Lela Alston

Lela Alston (born June 26, 1942 in Phoenix, Arizona) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Arizona House of Representatives representing District 24 since January 14, 2013. Alston previously served consecutively from January 10, 2011 until January 14, 2013 in the District 11 seat, and non-consecutively in the Arizona State Legislature from January 1977 until January 1995 in the Arizona Senate.

Alston attended Phoenix College, earned he bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and Arizona State University.

• 2014 Lela Alston and Ken Clark defeated Richard Bauer in the Democratic primary. Alston and Clark defeated Lei Lani Cortez in the general election with Alston receiving 21,740 votes.
• 2012 Redistricted to District 24, with Democratic Representative Chad Campbell redistricted from District 14, and incumbent Representatives Democratic Lynne Pancrazi running for Arizona Senate and Republican Russ Jones redistricted to District 13, Alston ran in the four-way August 28, 2012 Democratic Primary, placing first with 7,652 votes; Representative Campbell placed second. Alston and Representative Campbell won the four-way November 6, 2012 General election, with Alston taking the first seat with 34,018 votes and Representative Campbell taking the second seat ahead of Republican nominee Brian Kaufman and Green candidate Gerard Davis.
• 2010 When Democratic Representatives David Lujan ran for Arizona Attorney General and Kyrsten Sinema ran for Arizona Senate and left both the District 15 seats open, Alston ran in the three-way August 24, 2010 Democratic Primary, placing second behind Katie Hobbs by 6 votes with 4,347 votes; in the six-way November 2, 2010 General election, Hobbs took the first seat, and Alston took the second seat with 15,167 votes ahead of Republican nominees Paul Yoder, Caroline Condit, and Independent candidate Les White and Green candidate Luisa Valdez; Hobbs was elected to the Arizona Senate in 2012.
• 1976 When Republican Senator Bill McCune left the Legislature and left the Senate District 20 seat open, Alston won the November 2, 1976 General election with 10,045 votes (52.9%) against Republican nominee Howard Adams.
• 1978 Alston won the November 7, 1978 General election with 7,768 votes (59.5%) against Republican nominee George Hussey.
• 1980 Alston won the November 4, 1980 General election with 9,511 votes (64.2%) against Republican nominee Steve Hargan.
• 1982 Alston won the November 2, 1982 General election with 12,819 votes (59.9%) in a rematch against Republican nominee Steve Hargan.
• 1984 Alston won the three-way November 6, 1984 General election with 14,223 votes (52.9%) against Republican nominee Georgia Hargan and Independent candidate Dick Singer.
• 1986 Alston won the November 4, 1986 General election with 13,927 votes (59.7%) against Republican nominee Wayne Church.
• 1988 Alston won the November 8, 1988 General election with 16,405 votes (58.9%) against the Republican nominee.
• 1990 Alston won the November 6, 1990 General election with 13,395 votes (54.4%) against Republican nominee Harry Fennemore.
• 1992 Alston won the September 8, 1992 Democratic Primary with 4,650 votes (98.6%) against write-in candidate Mary Hartley and won the November 3, 1992 General election with 19,313 votes (61.4%) against Republican nominee John Keck; Hartley would succeed Alston after winning the November 8, 1994 General election.
• 1994 Alston ran for the open Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction in the September 13, 1994 Democratic Primary, winning with 127,937 votes (54.8%) against Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell, who later served in the Arizona Senate and represented Arizona's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives; but lost the November 8, 1994 General election to Republican state Representative Lisa Graham.