Arizona Republican wants to rename freeway for Charlie Kirk

By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX -- The president of the state Senate wants to rename a major Arizona freeway for Charlie Kirk.
"Charlie Kirk is a son of Arizona who embodied the very fabric of our founding fathers when they crafted the Bill of Rights,'' Warren Petersen told Capitol Media Services, a phrase he said means that the 31-yearold Kirk made Arizona his home even though he grew up and spent more than half his life in Illinois. And that, said the Gilbert Republican and GOP candidate for attorney general, should be publicly recognized by putting his name along the 78-mile stretch of Loop 202, a road that, according to state Department of Transportation officials, carries more vehicles every day than any other Arizona highway.
"It is right that Arizonans are regularly reminded of the tremendous legacy of this champion for free speech who was assassinated for his stand, which is why I introduced this bill,'' Petersen said.
While the segments of Loop 202 have a name, including Red Mountain and San Tan, one of them already bears a name: a 23-mile stretch that was the last completed. It is called the Ed Pastor Freeway, named for a former Arizona Democratic congressman.
Former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey presided over the naming ceremony in 2019 when that last stretch of highway was completed. And there are signs on the road designating it as named for the former Democratic congressman.
Petersen said his measure would not overturn that, saying there's nothing wrong with segments of the freeway keeping their existing designations and having Kirk's added to them. But he did not explain whether that meant ADOT having to erect two sets of signs along the route.
A new designation annoyed House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos.
The freeway -- and, in particular, the segment named for Pastor, the first Latino member of Congress from Arizona -- passes through his district that includes Laveen and areas in southwest Phoenix. He said Pastor's name was put on the roadway because he was instrumental in securing the federal funds for construction.
"And that's how it should stay,'' De Los Santos said.
Then there's the question of having a highway with dual names.
"It would make more sense to extend Congressman Pastor's name to the entire loop to avoid confusion,'' he said.
But De Los Santos was careful to say that his opposition to what Petersen is proposing has nothing to do with Kirk, whose Turning Point USA was based in Arizona, or minimizing the fact that Kirk was shot to death in September while speaking at Utah Valley University.
"The murder of Charlie Kirk was horrific,'' he said. "We abhor and have spoken out against political violence, gun violence, and incendiary rhetoric both before and after this incident.''
Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan had a somewhat different response to the idea of state lawmakers considering such legislation.
"Too many people are dying, as a result of Republican inaction in gun violence prevention, for us to rename highways after all of them,'' said the Tucson Democrat.
There's also the fact that highways and geographic features generally get their names changed only after going through a review by the legislatively established Arizona State Board on Geographic and Historic Names. And, in the case of state roads, that is done with the input of the Department of Transportation.
Petersen said his plan is superior.
"We chose the legislative route because it provides full transparency and a direct accountable vote by the people's elected representatives,'' he said.
"The board typically handles naming requests,'' Petersen acknowledged. "But given the magnitude of Charlie's impact and the circumstances of his death, it's appropriate for the Legislature to take this up directly.''
What Petersen is proposing, however, also goes against what has been a generally accepted board policy to not name something after real people until they have been gone for at least five years. That appears designed both to avoid political controversy as well as provide the ability to look at requests with the benefit of historical perspective.
But in using the legislative process, the Senate president legally avoids going through the board -- and is not subject to the board's five-year rule.
Petersen declined to say directly why he doesn't want to wait until 2030, responding instead by saying Kirk has "touched millions of lives.''
"He understood that the United States of America was unique in the world, in large part, because of the unequivocal commitment to free speech,'' he said.
As to that five-year rule, even the board itself has ignored it.
That came in 2003 after then-Gov. Janet Napolitano pushed the board to rename what had been called Squaw Peak in Phoenix after Lori Piestewa. The Hopi, a member of the Army, was the first Native American woman killed in combat for the United States.
There was some objection at the time. But the majority of the board approved the change even though it came just a month after Piestewa died in Iraq after a rocket-propelled grenade hit her Humvee during an ambush.
Bypassing the board with a legislative proposal also means that the renaming plan cannot become law unless signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs. A spokesman on Tuesday declined to say whether his boss would approve it.
What Petersen is proposing to honor Kirk is not unique.
Local officials have received requests to rename streets after Kirk. But at least one has been rejected: a bid by the Rev. Jarrett Maupin Jr., a Kirk supporter, to name the Seventh Street bridge in downtown Phoenix.
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