Steve Montenegro

Republican | Arizona

Candidate Profile*

Verified Conservative

*Additional information appears below for educational purposes; however, only data received prior to the candidate deadline was considered during Panel Evaluation.

BIOGRAPHY

Name

Steve Montenegro


Party

Republican


Election Year

2022


Election

General


Race

State Rep., Dist. 29


Incumbent

No


Links

Steve Montenegro websitesSteve Montenegro phones Steve Montenegro emailFacebookX

EDUCATION

Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, Bachelors of Science, 2004

WORK & MILITARY

Candidate did not provide

AFFILIATIONS

Candidate did not provide

POLITICAL OFFICES HELD

Arizona State Representative, 2008-2017

Arizona State Senator, 2017

POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT

Candidate did not provide

SCORECARDS

CONSERVATIVE ORGANIZATIONS


LIBERAL ORGANIZATIONS

ENDORSEMENTS*

*These endorsements were received after the deadline and were not considered in the Panel Evaluations and are for additional educational purposes only.
CONSERVATIVE (4)

*Arizona Free Enterprise Club

*Center for Arizona Policy Action (CAP Action)

*Republicans for National Renewal

*Patriot Parents

OTHER (4)

*Greater Phoenix Chamber

*Arizona Police Association

Arizona Realtors

*AZ MAGA

SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS

CONSERVATIVE
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (3)

Arizona Chamber of Commerce (2012)

Club for Growth (2018)

Local, County, and District Republican Organizations (2017)

RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (25)

Arizona Chamber of Commerce (2018)

Arizona Citizens Defense League (2014)

Arizona Free Enterprise Club (2020)

Arizona Leadership Fund (2018)

Club for Growth (2018)


LIBERAL
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (0)
RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (2)

International Association of Firefighters (includes national, state & local affiliates) (2018)

Sheet Metal Workers International Association (2018)

QUESTIONNAIRE

RIGHT TO LIFE

Under what circumstances should abortion be allowed?

To save the life of the mother

Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not receive funds from federal, state, or local governments (including Title X grants).

Strongly Agree

I support 'aid in dying' laws which legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Strongly Disagree


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Individuals and businesses should be required to provide services even if it would violate their moral and/or religious beliefs.

Strongly Disagree

And I have voted to protect the rights of these individuals and businesses.

Under what circumstances can government close churches?

There are NO circumstances under which a government should be allowed to close a church.


NATIONAL SECURITY

What should the United States do to help eradicate the threat of Islamic terrorism?

All Arizona can really do is push to secure our southern border and work with federal law enforcement to apprehend and process anyone connected with it. Most of the rest of the solutions require federal authority.

I support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement to pressure Israel to withdraw from occupied territories, remove the separation barrier in the West Bank, allow full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees.

Strongly Disagree

And I voted against it!


HEALTHCARE

What most closely matches your view on healthcare: A) Healthcare for all should be guaranteed and funded by the government with no private healthcare option. (includes "universal healthcare," "medicare for all," etc.) B) Healthcare insurance funded by the government should be available for all who want it, along with private healthcare options. C) Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. D)Tax-payer funded health care should be abolished in all forms, and Medicaid and Medicare should be de-funded.

C is the closest answer for us here at the state level.

Under what circumstances (if any) should a government, school, or employer be allowed to require vaccinations?

There are no circumstances under which the Covid 19 vaccine should be mandated or forced on anyone.


ECONOMY

What changes, if any, should be made to the tax code?

I've always voted to simply the code and cut the rates. Make it simpler, make it less of a burden. My goal is to keep cutting until we have gotten rid of the state income tax completely.

What government spending would you reduce in order to balance the budget?

When I first took office Arizona had the worst deficit in the country, so we had to cut virtually everything. But the good news is we learned what we could live without and were able to rebuild our budget with a focus on government's core responsibilities. Today we have record surpluses, but if we ever have to cut again, we'll start with everything that isn't a core function.

Taxpayer-funded public education should be guaranteed through college.

Strongly Disagree


IMMIGRATION

The U.S. should do more to physically secure the southern border.

Strongly Agree

Who should be allowed to immigrate to the U.S. and under what circumstances?

Individuals who are identified as self-sufficient, truly committed to becoming an American and giving their loyalty to our country, and skilled in whatever skill we need that prompted us to invite them to citizenship.


EDUCATION

I support school choice, including voucher programs, tax credits, charter schools, private schools, and home schools.

Strongly Agree

And have a 100% pro-school choice voting record!


CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY

Police officers should be personally immune from prosecution for conduct consistent with departmental policy (qualified immunity) while on duty.

Strongly Agree

I support redirecting funds from police departments to mental health and community programs.

Strongly Disagree


2ND AMENDMENT

What restrictions on gun ownership are needed to protect public safety?

None. Guns protect the public.

Victims of gun violence should be able to sue firearms dealers and manufacturers.

Strongly Disagree


ABOUT YOU

What do you think is the general purpose of government?

Security, Justice, Preservation of our Rights, and to a certain degree Infrastructure. We formed up societies for safety and security, from each other and from nature. That basic concept is still true. Secure our borders. Secure our neighborhoods. Protect us from threats domestic and foreign, which means a strong military. Justice is our police, our judges, our courts, our laws. Preservation of our rights isn't just security or a justice system, but here in America we formed our government in large part to secure our rights as given to us by God. Infrastructure isn't really any sort of classic literature response to the question, but a country of our physical size and population mass has water, power, highway, etc needs that require a certain element of government involvement.

When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?

Very Conservative

A Constitutional Conservative

Please provide publicly available information, including interviews and media reports, validating your answer to the previous question (other than your website).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgs9bjo9aVM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1WAXY0HFEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDH0cuaYCVc&t=30s

Have you ever been convicted of a felony or been penalized in either civil or criminal court for sexual misconduct? If so, please explain.

No

What else would you like voters to know about you, including your legislative priorities?

Right now my priorities are border security, trying to mitigate the pain of Joe Biden's inflation and its impact on our families when it comes to higher grocery bills and gas prices, election integrity is still critically important because we need to secure our elections and restore the public's trust in them, and I am always on guard against efforts to infringe on our constitutional rights.


VALUES

Judeo-Christian values established a framework of morality which is necessary for our system of limited government.

Strongly Agree

As a Pastor, I don't just agree, I preach it!

I support adding gender identity as a specially protected class in non-discrimination laws.

Strongly Disagree

Marriage is a God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman. No government has the authority to alter this definition

Strongly Agree

Amen!

I agree with Critical Race Theory (CRT) which asserts that the institutions in the United States are fundamentally racist.

Strongly Disagree

Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.

Christian. I am a follower of Christ. I believe Jesus Christ is Lord.


ELECTIONS AND VOTING

People should be able to vote without photo identification.

Strongly Disagree

I've spent years working on election integrity issues, including requiring voter ID.

What laws would you propose to change present voting practices?

Ban ballot harvesting, prohibit private funding from being used in our election tally process, require voter ID for all ballots cast, clean the voter rolls of deceased, inactive, or moved away voters.


EQUALITY

Is racism a threat to domestic security in the United States? Why or why not?

No. This is not a racist country. There are some racist people left, and an entire industry that feeds on perpetuating the idea that we are a racist country, but it simply isn't true.

Reparations should be given to people on the basis of race.

Strongly Disagree


ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

Which comes closest to your view? A) Stricter environmental laws and regulations cost too many jobs and hurt the economy. B) Stricter environmental laws and regulations are worth the cost.

A

I support the use of hydraulic fracking to extract oil and natural gas resources.

Strongly Agree

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