By Alexander Lomax
Photo Credit: Ballotpedia
First-term Arizona Senator Christine Marsh is no stranger to struggle in her brief tenure in the political world. Her toughness and mettle will be tested further however, as she recently announced that she has cancer.
The well-liked Democratic legislator in District 28, which covers swaths of central and eastern Phoenix including the Biltmore and Arcadia areas, as well as Paradise Valley, is a former Arizona Teacher of the Year and beat out incumbent Kate Brophy McGee in the 2020 election to represent this battleground district.
This comes after a well-publicized tragedy within her family; last year she lost her 25 year old son to a fentanyl overdose, as he took a Percocet pill which was unknowingly laced with the deadly opioid. This prompted her to sponsor a bill to legalize fentanyl testing strips, a bill that was signed into law by Governor Ducey. For a member in the minority party, getting any bill signed into law is no small achievement.
The Senator announced that she has already undergone surgery to get rid of the growth, the initial reports are positive, and that she will be undergoing chemotherapy treatments to be fully rid of the cancer.
On a personal note, I have met Senator Marsh quite a few times, and have found her to be exactly the sort of person that we strive to elect but rarely receive. An unquestionably kind and engaging person but one that possesses a quiet yet fierce determination, most specifically when it comes to solving the classroom issues that she experienced firsthand for decades. Her story could well be considered an Arizona iteration of “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington”.
We wish her peace and strength in this difficult time.