Dairy farmer Sine Kerr will take over vacant Arizona Senate seat

PHOENIX — The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has chosen Phoenix-area dairy farmer Sine Kerr to fill a vacant state Senate seat.

Kerr, of Buckeye, was named to replace Steve Montenegro on Thursday. The board had a list of three candidates from Legislative District 13’s GOP committee to consider. Montenegro’s successor also had to be Republican.

Montenegro, of Litchfield Park, resigned in December to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in a special primary election to succeed Trent Franks in District 8. Franks stepped down last month on the heels of sexual misconduct allegations.

Gov. Doug Ducey set that election for Feb. 27. A special general election was to be held April 24.

For Kerr, who grew up in Buckeye and runs the Kerr Family Dairy farm with her husband, Bill, advocating for farmers has been a passion that led her to positions on the state’s farm bureau board of directors and the Buckeye Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Now her concerns will expand in a far-flung district that runs from the suburbs west of Phoenix all the way to Yuma.

Goodyear City Councilwoman Joanne Osborne and Royce Jenkins, a grants manager for Indian Health Service, had also made the district committee’s list.

The state legislative session gets underway Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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