For Immediate Release
November 12, 2024
PHOENIX – House Democrats today elected Representative Oscar De Los Santos of Phoenix to lead the 27-member Democratic Caucus in the 57th Legislature. The Caucus also elected Representative Nancy Gutierrez of Tucson as Assistant Leader, and Representatives Quantá Crews and Stacey Travers were elected as Whips.
"It's an honor to be chosen to lead this outstanding caucus," De Los Santos said. "This is a strong, smart and experienced team who will fight for you, for your public schools, for your rights, for our state's precious resources, for your bottom line and for your neighborhood. We have tremendous challenges ahead as state, and as a country, but we will not back down from extremism, and we will face them together."
Leader Oscar De Los Santos, a non-profit leader and former public-school teacher in South Phoenix, was first elected to serve District 11 in 2022. Born to working-class immigrant parents, he went on to be a Rhodes Scholar. He holds a master's degree in Christian Ethics from Union Theological Seminary and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Oxford. A tireless protector of Arizona’s constitution and democracy, he has served on the Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, as well as Natural Resources, Energy & Water and Appropriations.
Assistant Leader Nancy Gutierrez was elected in 2022 to serve District 18 in Tucson. She is a lifelong teacher who started her career in Phoenix in 1994 and moved to Tucson in 2007 where she has raised two girls with her husband, Andy. Gutierrez has since taught preschool, elementary, high school, community college mathematics, and is currently a yoga teacher at Tucson High. She is a determined public-school advocate and has served as Ranking Member of Regulatory Affairs and on the Education and Appropriations Committees.
Whip Quantá Crews was appointed in 2023 to serve in District 26 in Phoenix. A proud daughter of a union mom from Detroit, Michigan, she is a real and personal property appraiser and mother of three sons who attend public schools. She graduated from Grand Canyon University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and is also an ordained associate minister for the Historic Tanner Chapel A.M.E. Church. Crews chairs the Arizona Legislative Black Caucus and has served as Ranking Member on the Regulatory Affairs Committee and on the Ways & Means Committee.
Whip Stacey Travers was born in Athens, Greece, to a U.S. military father and Greek mother. She continued her family’s legacy of serving in the military and did so proudly as a Russian Intelligence Interceptor in the U.S. Army. After leaving the military, Travers came to Arizona to study at the University of Arizona in Tucson where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Geosciences. As a scientist and veteran, Travers has led the way on veterans' issues and creating strong water policy as a member of the Governor's Water Policy Council working towards securing Arizona’s water future. Stacey has two school-age children and will always fight for an equitable and fully funded education system. She has served as Ranking Member of the Military Affairs & Public Safety Committee and on the Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee.
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