MAGA-aligned Arizona State Representative Khyl Powell (R), a member of its House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections Committee, last week introduced a concurrent memorial (HCM 2010) which urges the U.S. Congress to repeal the 17th Amendment and return U.S. Senator selection to state legislatures instead of allowing citizens to vote for them in direct elections.
Part of the text of the bill reads that the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona “prays…That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit a copy of this Memorial to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each Member of Congress from the State of Arizona.”
WTF?? House Republicans just introduced a measure to REPEAL the 17th Amendment of the US Constitution. They want to ban the people from voting for our US Senators. Instead, they want the Legislature to appoint our Senators.
— Rep. Oscar De Los Santos (@RepODLS) January 28, 2026
WTF are they thinking? pic.twitter.com/r2EROiqI7j
Arizona State Rep. Oscar De Los Santos (D) raged against Powell’s bill on social media where he wrote: “WTF?? House Republicans just introduced a measure to REPEAL the 17th Amendment of the US Constitution. They want to ban the people from voting for our US Senators. Instead, they want the Legislature to appoint our Senators. WTF are they thinking?”
One Democrat replied to De Los Santos: “I would bet anything they would want to do this because it is easy to gerrymander US House districts, but they can’t gerrymander state wide elections for senators.”
Note: Repealing the 17th Amendment would require proposing a new amendment (needing a 2/3 vote in both houses of Congress or a convention called by 2/3 of states) and ratification by 3/4 of states. Last year, when Arizona House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R) proposed a bill to amend the U.S. Constitution to add term limits to Congress, the House narrowly passed the bill but it did not pass in the Senate. At the time, Montenegro said: “This is exactly the muscle that we were given as state legislators.” He added, “We cannot be afraid to use it.”
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