Former Democratic Rep. Ed Pastor, who was Arizona’s first Latino member of Congress, died this week at the age of 75. Pastor represented much of the Phoenix area from 1991 until he retired in 2014.
Pastor grew up in a working-class mining family, and he was the first member of his family to go to college. He got his start in politics after he got interested in the Chicano Movement and its goal to empower Mexican-Americans, as well as its leader, Cesar Chavez. Pastor worked for Raul Castro’s successful 1974 campaign for governor, which made Castro Arizona’s first (and to date only) Latino governor. After a stint as a Castro aide, Pastor was elected to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in 1976.
Pastor got his chance to run for Congress in 1991, when Democratic Rep. Mo Udall resigned his safely blue seat after 30 years in the House when his Parkinson's disease worsened. Pastor ran for what was then Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, which included part of Phoenix as well as part of the Tucson area and much of the state’s border with Mexico, including Yuma.
Pastor benefited from facing two serious Tucson-based opponents in the Democratic primary, Mayor Tom Volgy and local abortion-rights activist Virginia Yrun, who split the area’s vote. Pastor also was the race’s top fundraiser thanks in part to his connections to state GOP donors, while Volgy announced that he would only spend $1.25 per Democratic primary voter. Pastor ended up beating Volgy 37-32, and he fended off a GOP opponent 56-44. Pastor never had another competitive primary or general election again. The 2002 round of redistricting took southern Arizona out of this district and gave Pastor a seat centered around his Phoenix base.
Pastor was always a low-key House member, though he earned a place on the powerful Appropriations Committee and rose to become chair of its subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. Pastor was also lauded for securing funding for the local light-rail system and improvements to Phoenix’s airport.
Pastor showed some interest in seeking higher office in 2011 when he considered running for the Senate, but he passed on the contest. Pastor decided to retire from his safely blue seat three years later, and his daughter, Phoenix City Councilor Laura Pastor, expressed interest in running to succeed him. However, the younger Pastor didn’t end up running, and the congressman backed Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox in the primary. However, former state Rep. Ruben Gallego defeated her 48-36.