Pastor, Ed, 1943-2018

Edward López Pastor (June 28, 1943 – November 27, 2018) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he notably served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 2nd, 4th, and 7th congressional districts from 1991 to 2015.

Born in Claypool, Arizona, he attended public schools in nearby Miami, Arizona. After high school, Pastor earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry from Arizona State University (ASU) and became a chemistry teacher at North High School in Phoenix. He left this position to become deputy director of a community non-profit. Pastor served as vice president of a legal aid society in 1971 and returned to school, earning his J.D. in 1974 from the Arizona State College of Law in Tempe. He then joined the staff of Arizona’s first Hispanic governor, Raul Héctor Castro, where he worked on civil rights and equal opportunity issues. In 1976, Pastor won election as a Democrat to the Maricopa County board of supervisors, serving three terms total.

In 1991, Pastor entered a special election to succeed retiring 28-year incumbent Democrat Mo Udall in the 2nd District. After narrowly winning the Democratic primary, Pastor easily triumphed in the special election to become the first Latino to represent Arizona in Congress. He was reelected four times without substantive Republican opposition, never dropping below 60% of the vote. After his home was drawn into the bordering 4th District, he opted to run in that district, winning seven times against nominal Republican opposition.

Pastor was one of the nine Chief Deputy Whips for the Democratic Caucus. Following in Udall's footsteps, his voting record was decidedly liberal; for most of his tenure, he was the most liberal member of the Arizona congressional delegation. He was well-respected by members of both parties, and had a reputation for bipartisanship. He was a founding member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, was pro-choice, and in 2006 supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 100 percent, according to their records. In 2006, NARAL Pro-Choice America-Endorsements endorsed Representative Pastor. He voted against the 2002 Iraq Resolution that started the Iraq War. Pastor had a strong stance on civil rights regarding sexual orientation and race, voting to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation and against defining marriage as one man-one woman and a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.

In February 2014, Ed Pastor announced his retirement at the end of the 113th Congress in early 2015. He died following a heart attack in Phoenix.