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Vince Leach
2025 - Present
2027
0
Vince Leach (Republican Party) is a member of the Arizona State Senate, representing District 17. He assumed office on January 13, 2025. His current term ends on January 11, 2027.
Leach (Republican Party) ran for election to the Arizona State Senate to represent District 17. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Leach completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Vince Leach was born in Wild Rose, Wisconsin. He served in the U.S. Army from 1970 to 1972. Leach earned his B.S. in political science and history from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point in 1970. His career experience includes working as a consultant and in roles spanning sales, sales management, and business management. Leach has been affiliated with Vail, Marana, and Oro Valley chambers; SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke GOP Clubs; Pima County Women GOP clubs; the American Legion; the NRA; and the Arizona Farm Bureau. He also served as a precinct committeeman.[1][2]
Elections
2024
See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Arizona State Senate District 17
Vince Leach defeated John McLean in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 17 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Vince Leach (R)  | 51.0 | 77,714 |
 | John McLean (D) | 49.0 | 74,669 | |
| Total votes: 152,383 | |||
| = 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 17
John McLean advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 17 on July 30, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John McLean | 100.0 | 26,428 |
| Total votes: 26,428 | |||
| = 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 17
Vince Leach defeated incumbent Justine Wadsack in the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 17 on July 30, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Vince Leach | 52.7 | 19,363 |
 | Justine Wadsack | 47.3 | 17,409 | |
| Total votes: 36,772 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Leach in this election.
Pledges
Leach signed the following pledges.
2022
See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Arizona State Senate District 17
Justine Wadsack defeated Mike Nickerson in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 17 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Justine Wadsack (R) | 51.2 | 63,501 |
 | Mike Nickerson (D) | 48.8 | 60,420 | |
| Total votes: 123,921 | |||
| = 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 17
Mike Nickerson advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 17 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mike Nickerson | 100.0 | 29,795 |
| Total votes: 29,795 | |||
| = 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 17
Justine Wadsack defeated incumbent Vince Leach and Robert Barr in the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 17 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Justine Wadsack | 40.9 | 16,329 |
| Vince Leach | 35.5 | 14,161 | |
 | Robert Barr | 23.6 | 9,407 | |
| Total votes: 39,897 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign finance
2020
See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Arizona State Senate District 11
Incumbent Vince Leach defeated JoAnna Mendoza in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 11 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Vince Leach (R) | 54.4 | 72,563 |
 | JoAnna Mendoza (D) | 45.6 | 60,818 | |
| Total votes: 133,381 | |||
| = 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 11
JoAnna Mendoza defeated Linda Patterson in the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 11 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | JoAnna Mendoza | 57.4 | 14,957 |
| Linda Patterson | 42.6 | 11,080 | ||
| Total votes: 26,037 | |||
| = 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 11
Incumbent Vince Leach advanced from the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 11 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Vince Leach | 100.0 | 29,794 |
| Total votes: 29,794 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign finance
2018
- See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2018
General election
General election for Arizona State Senate District 11
Vince Leach defeated Ralph Atchue and Mohammad Arif in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 11 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Vince Leach (R) | 54.6 | 53,232 |
| Ralph Atchue (D) | 44.3 | 43,273 | ||
 | Mohammad Arif (G) | 1.1 | 1,076 | |
| Total votes: 97,581 | |||
| = 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 11
Ralph Atchue advanced from the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 11 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Ralph Atchue | 100.0 | 18,493 | |
| Total votes: 18,493 (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 11
Vince Leach advanced from the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 11 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Vince Leach | 100.0 | 26,252 |
| Total votes: 26,252 (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
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.[3]
Incumbent Mark Finchem and incumbent Vince Leach defeated Corin Hammond in the Arizona House of Representatives District 11 general election.[4][5]
| Arizona House of Representatives, District 11 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Mark Finchem Incumbent |
36.41% | 52,509 | |
| Republican | Vince Leach Incumbent |
34.12% | 49,209 | |
| Democratic | Corin Hammond | 29.47% | 42,511 | |
| Total Votes | 144,229 | |||
| Source: Arizona Secretary of State | ||||
Corin Hammond ran unopposed in the Arizona House of Representatives District 11 Democratic Primary.[6]
| Arizona House of Representatives, District 11 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Corin Hammond (unopposed) | |
Incumbent Mark Finchem and incumbent Vince Leach were unopposed in the Arizona House of Representatives District 11 Republican Primary.[7]
| Arizona House of Representatives, District 11 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Mark Finchem Incumbent | |
| Republican | Vince Leach 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. Holly Lyon was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Mark Finchem and Vince Leach defeated Jo Grant in the Republican primary. Finchem and Leach defeated Lyon and write-in candidate Barry McCain (D) in the general election.[8][9][10][11]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mark Finchem |
37.3% | 36,732 | |
| Republican | Vince Leach |
34.8% | 34,274 | |
| Democratic | Holly Lyon | 27.8% | 27,392 | |
| Democratic | Barry McCain (Write-In) | 0% | 49 | |
| Total Votes | 98,447 | |||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Vince Leach |
41.8% | 15,596 |
| Mark Finchem |
36.5% | 13,584 |
| Jo Grant | 21.7% | 8,087 |
| Total Votes | 37,267 | |
Endorsements
In 2014, Leach's endorsements included the following:[12]
- State Senator Al Melvin
- State Representative Steve Smith
- State Representative Adam Kwasman
- Arizona Right to Life
- Home Builders Association of Central Arizona
- Arizona Police Association
- State Representative Warren Petersen
- Arizona Free Enterprise Club
- Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio
- Arizona Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Vince Leach completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Leach's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
Senator Leach and his wife Charlene are natives of Wisconsin, and bought their home in SaddleBrooke, Arizona in 2007 in the heart of Legislative District 11. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin at St. Point with degrees in Political Science and History. After his service in the military during the Vietnam era, Senator Leach began a career of over 35 years in sales and executive business management experience in the national and international market place. Senator Leach has served as board member of the SaddleBrooke Two Property Owners organization.
Senator Leach served as the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and was a member of the Judiciary, Government and Finance Committees where he could look after taxpayers' dollars. Additionally, Senator Leach was on the Joint Committee on Capitol Review, and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Senator Leach also served as Senate President Pro Tempore.- Arizona must get control of our border. The costs, and there are many, are a burden to our citizens. Simply stated, with out secure borders, we do not have a state or country.
- Taxes being paid by our citizens are to high. Lower taxes (all of them) provide for a better place to live, work, raise a family, and run a business.
- Arizona has to secure more water resources. While Arizonans are using less water than many years ago, secure, long term water sources are a must!
Independence: Like other elected officials, some election administrators must raise campaign contributions. In the course of their work, some might be called on to make decisions affecting contributors. Hallmarks of independence include avoiding conflicts of interest and treating all parties fairly by adhering to the law.
Transparency: Candidates and voters have a right to know how an elections office conducts its business. All election business should be transparent, whether it is ballot design or the procuring of voting systems. Emails and other communications should be housed in secure servers with a permanent record kept for quick compliance with open-government requests. Oversight boards should be subject to open-meeting rules, along with requirements for bipartisan representation. And once the polls close, where possible the counting process should be livestreamed.
Integrity: An election office with a high level of integrity limits opportunities for an administrator to act with unchecked discretion. These opportunities include decisions about when and where registration and early voting are conducted and what information (such as pre-election turnout) is given to a candidate or party. An election administrator should never use his or her office to express partisan support or opposition, and also should avoid doing so on personal social media accounts.
Competence: There have been elections where too few paper ballots have been available, polling stations were not practical or accessible, or poll workers were not equipped to meet challenges on Election Day. How an election official serves all precincts, with equitable attention to detail, is a true test of competence.
associated with his district. For example, some districts are primarily rural,
others strictly urban, or suburban, while others contain pockets or combinations
of all three.
2) My primary role is to serve their constituents, although they may also take into
consideration their party’s position when making decisions.
3) I must also look at an issue in terms of its effect on the entire state.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2022
Vince Leach did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Vince Leach did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
Leach's campaign website highlighted the following issues:[13]
Border Security
- Excerpt: "The federal government should first secure the border, then address the question of what to do about the illegal aliens in the country."
2nd Amendment
- Excerpt: "Arizona enjoys Constitutional Carry and is the most 2nd Amendment friendly state in the country. I say congratulations, and let’s keep it that way!"
Job Creation
- Excerpt: "We need to pursue regulatory reform, tort reform, and tax reform, so that we can attract the businesses that are fleeing progressive states like California, and so that we can encourage our existing employers to grow and hire more people."
Health Care
- Excerpt: "We must continue to fight to repeal ObamaCare and protect a free market health care system. We need to allow for insurance to be purchased across state lines and we need to give insurance companies greater flexibility to meet the specific needs of their customers by scaling back the number of coverage’s mandated by law."
Life
- Excerpt: "I am pro-life and will vote to protect both mothers and their children."
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.
2021-2022
Leach was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Appropriations Committee, Vice-Chair
- Finance Committee, Vice-Chair
- Ethics Committee
- Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee
- Senate Rules Committee
2019-2020
Leach was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Appropriations Committee, Vice Chairman
- Finance Committee
- Government Committee
- Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Arizona committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Appropriations |
| • Energy, Environment and Natural Resources |
| • Ways and Means, Vice chair |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Leach served on the following committees:
| Arizona committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Appropriations, Vice chair |
| • Energy, Environment and Natural Resources |
| • Rural and Economic Development |
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.
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.
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.
|
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.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Arizona State Senate District 17 |
Officeholder Arizona State Senate District 17 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 13, 2024
- ↑ Information submitted through Ballotpedia's biographical submission form on June 8, 2014
- ↑ 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, "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
- ↑ VinceLeach.com, "Endorsements," accessed July 29, 2014
- ↑ VinceLeach.com, "Issues," accessed September 27, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedARA
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Justine Wadsack (R) |
Arizona State Senate District 17 2025-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Arizona State Senate District 11 2019-2023 |
Succeeded by Catherine H. Miranda (D) |
| Preceded by - |
Arizona House of Representatives District 11 2015-2019 |
Succeeded by - |
