Democratic lawmaker in hotly contested metro Phoenix district won't seek reelection

A Democratic state lawmaker who won the most votes in a hotly contested legislative district last November won't seek reelection.

Arizona Rep. Jennifer Pawlik, D-Chandler, made that announcement in late-night social media posts Tuesday. She will continue to serve through this year and in 2024; she told The Arizona Republic she doesn't have something else lined up yet.

The former schoolteacher first won office in 2018 in the wake of the Red for Ed movement, which highlighted the relatively low pay earned by Arizona educators through a historic walkout. As a lawmaker, she advocated for better school funding and helped negotiate a budget increase for schools last year.

"It is with great respect for my colleagues and voters of Legislative District 13 that I am announcing I will not seek another term in the legislature," she wrote on Twitter and Facebook. "It is time to take my leadership and service in a new direction and to open the door for new candidates to run in this district."

Pawlik left her teaching job of more than 20 years in the Chandler Unified School District in 2016 when she first ran for election. She lost that race but won in the next election cycle and then was reelected to her House seat again in 2020 and 2022. Pawlik also is a part-time instructor for Northern Arizona University.

Legislative District 13 includes much of Chandler and part of Gilbert and leans Republican, but voters there have installed both Pawlik and a Republican to the state House of Representatives. Democrats have viewed it as a district that could ultimately help them win control of at least one chamber of the Legislature.

The district's voters put former Rep. Liz Harris in the second House seat last year; she was expelled April 12 after an Ethics Committee finding that she lied about her knowledge of the false testimony aired in a public hearing earlier this year. The Board of Supervisors is expected to replace Harris with another Republican this month.

Reach the reporter at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on Twitter@raystern.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona state Rep. Jennifer Pawlik, a Democrat, won't seek reelection