Cesar Chavez was one of the most famous Latino leaders in American history, serving as a founder of the United Farm Workers and as a respected advocate for our nation’s less fortunate. Chavez, born in Yuma in 1927, spent his early years in Arizona, before moving to California where he would serve as one of the leading labor and civil rights figures of his day.
Josephine Brawley Hughes was a suffragette, a civic leader, and a great Arizona Democrat. Coming to Tucson from Pennsylvania, she arrived after her husband was stationed in Arizona during the Civil War. She immediately became a reformer, starting the city’s street lights, working to bring the city clean water, and serving as the first teacher in Tucson’s first girl’s school. A leader in Arizona’s temperance movement, Hughes and her family published the Arizona Daily Star and advocated for progressive causes.
Janet Napolitano, our most recent Democratic Governor, also was one of our longest-serving. Gov. Napolitano originally came from New Mexico, and afterward as a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law. Coming to Phoenix to start her legal career, she quickly became involved in the Democratic Party, where she held various leadership positions within the Arizona Democratic Party.
Isabella Greenway served as Arizona’s first congresswoman. A staunch supporter of the New Deal and a lifelong friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, Congresswoman Greenway came to Arizona with her husband, a veteran of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, to escape tuberculosis. She quickly found success as a businesswoman, managing an airline and serving as the founder of the famous Arizona Inn in Tucson.
Carl Hayden was one of the longest serving members of Congress in American history, having been a U.S. Senator, a U.S. Representative, a Maricopa County Sheriff, a Maricopa County Treasurer, and throughout all that time, an Arizona Democrat. Senator Hayden was born and raised in Tempe, a community founded by his father. He entered politics soon after college, and in 1902 served as Chair of the Maricopa County Democratic Party. Embodying the work ethic of our modern-day County Democratic Parties, Senator Hayden said his campaign strategy was to “always run scared.”
Hayzel B. Daniels was a trailblazer, serving as Arizona’s first African-American lawyer and judge. From Tucson, Daniels was the first African-American to graduate from the University of Arizona Law School, and soon after was the first African-American admitted to the Arizona Bar. Elected as a Democrat to the Arizona House of Representatives in 1950, Daniels also served as the attorney who led the successful effort to desegregate Arizona schools.
Cecilia D. Esquer was a leader in Arizona’s civil rights movement, an educator, an attorney, and a proud Arizona Democrat. Born in Superior, Esquer moved to Tempe to attend Arizona State University, eventually becoming a Business Education and Spanish teacher at McClintock High School in Tempe. It was while teaching public school in Tempe that Esquer became involved in civil rights activism, becoming a leading voice for the farmworker movement, racial justice, and progressive politics. Her activism inspired her to attend ASU College of Law, starting a legal career where she became a celebrated attorney, prosecutor, and professor.
Raul Castro was Arizona’s first Latino Governor. Governor Castro was born in Mexico, moving to Douglas as a child, and through great perseverance, he worked his way through school, first attending Northern Arizona University (then called Arizona State Teachers’ College) and then the University of Arizona School of Law. Governor Castro’s early career by his legal skills, serving first as Pima County Attorney and then as a judge on the Pima County Superior Court.
Polly Rosenbaum was Arizona’s longest serving legislator. Moving to Hayden as a young woman to take a teaching job, Rep. Rosenbaum eventually became a secretary at the State Capitol, where she met and married Rep. Rosey Rosenbaum, who would become Speaker of the House. After her husband’s sudden death, Rep. Rosenbaum was appointed to fill out her husband’s seat, and would go on to be elected to a record 22 consecutive terms.
George Wylie Paul Hunt served as Arizona’s first Governor. Known as “Old Walrus,” Gov. Hunt stood at 5’9” and weighed almost 300 lbs., and was known equally for his handlebar mustache and his fiercely progressive politics. Gov. Hunt served as Governor four times over two decades, and was an advocate of women’s suffrage, secret ballots, public education, and organized labor.
Bruce Babbitt was one of our longest serving Democrats, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, and a leader in the Democratic Party both in Arizona and across the country. Hailing from Flagstaff, Gov. Babbitt was a Harvard-trained lawyer who initially served our state as Attorney General, being elected in 1974. After the resignation of Gov. Castro and the passing of Gov. Bolin, Bruce Babbitt ascended to the Governorship, and was re-elected in 1978 and 1982.
Mo Udall was a former professional NBA basketball player, a Pima County Attorney, a Congressman from Southern Arizona, and an Arizona Democrat. Congressman Udall was born in St. John’s, coming from a prominent family that had played a leading role in the history of both Arizona and the LDS Church. After going to school and briefly playing basketball for the Denver Nuggets, Udall practiced law in Tucson until he was elected to the U.S. House in 1961, where he served for 30 years.
Stewart Udall served as a member of Congress from Southern Arizona and as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Growing up in St. John’s with his brother Morris, Udall was a graduate of the University of Arizona where he and his brother helped integrate the school cafeteria, and afterward he practiced law in Tucson and served on the Amphitheater School Board until his election to the U.S. House in 1954.
Cecilia Esquer was a leader in Arizona’s civil rights movement, an educator, an attorney, and a proud Arizona Democrat. Born in Superior, Esquer moved to Tempe to attend Arizona State University, eventually becoming a Business Education and Spanish teacher at McClintock High School in Tempe. It was while teaching public school in Tempe that Esquer became involved in civil rights activism, becoming a leading voice for the farmworker movement, racial justice, and progressive politics. Her activism inspired her to attend ASU College of Law, starting a legal career where she became a celebrated attorney, prosecutor, and professor.
Rose Mofford was Arizona’s first female Governor. Like Arizona’s first Governor, she hailed from Globe, where this daughter of Austrian immigrants was a celebrated athlete and, in a sign of things to come, she served as Globe High School’s first female class president. She moved to Phoenix to work as a civil servant, and she would have a career in public service that spanned some four decades.
Lorna Lockwood served as an Arizona state legislator, as Arizona’s first female Supreme Court Chief Justice, and was an Arizona Democrat. Born in Douglas in 1903, Chief Justice Lockwood became an attorney in an era where there were very few female attorneys, and even fewer women on the bench. A 1925 graduate of the University of Arizona School of Law, she spent fourteen years working as a stenographer after her graduation due to discriminatory hiring practices at the time. Eventually founding Arizona’s first all-female law firm, she was elected as a Democrat to the Arizona House of Representatives from 1939-42 and 1947-49.
Sidney Preston Osborn was one of Arizona’s longest serving governors, and to this day was our only governor to be elected four times. Osborn got his start early, founding the Junior Democratic Warriors of Arizona, the forerunner of today’s Young Democrats of Arizona. A Phoenician, Osborn worked as a congressional aide and political reporter before serving as the youngest delegate to the Arizona Constitutional Convention.
Sam Goddard was a legendary Arizona Democrat. A veteran of World War II and a graduate of Harvard, Sam Goddard started his career practicing law in Tucson, where he was a civic leader and began his service as an Arizona Democrat with his election as State Party Chair in 1960. A rising star, Goddard subsequently was elected Governor in 1964, where he stood tall for progressive values by signing landmark civil rights legislation and helped shape modern Arizona with his support of the Central Arizona Project.
Ernest McFarland, known as one of the “fathers of the G.I. Bill,” was the only Arizonan to reach the highest office in all three branches of government. A Pinal County lawyer, McFarland started out as Pinal County Attorney, being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1940 in a tenure eventually culminating in service as Senate Majority Leader. Having worked as a farmer in Pinal County, he considered his greatest achievement to be laying the groundwork for the Central Arizona Project.
