T. J. Shope
President pro tempore of the Arizona Senate
Assumed office
January 9, 2023
Preceded byVince Leach
Member of the Arizona Senate
from the 16th district
Assumed office
January 9, 2023
Preceded byKelly Townsend
Member of the Arizona Senate
from the 8th district
In office
January 11, 2021 – January 9, 2023
Preceded byFrank Pratt
Succeeded byJuan Mendez
Speaker pro tempore of the Arizona House of Representatives
In office
January 9, 2017 – January 11, 2021
Preceded byBob Robson
Succeeded byTravis Grantham
Member of the Arizona House of Representatives
from the 8th district
In office
January 14, 2013 – January 11, 2021
Preceded byMichelle Ugenti-Rita
Succeeded byFrank Pratt
Member of the Coolidge Unified School District Governing Board
In office
January 1, 2009 – December 31, 2016
Personal details
Born
Thomas Ray Shope Jr.

(1985-08-12) August 12, 1985
Florence, Arizona, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
EducationCentral Arizona College
Arizona State University, Tempe (BA)

Thomas Ray "T. J." Shope Jr. (born August 12, 1985) is an American Republican politician and businessman who has been a member of the Arizona Legislature from the 16th Legislative District, which covers central and eastern Pinal County and southern Gila County. First elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2012, he was a member of the House from January 2013 to January 2021; in the latter part of his time in the state House, he was Speaker Pro Tempore. Shope was elected to the Arizona State Senate in November 2020, and took office in January 2021.

Early life

Shope was born in Florence, Arizona, in 1985, to Thomas "Tom" Shope, Sr. and Luz Shope and resides in Coolidge, Arizona.[1] A third-generation elected official, Shope's father was a former mayor of Coolidge, and his grandfather was a member of the city council.[2] Shope's family owns a grocery store in Coolidge.[3]

He received his bachelor's degree from Arizona State University in 2008.[4]

Political career

Official Arizona Senate portrait, 2021

Shope was a member of a local school board before seeking election to the Arizona House of Representatives as a Republican.[2] He was first elected to the state House in 2012, at age 27, from the 8th Legislative District.[4][5] Shope's district is heavily rural and Republican-dominated;[2] it encompasses parts of Gila and Pinal counties,[6] specifically Coolidge, Globe, Superior, Florence, San Tan Valley, and portions of Casa Grande and Eloy.[7] He was reelected to the House in 2014,[8] 2016,[9] and 2018.[10] Shope was speaker pro tempore of the state House.[2][11]

In 2013–14, after initially taking a neutral position on Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act,[12] Shope became one of a handful of Republicans who joined Democrats in supporting Medicaid expansion (which extended health-care coverage to more low-income Arizonans). Medicaid expansion was supported by Governor Jan Brewer, but opposed by most Republican officials and right-wing activists.[13][14]

In 2019, Shope sponsored legislation that repealed a 1991 state law barring HIV/AIDS instruction that "promotes a homosexual lifestyle" or "portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative lifestyle"; Shope said that the language was antiquated.[15] The repeal passed the Senate on a 19–10 vote and the House on a 55–5 vote.[16]

Shope sponsored a measure in 2019, supported by Governor Doug Ducey, to amend the Arizona State Constitution to repeal its provision for legislative immunity during and before the state legislative session; however, the bill was blocked by Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers.[17][18][19]

In 2020, Shope was elected to the Arizona State Senate seat from the 8th Legislative District, defeating Democratic nominee Barbara McGuire.[6]

In September 2020, ahead of the November 2020 presidential election, Shope endorsed Donald Trump and appeared at a Trump rally in Arizona.[20] In December 2020, amid acrimonious infighting among Arizona Republicans about Trump's efforts to overturn his defeat in the election, Shope said that he supported Trump while simultaneously saying that a Republican turn to the far-right would lead to the nomination of unelectable candidates who would repulse moderate voters.[21]

In 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Arizona, Shope opposed an Arizona State University policy that required students who had not been vaccinated against COVID-19 to comply with CDC public health recommendations by taking twice-weekly COVID-19 tests and using face masks.[22] (Republican governor Ducey subsequently issued an executive order blocking the ASU policy.[22]) However, Shope sided with all Senate Democrats in opposing a bill, sponsored by Senate Republican Bret Roberts, to make it a crime for businesses to decline to serve customers who lacked proof of vaccination, and would authorize the state to shut down such businesses. Shope said he believed the proposal went too far and unfairly restricted the rights of private business owners.[23]

References

  1. ↑ "TJ Shope Legislative Profile". CBS AZ 5. 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bryan Bender, In the wilds of Arizona, a hunt for bipartisanship, Politico (November 28, 2020).
  3. ↑ Coolidge store owned by Arizona lawmaker's family is robbed, Associated Press (February 20, 2020).
  4. 1 2 Hank Stephenson, Fresh faces: Legislature will welcome near record number of newcomers, Arizona Capitol Times November 20, 2012).
  5. ↑ State of Arizona Official Canvass - 2012 General Election, November 6, 2012, Arizona Secretary of State.
  6. 1 2 State of Arizona Official Canvass - 2020 General Election, November 3, 2020, Arizona Secretary of State.
  7. ↑ Kelly Fisher, Shope will seek re-election rather than run for congress, Casa Grande Dispatch (May 31, 2017).
  8. ↑ State of Arizona Official Canvass - 2014 General Election, November 4, 2014, Arizona Secretary of State.
  9. ↑ State of Arizona Official Canvass - 2016 General Election, November 8, 2016, Arizona Secretary of State.
  10. ↑ State of Arizona Official Canvass - 2018 General Election, November 6, 2018, Arizona Secretary of State.
  11. ↑ Jeremy Duda, House passes parts of budget in late-night action, but Senate still appears stalled, Associated Press (May 25, 2019).
  12. ↑ Hank Stephenson, Rep. Shope goes from on the fence to (mostly) on board, Arizona Capitol Times (May 10, 2013).
  13. ↑ Medicaid fight re-emerges in GOP legislative primaries, Arizona Republic (July 14, 2014).
  14. ↑ Editorial: Reward legislative courage: Re-elect the brave, Arizona Republic (September 29, 2014).
  15. ↑ Arizona House votes to repeal HIV/AIDS instruction law, Associated Press (April 10, 2019).
  16. ↑ Arizona repeals law that forbids promoting a 'homosexual lifestyle' in schools, Arizona Republic (April 11, 2019).
  17. ↑ Carmen Forman & Ben Giles, Legislative immunity measure dead, Arizona Capitol Times (February 15, 2019).
  18. ↑ Arizona proposal to repeal legislative immunity may be dead, Associated Press (February 16, 2019).
  19. ↑ Laurie Roberts, Key Arizona legislators: We should be immune from arrest, Arizona Republic (January 16, 2019).
  20. ↑ Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Alison Steinbach, Enthusiastic, mostly maskless supporters cheer Trump's Latino pitch Arizona Republic (September 14, 2020).
  21. ↑ Eliza Collins, Arizona Republicans Are Racked by Infighting Over Trump, Coronavirus, Wall Street Journal (December 13, 2020).
  22. 1 2 Bob Christie, Ducey blocks ASU policy requiring masks for unvaccinated, Associated Press (June 15, 2021).
  23. ↑ Howard Fischer, Lawmakers nix plan to punish businesses for requiring vaccines for patrons, Capitol Media Services (May 20, 2021).
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