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Ben Toma

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Ben Toma
Toma in 2024
55th Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 9, 2023
Preceded byRussell Bowers
Member of the Arizona House of Representatives
from the 27th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 9, 2023
Serving with Kevin Payne
Preceded byPhil Lovas
Majority Leader of the Arizona House of Representatives
In office
January 11, 2021 – January 9, 2023
Preceded byWarren Petersen
Succeeded byLeo Biasiucci
Member of the Arizona House of Representatives
from the 22nd district
In office
April 26, 2017 – January 9, 2023
Serving with Kevin Payne
Preceded byPhil Lovas
Succeeded byLeezah Sun
Personal details
Born1979 (age 44–45)
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Political partyRepublican
EducationPortland State University
Arizona State University, West (BA)
Signature

Benjamin Cornel Toma (born 1979)[1] is a Romanian-American politician serving as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives for the 27th district. Elected in November 2016, he assumed office in January 2017. He was selected to be Speaker of the House in 2022, taking office in 2023. From 2021 to 2023, Toma served as majority leader of the Arizona House.

Career

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Toma is a real estate broker.[2] He was appointed on a 5–1 vote to serve as a member of the Peoria, Arizona, city council in June 2014, when Cathy Carlat resigned to run for mayor. However, Toma was defeated in the special election in 2014.[3] He lost again in 2016.[4]

Arizona House of Representatives

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In April 2017, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors appointed Toma to fill a vacant seat in the Arizona House of Representatives representing the 22nd legislative district, to replace Phil Lovas, who resigned to accept a federal appointment with the Small Business Administration.[5] The Board selected Toma from a list of three nominees put forward by the Republican precinct committeemen.[6] The district includes parts of Peoria, Glendale, Surprise and Sun City West.[5][7] Toma took his seat in the final days of 53rd Legislature,[7] and was subsequently elected to a full term in the 2018 elections.[2]

In February 2019, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey vetoed a plan, supported by state legislators of his own Republican Party, for across-the-board cuts in the individual state income tax. Toma, as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, was an outspoken supporter of the tax-cut plan and an avowed opponent of tax increases.[8] Ducey, Toma and other Arizona Republicans subsequently agreed upon a $11.9 billion state budget deal that included $386 million in offsets to tax hikes, angering some Arizona schoolteachers who were supporting higher taxes to increase funding for public schools.[9] Toma had previously voted for historic salary increases for Arizona K-12 teachers, and has voted for increased teacher pay since.[10] In 2021, Toma, as House majority leader, was the key architect of the largest tax cut package in state history, as well as a separate bill that shielded high-earners from a 3.5% tax surcharge for education that had been approved by voters in the November 2020 election (Proposition 208). The package, brokered between Ducey and Republican legislators, passed on a party-line vote.[11][12] Toma initially proposed a flat tax, but was unable to garner enough votes to pass it after a single House Republican joined with all Democrats in opposing it.[13][14] A modified version of the flat tax was passed 3 weeks later and has now been fully implemented. Toma defended the plan's focus on tax cuts for high-earning taxpayers, contending that "They're the ones that tend to make the jobs and create the economic conditions that lead to economic improvement for the entire state."[14]

In 2022, Toma wrote and led passage of the nation's largest school choice expansion. Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, called the bill's passage "the biggest school choice victory in U.S. history... Families will be able to take state funded education dollars to any education provider that meets their student's curricular needs whether that be public, private, or a home-based educational option."[15]

In 2023, Toma was elected by his peers as the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, becoming the highest ranking American politician of Romanian heritage.[16]

Anti-abortion

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In 2024, Toma blocked a vote on repealing Arizona's 1864 anti-abortion law, saying "the last thing we should be doing today is rushing a bill through the legislative process to repeal a law that has been enacted and reaffirmed by the legislature several times".[17] He also had earlier confirmed the authenticity of a document with "ideas drafted for internal discussion and consideration within the caucus" in order to defeat a citizens' ballot proposal on abortion.[18]

2024 Congressional campaign

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In 2024, Toma announced that he would seek the seat of retiring Congresswoman Debbie Lesko in Arizona's 8th congressional district, however Toma lost the Republican primary to Abraham Hamadeh, placing third.[19]

Personal life

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Toma's family escaped communist Romania after being threatened by the secret police in 1986.[20] After living in Portland, Oregon for a time, Toma eventually settled in Arizona where he met his wife Ani while in high school. The couple now has five daughters.[16]

References

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  1. ^ "Un clujean CONDUCE America. Ben Toma este LIDERUL majorităţii din Camera Reprezentanţilor statului Arizona, SUA". March 17, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Maricopa County leaders pick new Arizona House member". April 26, 2017. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  3. ^ "Toma announces candidacy for Mesquite district seat". Peoria Times. June 3, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  4. ^ Hedden, Adrian (August 30, 2016). "Peoria City Council incumbents appear headed to victory". Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Jackson, Darrell (May 5, 2017). "Toma appointed to fill Lovas seat". Peoria Times. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  6. ^ Phil Latzman, Maricopa County Supervisors Select New Republican Lawmaker For Arizona House, Fronteras (April 26, 2017).
  7. ^ a b Mary Jo Pitzl, Peoria, Surprise and Sun Cities et new representative in Arizona Legislature, Arizona Republic (April 26, 2017).
  8. ^ Howard Fischer, Ducey vetoes tax plan, Capitol Media Services (February 2, 2019).
  9. ^ Bob Christie, Republicans defend tax cuts in face of teacher demands, Associated Press (May 21, 2019).
  10. ^ David Schwartz, Arizona governor signs bill to boost teachers' wages amid strike, Reuters (May 3, 2018).
  11. ^ Jonathan J. Cooper & Bob Christie, GOP-led Arizona Legislature OK's $1.9B income tax cut, Associated Press (June 25, 2021).
  12. ^ Bob Christie, Arizona GOP budget deal envisions massive income tax cut, Associated Press (May 18, 2021).
  13. ^ Ben Giles, Flat-Tax Proposal Fails In Arizona House, KJZZ (June 8, 2021).
  14. ^ a b Howard Fischer, Arizona House rejects flat-tax plan by one vote, Capitol Media Services, (June 7, 2021).
  15. ^ Robert Clarke, Arizona’s expansion of school choice earns national plaudits Chamber Business News, June 29, 2022.
  16. ^ a b "'I know what life is like in other places': Ben Toma's past shapes role as House speaker". www.azcentral.com. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
  17. ^ Dias, Elizabeth; Browning, Kellen (April 17, 2024). "Arizona Republicans Again Block Effort to Repeal 1864 Abortion Ban". The New York Times.
  18. ^ Schutsky, Wayne (April 16, 2024). "Leaked document reveals Republican plans to combat abortion initiative". KJZZ. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  19. ^ Sievers, Caitlin (July 31, 2024). "Hamadeh beats Masters, Toma in Republican primary for Arizona's 8th Congressional District". The Arizona Mirror. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  20. ^ NEAZRW, Jamie Shelburne (August 11, 2023). "From communist Romania to Arizona Speaker of the House: Meet Ben Toma". White Mountain Independent. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
[edit]
Arizona House of Representatives
Preceded by Majority Leader of the Arizona House of Representatives
2021–2023 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives
2023–present 		Incumbent
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