The state legislature’s top Democrat will step down at the end of the legislative session to pursue a graduate degree in public administration.

House Minority Leader Tucsonan Andres Cano said Saturday he has been accepted into the Harvard Kennedy School.The year-long program begins in early July.

Cano said there appears to be agreement on a spending plan for the new fiscal year that begins July 1, making this an ideal time to retire. His program at Cambridge begins on July 11th.

He is the only Tucson to be a leader of either party in either House.

This position is important because it is up to the party leader to represent the interests of the caucuses in other priorities, not just the budget. And leaders of both parties have some leverage in ensuring that the needs of individual districts are met.

“I’m not at all concerned about Southern Arizona being represented,” Cano told Capitol Media Services. He said the rest of the delegation was “tested and resilient”.

But being elected as a leader by your peers does not guarantee the support of a majority of the caucuses.

Just recently, he was one of just 11 of 28 House Democrats who voted against what was called the “tamale” bill, which would expand the variety of home-cooked meals that could be sold to the public. It was proven when I found out. That was after Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed the bill. came to him.

If he resigns, the Democratic precinct committees for Legislative District 20, which covers Tucson from the Lilito River in the east to Country Club Road and most of the south, will nominate three people to replace him for the remainder of his term. will be This will continue until his 2024. The final decision rests with the Pima County Supervisory Board, which must choose from a list of all Democrats.

“I ran for office at the height of the Red for Ed movement,” he said when teachers and their allies demanded and eventually won state legislators and the then-government. Doug Ducey approves his 20% pay increase over four years.

“As a public school and first-generation college graduate, the upcoming Congress is my civil servant and I had the opportunity to represent my district on the State Capitol,” he said.

But that wasn’t his first foray into the political arena.

Prior to that, he served as Senior Assistant to the late Richard Elias County Superintendent. He is also the director of his LBGTQ+ Alliance Foundation, which provides grants to organizations within that movement.

“I’ve worked in local government for nearly eight years, so I understand the connections between local and state government and how this place has done more harm than good to the people of Arizona under the Republican Congress. I was there,” he said.

And Kano said much of his political awakening came during the discussion and endorsement of SB 1070. That his 2010 bill was meant to have states play an active role in legally finding and deporting people who are not in the country. Most of them have been demolished, but some remain. That is to ask the police if they have a chance to check the immigration status of the person in the stopped vehicle.

“It was an eye opener for me,” he said.

“As a student, I knew my passion was in fighting for the people in my district who needed a voice and needed meaningful representation here,” Kano said. That includes low-income people and immigrants, as well as LBGTQ, he said.

Kano won the House seat in 2018 after leading the Democratic primary in a three-way race for two available spots in Democratic-majority constituencies. He defeated Alma Hernandez, who also won the general election, and Olivia Cajero Bedford, who failed to return to the House after serving up to eight years in the Senate.

One of Kano’s early political battles was against Ducey and Republican lawmakers who wanted a blanket cut in state income tax rates. He pointed out that it did little for low-income residents.

“Instead of giving mothers a tax break, this bill puts it in the hands of billionaires and billionaires who don’t have to worry about how and where their children sleep, what they eat, how they pay. , I’ll give you more money. This month’s bill,” he said at the time.

Kano, who is gay, also played a role in the 2019 repeal of a 1991 law called the Promo-Homosexuality Act that stipulated how schools could teach about AIDS and HIV.

One section outlawed courses that “promote a homosexual lifestyle.” The second is to ban anything that “depicts homosexuality as a positive alternative lifestyle.”

The Act also had no similar restrictions on teaching “safe” heterosexual sex, although teachers were not allowed to suggest that “some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.” Said he couldn’t.

The abolitionist movement said that then-state attorney general Mark Brunovich did not intend to defend a lawsuit brought in federal court by the Lambda Legal Education Foundation on behalf of Arizona State Equality and two students. Encouraged by the fact that he told lawmakers. I’m gay.

Kano said he would stay until the current budget negotiations are over.

House Republicans said they expected to announce their plans later this week, and said they were nearing a final agreement that they are negotiating with Hobbes.

Cano said the Democrats were “at the negotiating table” but were “seeking leadership from the governor’s office” to deal with the Republican majority.

“The bottom line is we want a bipartisan budget,” he said.

“We are confident that the priorities we have put forward, such as K-12, the environment and water, are important priorities,” Kano said. “And I think we will see the fruits of these negotiations soon.”

He wasn’t too sure if the final budget would see Hobbes’ request to roll back the universal vouchers approved last year. This has proven to be more budget draining than expected as the students we send are included.

“It’s a top concern for many members of our caucuses, and I’m sure we’re close to negotiating the vouchers,” Kano said.

Kano, 30, who was first elected to Congress in 2018, said he plans to move back to Arizona, where his family is. said.

Kano’s resignation is the second leadership loss for Democrats this session.

Phoenix Democratic Senator Raquel Terán resigned last month Pursue congressional bids. The Maricopa County supervisor will choose a replacement this week.