John Huppenthal

In 2017, HB 2281 was criticized for showing "discriminatory intent" and violating the constitutional rights of the students of Arizona from Federal Judge A. Wallace Tashima.

Huppenthal was defeated in his race for reelection in the Republican Party primary in 2014 by Diane Douglas, who subsequently won the general election, and succeeded him in office in January 2015.

In June, 2014, an Arizona political blogger alleged that Huppenthal was the person behind pseudonyms used for several years to post anonymous comments on his blog, and other political websites.

On June 16, 2014, Phoenix television station KPNX broke the story, claiming that not only was Huppenthal responsible for the comments, but that he had posted many of them from his office at the Arizona Department of Education. Although Huppenthal did not respond to KPNX's request for comment, two days after the story ran he held a news conference, where he admitted to making the comments, and hundreds of other anonymous posts on political blogs. He defended his positions, but apologized for his "hurtful" comments, stating "I sincerely regret if my comments have offended anyone."

Huppenthal was elected Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction in the 2010 state election.

In 2010, as part of a High School television production class project, Keith Wagner interviewed Huppenthal, then a State Senator and running for the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, on the topic of budget cuts for Career and Technical Education ("CTE"). Huppenthal stated that "these are critically important programs," and decried the budget cuts to them as being "simply horrendous." Wagner then reminded Huppenthal that he had voted for a legislative bill to cut $550 million from the Arizona Department of Education's budget, with "a lot of that" cut being in CTE, then asked what factors let to that decision. Huppenthal did not address the question, but, when pressed, walked out of the interview.

In 2005, an effort to recall John Huppenthal was launched but failed to obtain enough signatures to make it to the ballot. The recall effort claimed he was out-of-touch with District 20 voters.

In 2004, Huppenthal announced he would seek to reelection to the State Senate. Huppenthal was supported by U.S. Senator John McCain, who issued a statement praising Huppenthal as a "straight shooter" and a "friend of the taxpayer". Huppenthal won by a 60% to 40% margin.

In 2000, Huppenthal was elected State Representative, serving from 2000 to 2004.

Huppenthal was first elected State Senator in 1992. In the primary election, Huppenthal faced two opponents; former Chandler Mayor Jerry Brooks and Don Goldwater, nephew of Barry Goldwater. Huppenthal won with nearly 50% of the vote. As a state senator from District 6, he was chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

Huppenthal was elected to the Chandler City Council in 1984, where he served two four-year terms.

John Huppenthal (born March 3, 1954) is an American politician who served Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2011–2015. Prior to being elected Superintendent, Huppenthal served as City Councilman, State Representative, and State Senator. Huppenthal was also a Senior Planning Analyst for Salt River Project.