{{Short description|American politician (born 1979)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Ben Toma |image = Ben Toma by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg |office = 55th Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives |term_start = January 9, 2023 |term_end = January 13, 2025 |predecessor = Russell Bowers |successor = Steve Montenegro |state_house1 = Arizona |district1 = 27th |alongside1 = Kevin Payne |term_start1 = January 9, 2023 |term_end1 = January 13, 2025 |predecessor1 = Phil Lovas |successor1 = Tony Rivero |office2 = Majority Leader of the Arizona House of Representatives |term_start2 = January 11, 2021 |term_end2 = January 9, 2023 |predecessor2 = Warren Petersen |successor2 = Leo Biasiucci |state_house3 = Arizona |district3 = 22nd |alongside3 = Kevin Payne |term_start3 = April 26, 2017 |term_end3 = January 9, 2023 |predecessor3 = Phil Lovas |successor3 = Leezah Sun |birth_date = {{birth year and age|1979}} |birth_place = Cluj-Napoca, Romania |death_date = |death_place = |party = Republican |education = Portland State University<br>Arizona State University, West (BA) |signature = Ben Toma Signature.png }} '''Benjamin Cornel Toma''' (born 1979)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://cluj24.ro/un-clujean-conduce-america-ben-toma-este-liderul-majoritatii-din-camera-reprezentantilor-statului-arizona-sua-110281.html | title=Un clujean CONDUCE America. Ben Toma este LIDERUL majorităţii din Camera Reprezentanţilor statului Arizona, SUA | date=March 17, 2022}}</ref> is a Romanian-American politician who served as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives for the 27th district. Elected in November 2016, he assumed office in January 2017. He was selected to be Speaker of the House in 2022, taking office in 2023. From 2021 to 2023, Toma served as majority leader of the Arizona House.
==Career== Toma is a real estate broker.<ref name=PickNewMember>{{cite news |url=http://www.kvoa.com/story/35254902/maricopa-county-leaders-pick-new-arizona-house-member |title=Maricopa County leaders pick new Arizona House member |date=April 26, 2017 |access-date=August 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427010026/http://www.kvoa.com/story/35254902/maricopa-county-leaders-pick-new-arizona-house-member |archive-date=April 27, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He was appointed on a 5–1 vote to serve as a member of the Peoria, Arizona, city council in June 2014, when Cathy Carlat resigned to run for mayor. However, Toma was defeated in the special election in 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peoriatimes.com/news/article_42bb226c-2818-11e6-a535-9f498866b35c.html |title=Toma announces candidacy for Mesquite district seat |date=June 3, 2016 |website=Peoria Times |access-date=August 4, 2018}}</ref> He lost again in 2016.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/peoria/2016/08/30/peoria-city-council-election-results/89230038/ |title=Peoria City Council incumbents appear headed to victory |last=Hedden |first=Adrian |date=August 30, 2016 |access-date=August 4, 2018}}</ref>
=== Arizona House of Representatives === In April 2017, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors appointed Toma to fill a vacant seat in the Arizona House of Representatives representing the 22nd legislative district, to replace Phil Lovas, who resigned to accept a federal appointment with the Small Business Administration.<ref name=LovasSeatVacancy>{{cite news |url=https://www.peoriatimes.com/news/article_349488cc-3028-11e7-a10d-834bd0f065f1.html|title=Toma appointed to fill Lovas seat |last=Jackson |first=Darrell |date=May 5, 2017 |work=Peoria Times |access-date=August 4, 2018}}</ref> The Board selected Toma from a list of three nominees put forward by the Republican precinct committeemen.<ref>Phil Latzman, [https://fronterasdesk.org/content/466192/maricopa-county-supervisors-select-new-republican-lawmaker-arizona-house Maricopa County Supervisors Select New Republican Lawmaker For Arizona House], ''Fronteras'' (April 26, 2017).</ref> The district includes parts of Peoria, Glendale, Surprise and Sun City West.<ref name=LovasSeatVacancy/><ref name=Pitzl>Mary Jo Pitzl, [https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/legislature/2017/04/26/peoria-surprise-and-sun-cities-get-new-representative-legislature-ben-toma/100937516/ Peoria, Surprise and Sun Cities et new representative in Arizona Legislature], ''Arizona Republic'' (April 26, 2017).</ref> Toma took his seat in the final days of 53rd Legislature,<ref name=Pitzl/> and was subsequently elected to a full term in the 2018 elections.<ref name="PickNewMember"/>
In February 2019, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey vetoed a plan, supported by state legislators of his own Republican Party, for across-the-board cuts in the individual state income tax. Toma, as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, was an outspoken supporter of the tax-cut plan and an avowed opponent of tax increases.<ref>Howard Fischer, [https://apnews.com/article/77cf18a840ff42b3996305257aed4342 Ducey vetoes tax plan], Capitol Media Services (February 2, 2019).</ref> Ducey, Toma and other Arizona Republicans subsequently agreed upon a $11.9 billion state budget deal that included $386 million in offsets to tax hikes, angering some Arizona schoolteachers who were supporting higher taxes to increase funding for public schools.<ref>Bob Christie, [https://apnews.com/article/7ba89dec493345f890ba3136a94c6882 Republicans defend tax cuts in face of teacher demands], Associated Press (May 21, 2019).</ref> Toma had previously voted for historic salary increases for Arizona K-12 teachers, and has voted for increased teacher pay since.<ref>David Schwartz, [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-education-arizona/arizona-governor-signs-bill-to-boost-teachers-wages-amid-strike-idUSKBN1I40N8 Arizona governor signs bill to boost teachers' wages amid strike], Reuters (May 3, 2018).</ref> In 2021, Toma, as House majority leader, was the key architect of the largest tax cut package in state history, as well as a separate bill that shielded high-earners from a 3.5% tax surcharge for education that had been approved by voters in the November 2020 election (Proposition 208). The package, brokered between Ducey and Republican legislators, passed on a party-line vote.<ref>Jonathan J. Cooper & Bob Christie, [https://apnews.com/article/arizona-health-coronavirus-pandemic-personal-taxes-business-d10089c8abb8aa5a1553a4153099aebb GOP-led Arizona Legislature OK's $1.9B income tax cut], Associated Press (June 25, 2021).</ref><ref>Bob Christie, [https://apnews.com/article/arizona-health-coronavirus-pandemic-personal-taxes-business-0c17da3caef97ceff2e5344c449f5cd3 Arizona GOP budget deal envisions massive income tax cut], Associated Press (May 18, 2021).</ref> Toma initially proposed a flat tax, but was unable to garner enough votes to pass it after a single House Republican joined with all Democrats in opposing it.<ref>Ben Giles, [https://kjzz.org/content/1689535/flat-tax-proposal-fails-arizona-house Flat-Tax Proposal Fails In Arizona House], KJZZ (June 8, 2021).</ref><ref name=FischerRejectsSoleVote>Howard Fischer, [https://tucson.com/news/local/arizona-house-rejects-flat-tax-plan-by-one-vote/article_817f33be-c7b2-11eb-8def-3bd58342f327.html Arizona House rejects flat-tax plan by one vote], Capitol Media Services, (June 7, 2021).</ref> A modified version of the flat tax was passed 3 weeks later and has now been fully implemented. Toma defended the plan's focus on tax cuts for high-earning taxpayers, contending that "They're the ones that tend to make the jobs and create the economic conditions that lead to economic improvement for the entire state."<ref name=FischerRejectsSoleVote/>
In 2022, Toma wrote and led passage of the nation's largest school choice expansion. Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, called the bill's passage "the biggest school choice victory in U.S. history... Families will be able to take state funded education dollars to any education provider that meets their student's curricular needs whether that be public, private, or a home-based educational option."<ref>Robert Clarke, [https://chamberbusinessnews.com/2022/06/29/arizonas-expansion-of-school-choice-earns-national-plaudits/ Arizona’s expansion of school choice earns national plaudits] Chamber Business News, June 29, 2022.</ref>
In 2023, Toma was elected by his peers as the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, becoming the highest ranking American politician of Romanian heritage.<ref name="azcentral.com">{{Cite web |title='I know what life is like in other places': Ben Toma's past shapes role as House speaker |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/legislature/2023/02/15/who-is-ben-toma-arizona-house-speakers-past-shapes-his-approach/69885836007/ |access-date=2023-08-14 |website=www.azcentral.com}}</ref>
====Anti-abortion==== In 2024, Toma blocked a vote on repealing Arizona's 1864 anti-abortion law, saying "the last thing we should be doing today is rushing a bill through the legislative process to repeal a law that has been enacted and reaffirmed by the legislature several times".<ref name="nyt-db-24-az">{{cite news |last1=Dias |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Browning |first2=Kellen |title=Arizona Republicans Again Block Effort to Repeal 1864 Abortion Ban |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/us/arizona-abortion-ban-repeal.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 17, 2024}}</ref> He also had earlier confirmed the authenticity of a document with "ideas drafted for internal discussion and consideration within the caucus" in order to defeat a citizens' ballot proposal on abortion.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schutsky |first1=Wayne |title=Leaked document reveals Republican plans to combat abortion initiative |url=https://kjzz.org/content/1877151/leaked-document-reveals-republican-plans-combat-abortion-initiative |access-date=April 17, 2024 |work=KJZZ |date=April 16, 2024}}</ref>
===2024 Congressional campaign=== In 2024, Toma announced that he would seek the seat of retiring Congresswoman Debbie Lesko in Arizona's 8th congressional district, however Toma lost the Republican primary to Abraham Hamadeh, placing third.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://azmirror.com/briefs/hamadeh-beats-masters-toma-in-republican-primary-for-arizonas-8th-congressional-district/ |title=Hamadeh beats Masters, Toma in Republican primary for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District |author=Sievers, Caitlin |publisher=The Arizona Mirror |date=July 31, 2024 |accessdate=August 17, 2024}}</ref>
== Personal life == Toma's family escaped communist Romania after being threatened by the secret police in 1986.<ref>{{Cite web |last=NEAZRW |first=Jamie Shelburne |date=2023-08-11 |title=From communist Romania to Arizona Speaker of the House: Meet Ben Toma |url=https://www.wmicentral.com/news/from-communist-romania-to-arizona-speaker-of-the-house-meet-ben-toma/article_70593d77-551f-5fea-9fcb-c2cfd19acb9b.html |access-date=2023-08-14 |website=White Mountain Independent |language=en}}</ref> After living in Portland, Oregon for a time, Toma eventually settled in Arizona where he met his wife Ani while in high school. The couple now has five daughters.<ref name="azcentral.com"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{official website|https://www.bentoma.com}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-az-hs}} {{s-bef|before=Warren Petersen}} {{s-ttl|title=Majority Leader of the Arizona House of Representatives|years=2021–2023}} {{s-aft|after=Leo Biasiucci}} |- {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Russell Bowers}} {{s-ttl|title=Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives|years=2023–2025}} {{s-aft|after=Steve Montenegro}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toma, Ben}} Category:1979 births Category:21st-century members of the Arizona State Legislature Category:American people of Romanian descent Category:Candidates in the 2024 United States House of Representatives elections Category:Living people Category:Politicians from Cluj-Napoca Category:Republican Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives Category:Speakers of the Arizona House of Representatives