State of Arizona at 76%.

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