Paula Aboud (born March 20, 1950) is an American politician who was a member of the

Arizona Senate The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figures). Members serve two-year terms w ...

, representing the 28th District. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, she served as the Senate's

minority whip The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...

Early life

Aboud was born in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. She attended

Tucson High School Tucson High Magnet School , commonly referred to as THMS, THS, or Tucson High, is a public high school in Tucson, Arizona. It is part of the Tucson Unified School District with magnet programs in Technology, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts. Th ...

and earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. After receiving a teaching certificate, she taught English and coached girls'

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Rincon High School Rincon High School is a public high school in Tucson, Arizona. The school serves about 1,100 students in grades 9 to 12 in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD). Since 1985, the campus has been shared with University High School, a separate ...

for several years. Afterward she followed her family in entering the

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

field for five years, before relocating to

Waterville, Maine Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. The city is home to Colby College and Thomas College. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census the populatio ...

, where she coached college tennis and

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the city where it resides. The donations of Christian philanthr ...

. An illness in her family led her to return to Tucson to work as property manager for her family's real estate business.

Political career

In addition to her professional career Aboud was a long-time activist for the Tucson

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. On January 3, 2006, she was appointed to the Arizona State Senate by the

Pima County Pima County ( ) is a county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,043,433, making it Arizona's second-most populous county. The county seat is Tucson, where most of the population ...

Board of Supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenc ...

, following the resignation of

Gabby Giffords Gabrielle Dee Giffords (born June 8, 1970) is an American retired politician and gun control advocate who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned ...

, who stepped down to run for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

. She represents the 28th legislative district, centering on

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. Following her appointment, she was elected in 2006. In the Democratic primary election on September 12, she saw off a challenge from

State Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

Ted Downing, and faced no

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

opponent in the general election. She was re-elected unopposed in 2008 and faced only

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

challengers in 2010 (including Ted Downing), prevailing easily. In March 2012, Aboud announced her candidacy for Congress, seeking to run in the Democratic primary for Giffords' House seat in the newly renumbered 2nd congressional district. She withdrew from the race shortly thereafter and endorsed

Ron Barber Ronald Sylvester Barber (born August 25, 1945) is an American politician. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2012 to 2015. Barber, a member of the Democratic Party from Arizona, served as district director for U.S ...

. Under Arizona's

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

law, she was unable to run for re-election to the senate in 2012. In 2016, Aboud was elected a Justice of the Peace for Pima County district 6. Aboud was censured by the state Supreme Court in 2017 for allegedly “stealing” an answer key for a test for new judges. She was found not guilty of that charge but was censured for her actions. In 2021, after leaving office, Aboud helped Pima County redistrict the Justice of the Peace districts. The Board of Supervisors selected her map which eliminated one district & one judge, thereby saving the county over $500,000.

Personal life

She was the first openly Lesbian legislator and one of many openly

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

members of the

Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the s ...

, serving alongside Senators Ken Cheuvront (D-Phoenix) and Jack Jackson Jr. (D–Window Rock) and

Robert Meza Robert Meza is an American politician from Phoenix, Arizona who served as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from District 30 from 2019 to 2023. He previously served in the Arizona State Senate from 2011 to 2019, and also served fou ...

(D–Phoenix), as well as Representative Matt Heinz (D–Tucson). Her campaigns have won the backing of the

Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund The LGBTQ Victory Fund (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund), commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBT, LGBTQ public officials in the United States. Vict ...

References

External links

Senator Paula Aboud – District 28
''official State Senate website''
Paula Aboud for State Senator
''official campaign website''
Profile
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

* ''Follow the Money'' – Paula Aboud *
20082006
campaign contributions {{DEFAULTSORT:Aboud, Paula 1950 births Living people Lesbian politicians Democratic Party Arizona state senators LGBT state legislators in Arizona Women state legislators in Arizona University of Arizona alumni LGBT Christians Tucson High School alumni 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians