A Common Sense Leader

Matt Gress is a former public school teacher, school board member and an active member of the local community. He is passionate about public service and solving problems. Elected as our state representative in 2022, Matt has worked with both sides – Republicans and Democrats – to find solutions to issues such as securing the border, reducing the cost of living, increasing teacher pay, supporting law enforcement, reducing homelessness and addressing Arizona’s water crisis.

Matt is endorsed by some of our community’s most respected organizations: Arizona State Troopers, the Arizona Police Association, the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the Arizona Medical Association, the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, the Arizona Humane Society, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona.

Like many, Matt came here from somewhere else — small town Oklahoma. The youngest of four, he was raised by a single mom in a single-wide trailer. Growing up, Matt’s family didn’t have much, but that never stopped them from dreaming big. Matt learned the value of hard work, to respect his elders and to count his blessings.

Matt worked his way through college driving school buses, and became the first in his family to earn a degree. While attending the University of Oklahoma, Matt was selected for the distinguished Harry S. Truman Scholarship — awarded to only one college student in each state who possesses leadership potential and a call to public service. After graduating, Matt was accepted to join Teach for America, a national teaching corps focused on serving in high-need, high-poverty schools. Matt taught high school English.

From 2017 to 2021, Matt served as a Governing Board Member in the Madison Elementary School District. While on the board, Matt fought to keep schools open during COVID-19, supported increased school choice and advocated for parents and taxpayers to have a seat at the table in curriculum, hiring decisions and budgeting, including expensive procurement contracts.

Matt is a budget hawk. He holds a Masters in Public Administration, with a focus on state and local government finance and public management, from Syracuse University. Here in Arizona, Matt has served as a faculty associate at Arizona State University and as a budget analyst at the Arizona State Capitol, learning exactly where our tax dollars go. He most recently served as the state’s top budget chief in the Arizona Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting. There, he authored budgets directing billions of new dollars towards K-12 education and teachers.

Matt also has experience in energy, water and technology policy, previously serving as an advisor at the Arizona Corporation Commission, where he worked on issues related to expanding broadband, lowering energy rates, reducing regulations on small businesses, and enhancing the stability of our power grid. 

Matt, along with his partner Daniel, is proud to call Arizona and District 4 his home. He's an avid volunteer in the community, and has focused in the Legislature on solutions that can bring both sides together.

Matt is a proud Rotarian and past president of the Phoenix-Arcadia Rotary Club, a Flinn-Brown Civic Leadership Academy Fellow, a former board member of the Madison Education Foundation, and previously served as a commissioner on the Maricopa County Planning and Zoning Commission.

Focused On Solutions

I’m Matt Gress, and I’m honored to represent you in Legislative District 4!

My focus has been on delivering results for our district and for Arizona. I’ve worked with Republicans and Democrats to get things done, and pushed back on the extremes.

Since being elected less than two years ago, I’ve had 12 bills signed into law, including establishing a new success coaching program for young adults who’ve been in foster care, requiring long-term care facilities to provide greater disclosure about their refund policy to seniors and caregivers, and increasing penalties on those who target schools and places of worship with false reports to the police about bomb threats and other dangers.

In my role as chairman of both the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Budgetary Funding Formulas, I held 15 oversight hearings on topics that included raising teacher pay and school district spending, housing and homelessness, and the sober living home scandal. 

I’ll keep working hard to find common ground for common sense ideas.

Here are my priorities:

• Border security – The Biden-Harris Administration has abandoned its constitutional responsibilities to protect America's southern border, leaving this area in crisis. I’ve supported tougher penalties for fentanyl dealers, more resources for local sheriffs, and giving law enforcement the tools and ability to detain people who come into our country illegally. I’ll always stand for the rule of law, and fight back against the open borders agenda on the extreme left.

• Public safety – I’m proud to be endorsed by some of our community’s most respected law enforcement organizations: Arizona State Troopers, the Arizona Police Association, the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the Professional Firefighters of Arizona. I’ll say NO to “Defund the Police” efforts, and make sure we fully fund and support our law enforcement professionals. 

  When the City of Scottsdale attempted to use state resources to launch homeless hotels to serve people living in the “Zone” and foreign nationals who would have otherwise been deported, I pushed back, calling a community hearing. As a result, the state of Arizona intervened and stopped the city from moving forward.

• Inflation and Cost of Living – One of the biggest things I hear when I knock on doors is that the cost to live is just too high. That’s why I support eliminating both the food tax and rental tax.

  I also support fiscally responsible legislation that fights inflation, reduces the cost of living, cuts back on big government spending, keeps taxes low, and helps small businesses grow. Arizona people are resilient and strong; I promise to cut through red tape to ensure our economy reflects those values. I’m supported by our job creators: the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, Arizona REALTORS and the Arizona Tech Council.

• Increased Teacher Pay – My “Pay Teachers First Plan” will give every Arizona public school teacher a $10,000 raise – with 100 percent of the new state dollars going directly to the teachers, rather than bureaucracy, and significantly boosting starting teacher pay. As a former teacher, I can tell you – one of the most important factors in the academic development of a child is the teacher at the front of the classroom. We set our students up for success by attracting and retaining amazing teachers. When I was a teacher, I struggled to make ends meet and was out-of-pocket many resources needed for my students. Teachers don’t go into this profession to get rich, but they also aren’t expected to live in poverty, either. Read my full plan HERE.

• Educational freedom –  I support more learning options for parents and kids. Families should get to decide where and how their kids learn. This educational landscape encourages innovation and advances the guiding principle that the size of a family’s wealth must never dictate what educational opportunities are available to them.

• Transparency in K-12 classrooms – In Arizona, we are spending the most ever on K-12 education, averaging about $345,000 per classroom. Parents and taxpayers want to know: Where’s the money going? And what are kids learning in the classroom? Schools must be more transparent with their budgets, especially at the school-site level, and with curriculum. 

  As Chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, I’ve made it a priority to more closely examine the financial and operational practices of schools, calling attention to the reckless and wasteful spending of K-12 schools. Some schools have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on out-of-state travel junkets for administrators and board members.

• Rejecting the extremes on abortion – We must respect women and protect new life. After the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the state’s territorial abortion law, I stood up to the extremes and led the way for a repeal of that law. Doing so allowed Arizona’s 15-week law to go back into effect. The territorial ban – first written in 1864 – is a policy that I consider unworkable, and is not reflective of the values of the vast majority of our electorate, regardless of political affiliation – regardless of whether they identify as pro-life or pro-choice. This issue transcends all.

  I’m proudly pro-life, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. As a son of a single mom, I know she worked so hard to raise her family. Our state must step up to support women and children. I will reject the extreme voices on this issue, including late-term and taxpayer-funded abortions. Our state also has the obligation to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, especially the vulnerable and elderly. 

• Water, Air and Energy – It was Barry Goldwater who said he believed in “the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment.” I wholeheartedly agree and we can do that without sending our economy off a cliff. That’s why I support better forest management to reduce wildfires, state funding for new farming practices and irrigation technologies that save water without taking away the freedom to farm, and research into future innovations that save water and reduce emissions.

• Election integrity — I’m supportive of a constitutional amendment that makes Voter ID requirements permanent and unchangeable, and other measures that strengthen the security of our elections, like increasing the threshold for automatic recounts.

• Individual liberty – I’ll always stand on the side of our United States Constitution. I’m a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment, and I’m against government overreach.