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Lela Alston
2023 - Present
2027
2
Lela Alston (Democratic Party) is a member of the Arizona State Senate, representing District 5. She assumed office on January 9, 2023. Her current term ends on January 11, 2027.
Alston (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Arizona State Senate to represent District 5. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Lela Alston lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Alston's career experience includes working as a teacher. She has served on the Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Alston was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Appropriations Committee
- Director Nominations
- Senate Rules Committee
- Joint Committee on Capital Review (Decommissioned)
- Joint Legislative Budget Committee
2021-2022
Alston was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Alston was assigned to the following committees:
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Arizona committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Appropriations |
| • Education |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Alston served on the following committees:
| Arizona committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
2013-2014
At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Alston served on the following committees:
| Arizona committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Appropriations |
| • Financial Institutions |
| • Higher Education and Workforce Development |
| • Budget |
| • Capital Review |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Alston served on these committees:
| Arizona committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Appropriations |
| • Commerce |
| • Environment |
| • Capital Review |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2022
See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Arizona State Senate District 5
Incumbent Lela Alston defeated Jeff Silvey in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 5 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Lela Alston (D) | 70.7 | 56,142 |
 | Jeff Silvey (R)  | 29.3 | 23,214 | |
| Total votes: 79,356 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 5
Incumbent Lela Alston defeated Sarah Tyree and Al Jones in the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 5 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lela Alston | 56.9 | 15,607 |
 | Sarah Tyree | 33.2 | 9,117 | |
 | Al Jones | 9.9 | 2,728 | |
| Total votes: 27,452 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jack Drumm (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 5
Jeff Silvey defeated Francisco Hernandez Jr. in the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 5 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jeff Silvey (Write-in) | 94.1 | 992 |
| Francisco Hernandez Jr. (Write-in) | 5.9 | 62 | ||
| Total votes: 1,054 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
2020
Arizona State Senate
See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Arizona State Senate District 24
Incumbent Lela Alston defeated Ray Michaels in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 24 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lela Alston (D) | 70.9 | 66,719 |
| Ray Michaels (R) | 29.1 | 27,402 | ||
| Total votes: 94,121 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 24
Incumbent Lela Alston defeated Ryan Starzyk in the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 24 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lela Alston | 64.0 | 18,071 |
| Ryan Starzyk | 36.0 | 10,169 | ||
| Total votes: 28,240 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 24
Ray Michaels advanced from the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 24 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Ray Michaels (Write-in) | 100.0 | 690 | |
| Total votes: 690 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board
See also: Phoenix Union High School District, Arizona, elections (2020)
General election
General election for Phoenix Union High School District, At-large (2 seats)
Aaron Marquez and incumbent Lela Alston defeated Debbie Cross, Nedra Sheppard, and Girmar Anwar in the general election for Phoenix Union High School District, At-large on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Aaron Marquez (Nonpartisan) | 38.4 | 65,198 |
| ✔ | | Lela Alston (Nonpartisan) | 29.3 | 49,647 |
 | Debbie Cross (Nonpartisan) | 18.3 | 31,049 | |
| Nedra Sheppard (Nonpartisan) | 8.5 | 14,438 | ||
| Girmar Anwar (Nonpartisan) | 4.8 | 8,101 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.7 | 1,167 | ||
| Total votes: 169,600 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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2018
- See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2018
General election
General election for Arizona State Senate District 24
Lela Alston defeated Vicki Alger in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 24 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lela Alston (D) | 72.0 | 48,245 |
 | Vicki Alger (R) | 28.0 | 18,772 | |
| Total votes: 67,017 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 24
Lela Alston advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 24 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lela Alston | 100.0 | 19,925 |
| Total votes: 19,925 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 24
Vicki Alger advanced from the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 24 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Vicki Alger | 100.0 | 7,596 |
| Total votes: 7,596 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2016
Two of the seven seats on the Phoenix Union High School District school board would have been up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. The election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbents Lela Alston and Ian Danley were automatically elected. Their names did not appear on the general election ballot.[2][3]
Results
Since this election was unopposed, it did not appear on the ballot, and the incumbents were automatically re-elected.
| Phoenix Union High School District, At-Large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | ||
Funding
School board candidates in Arizona were not required to file a campaign finance report if they did not raise or spend more than $500. If they planned to stay under this threshold, they were permitted to file an exemption statement. This rendered them exempt from all other campaign finance reporting, provided they did not exceed the $500 threshold. Otherwise, candidates were not required to file any report until they raised or spent more than the threshold limit. At that point, they had to file a Statement of Organization within five business days from when the threshold was reached. The pre-general campaign finance report was due November 4, 2016. All campaign finance filing was handled by the Arizona Secretary of State.[4]
Arizona House election
Elections for the Arizona House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on August 30, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was June 1, 2016.[5]
Incumbent Lela Alston and incumbent Ken Clark were unopposed in the Arizona House of Representatives District 24 general election.[6][7]
| Arizona House of Representatives, District 24 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Lela Alston Incumbent |
50.72% | 43,160 | |
| Democratic | Ken Clark Incumbent |
49.28% | 41,927 | |
| Total Votes | 85,087 | |||
| Source: Arizona Secretary of State | ||||
Incumbent Lela Alston and incumbent Ken Clark were unopposed in the Arizona House of Representatives District 24 Democratic Primary.[8]
| Arizona House of Representatives, District 24 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Lela Alston Incumbent | |
| Democratic | Ken Clark Incumbent | |
2014
Elections for the Arizona House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on August 26, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was May 28, 2014. Incumbent Lela Alston and Ken Clark defeated Richard Bauer in the Democratic primary. Lei Lani Cortez was unopposed in the Republican primary. Alston and Clark defeated Cortez in the general election.[9][10][11][12]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Lela Alston Incumbent |
38.7% | 21,740 | |
| Democratic | Ken Clark |
37.8% | 21,186 | |
| Republican | Lei Lani Cortez | 23.5% | 13,183 | |
| Total Votes | 56,109 | |||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Lela Alston Incumbent |
42.9% | 8,006 |
| Ken Clark |
35.7% | 6,663 |
| Richard Bauer | 21.4% | 3,990 |
| Total Votes | 18,659 | |
Endorsements
In 2014, Alston's endorsements included the following:[13]
- Arizona List
- Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona
- United Phoenix Fire Fighters Association Local # 493
- Sierra Club
- Maricopa County Democratic Party
- Planned Parenthood
- UFCW #99
- AzNaA PAC – Arizona Nurses Association PAC
- IBEW Local 640 – International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
- Equality Arizona
- Arizona Education Association’s PAC—the AEA Fund for Public Education
2012
Alston won re-election in the 2012 election for Arizona House of Representatives District 24. She and incumbent Chad Campbell defeated Jean Cheuvront-McDermott and Tom Nerini in the Democratic primary on August 28, 2012. She won the general election on November 6, 2012.[14][15]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Lela Alston Incumbent |
36.8% | 34,018 | |
| Democratic | Chad Campbell Incumbent |
35.7% | 33,075 | |
| Republican | Brian Kaufman | 21.1% | 19,491 | |
| Green | Gerard Davis | 6.4% | 5,946 | |
| Total Votes | 92,530 | |||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Lela Alston Incumbent |
38.5% | 7,652 |
| Chad Campbell Incumbent |
35.9% | 7,121 |
| Jean Cheuvront-McDermott | 16% | 3,174 |
| Tom Nerini | 9.6% | 1,907 |
| Total Votes | 19,854 | |
2010
Alston and Katie Hobbs won the August 24 primary. They then defeated Republicans Caroline B. Condit and Paul Yoder, Green Party candidate Luisa Evonne Valdez, and Independent Les White in the November 2 general election.[16]
| Arizona House of Representatives, District 15 General Election (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Katie Hobbs (D)
|
15,885 | |||
| Lela Alston (D)
|
15,167 | |||
| Paul Yoder (R) | 8,972 | |||
| Caroline B. Condit (R) | 8,424 | |||
| Les White (I) | 1,739 | |||
| Luisa Evonne Valdez (G) | 1,343 | |||
| Arizona House of Representatives, District 15 Democratic Primary (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Katie Hobbs (D)
|
3,950 | |||
| Lela Alston (D)
|
3,919 | |||
| Ken Clark (D) | 3,418 | |||
Campaign themes
2022
Lela Alston did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Lela Alston did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2014
Alston's campaign website highlighted the following issues:[13]
Economy
- Excerpt: "Promote high wage job growth to allow for our citizens to achieve economic stability for their families as well as the well-being for our state. We need to stop the boom and bust cycle we have experienced and examine ways to promote stability."
Education
- Excerpt: "Minimize budget damage to schools, including K-12, Community Colleges and our Universities. Exceptional education opportunities are the foundation of success for both the individual student and the workforce needs of the future."
Environment
- Excerpt: "Preserve Arizona's resources to allow for the enjoyment of our wonderful state parks and natural settings. It nurtures our soul. We need to protect those resources. Support biotech and alternative energy industries as a true potential for our state and to alleviate those economic cycles that have harmed Arizona in the past few years."
2012
Alston's campaign website highlighted the following campaign themes:[17]
- Civility Respect and Integrity
- Excerpt: "I have been dismayed and concerned about the lack of decorum and mean spiritedness that I have observed in recent years. We may hold views in opposition without becoming disrespectful to the validity of those views."
- Opportunity to Earn a Livable Income in a Stable Environment
- Excerpt: "I will promote high wage job growth to allow for our citizens to achieve economic stability for their families and a well-being for our state. We need to stop the boom and bust cycle we have experienced and examine ways to promote stability."
- Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods with Quality Schools
- Excerpt: "I will seek to secure adequate funding for Arizona's schools to allow our children to achieve their full potential. It is our hope for the state's long term well-being."
- Preserve Arizona's Resources, Natural and People
- Excerpt: "All citizens should be able to enjoy our wonderful state parks and natural settings. It nurtures our soul. We need to protect it. I want to minimize budget damage to schools, health care, vulnerable populations and local government."
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Arizona scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 8 to June 15.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 9 to July 31.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 10 to June 25.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 11 to June 30.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 13 to May 26.
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2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 14 through May 28.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the 54th Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 8 through May 4.
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2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the 53rd Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 9 through May 4.
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2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the 52nd Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 11 through May 7.
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2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the 52nd Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 12 to April 2.
|
2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
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In 2014, the 51st Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 13 to April 24.
|
2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
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In 2013, the 51st Arizona State Legislature was in session from January 14 to June 14.
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See also
2020 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Arizona State Senate District 5 |
Officeholder Arizona State Senate District 5 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Arizona State Legislature, "Lela Alston," accessed March 18, 2023
- ↑ Maricopa County Education Service Agency, "Current Governing Board Candidates," accessed August 11, 2016
- ↑ Elisabeth Moore, "Email conversation with Jose Conchas, Elections Specialist," October 18, 2016
- ↑ Arizona Campaign Finance Guide, "Questions & Answers," accessed October 6, 2016
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "Elections Calendar & Upcoming Events," accessed January 11, 2016
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "General election ," accessed September 9, 2016
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "2016 official general election results," accessed November 11, 2016
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "2016 Election Information - Primary Candidate List," accessed June 3, 2016
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "Official primary election results," accessed August 27, 2014
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "2014 Primary Election," May 27, 2014
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "Official general election candidate list," accessed September 11, 2014
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "Official general election results," accessed August 3, 2015
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lela Alston AZ, "Main page," accessed July 30, 2014
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "2012 Primary candidate list," accessed December 20, 2013
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "Official 2012 Primary Results," accessed December 20, 2013
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "General election results," accessed December 13, 2013
- ↑ lelaalstonaz.com, "Issues," accessed April 7, 2014
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedARA
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sonny Borrelli (R) |
Arizona State Senate District 5 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Arizona State Senate District 24 2019-2023 |
Succeeded by Anna Hernandez (D) |
| Preceded by - |
Arizona House of Representatives District 24 2013-2019 |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Arizona House of Representatives District 15 2011-2013 |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Phoenix Union High School District, At-large 2008-2025 |
Succeeded by Francisco Pastor-Rivera |
| Preceded by - |
Arizona State Senate District 20 1977-1995 |
Succeeded by - |
