Russell Pearce

Russell Pearce
Former Senate President Russell Pearce
President of the Arizona State Senate
In office
January 10, 2011 – November 8, 2011
Preceded byBob Burns
Succeeded bySteve Pierce
Member of the Arizona Senate
from the 18th district
In office
January 12, 2008 – November 21, 2011
Preceded byKaren Johnson
Succeeded byJerry Lewis
Personal details
Born
Russell Keith Pearce

(1947-06-23)June 23, 1947
Mesa, Arizona, U.S.
DiedJanuary 5, 2023(2023-01-05) (aged 75)
Mesa, Arizona, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseLuAnne Pearce
Children5
EducationUniversity of Phoenix (BA)
WebsiteOfficial website
Military service
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1965–1972
UnitArizona National Guard

Russell Keith Pearce (June 23, 1947 – January 5, 2023) was an American politician who was a Republican (GOP) member of the Arizona State Senate. He rose to national prominence as the primary sponsor of Arizona SB1070, a controversial anti-illegal immigrant measure that was signed into law in 2010. He was elected President of the Arizona Senate when the Senate began its January 2011 term but then suffered a dramatic reversal of fortune when he was ousted in a November 2011 recall election, the first legislator in Arizona history to be so removed from office.[1] He served as Vice-Chair of the Arizona GOP, but he resigned the position in September 2014 after controversy over a eugenicist comment about forced sterilization of poor women on Medicaid.[2] His politics were widely described as far-right.[3][4][5][6]

Prior to his election to the Arizona Senate in 2008, Pearce served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2001 to 2009, and worked in law enforcement for more than twenty years.

  1. ^ Crawford, Amanda J. (November 9, 2011). "Arizona Immigration-Law Author Pearce Loses in Recall Election". Bloomberg. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lavender was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Garcia, James E. (November 26, 2021). "How what many labeled a quixotic recall movement led to the ouster of Arizona's most powerful politician". Arizona Mirror. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  4. ^ "Disgraced Arizona Politician Disgraced Once Again". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  5. ^ "Top Arizona GOPer Russell Pearce resigns after sterilization comments". MSNBC.com. September 15, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  6. ^ "When Kyrsten Sinema Tried to Stop the Recall of an Anti-Immigrant Zealot". jacobin.com. Retrieved July 27, 2022.