Senate Democrats Move to Expel Wendy Rogers After Habitual Dangerous and Racist Comments

May 16, 2022

PHOENIX - On March 1, the Arizona State Senate voted to censure Senator Wendy Rogers because of hateful and anti-Semitic comments. Our caucus sincerely hoped that the Senator would right these wrongs and move forward in behavior that is fitting for a sitting state senator. However, we were sorely mistaken.

Over the weekend, a heinous, racially motivated mass shooting took place in Buffalo, New York –claiming the lives of 10 people. Rather than mourning the loss of these innocent lives, the Senator from LD 6 took to social media, saying "Fed boy summer has started in Buffalo," further perpetuating a white nationalist conspiracy theory that blames the federal government for carrying out this tragedy.

The Minority Leadership Team warned the Majority party of their forthcoming motion to expel out of respect but were met with nothing but political games. The procedural attempt to shield this kind of behavior is unbecoming of our body.

During her remarks on the floor, Minority Leader Senator Rios stated, "This racist dog whistle claiming that the federal government killed innocent Americans, paired with the Senators long history of peddling the white-supremist replacement theory, which claims that white Americans are at risk of being replaced by people of color, prove the need for expulsion now. The Senator from LD 6 slowly drips hate, racism, and anti-Semitism into the public that is poisoning the soul of our nation. We know that our words have consequences and with every false conspiracy theory and white nationalist talking point that is released from this Senator, the integrity of our body is tarnished. Arizona's voters sent us here to work on their behalf and guide our communities with grace – which is why we are calling for the immediate expulsion of Senator Wendy Rogers who has time and again broken her commitment the voters. This behavior can no longer be tolerated here."