(Center Square) – Former State Representative Shauna Bolick will return to the Arizona Legislature as a senator on Wednesday after being unanimously appointed LD-2 by the Maricopa County Oversight Board.

“First of all, I am honored to have been elected by the precinct board members of the second legislative district a few weeks ago. “As I have shown during my previous years in the House, I am very much looking forward to working for my people.

Bolick’s appointment came after Republican Senator Steve Kaiser stepped down in June, citing both personal reasons and a desire to devote himself to his family and his nonprofit called the Arizona Prosperity Project, Arizona Family reported at the time. Ultimately, his resignation came after efforts were made to develop a bipartisan bill on affordable housing, but he failed to gain enough support.

Because Superintendent Bill Gates is the county official overseeing LD-2, he submitted a motion to endorse Mr. Bolick, but he and other superintendents criticized the process of having three names elected to the precinct committees in the event of a vacancy in the state legislature.

Maricopa Oversight Board Chairman Clint Hickman said, “One day we will catch the ax murderer.” In this case, the other two people selected by Republican commissioners besides Bolick were Deer Valley Unified School District board member Paul Carver and former congressional candidate Josh Barnett.

Bolick previously worked for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, is an advocate for school choice, and is the wife of Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick. In 2022, she launched an unsuccessful campaign for Secretary of State, and she lost to former state congressman Mark Finchem for the Republican nomination.