Travis Grantham (born February 24, 1979) is an American politician and a Republican former member of the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Arizona Senate, Senate. The House convenes in the le ...

elected to represent District 14 in 2022. He previously represented District 12 from 2017 to 2023. Grantham was also a 2012 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent the 9th congressional district of Arizona.

Early life

Grantham was born on February 24th, 1979 in

Scottsdale, Arizona Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...

, where he attended Scottsdale Public Schools and graduated from

Scottsdale Community College Scottsdale Community College is a Public college, public community college just outside of Scottsdale, Arizona. It is on the city's eastern boundary, on 160 acres (650,000 m2) of land belonging to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. ...

. Grantham is a third-generation Arizonan. Grantham's family owned a cattle ranch, and his father was the founder and CEO of an aviation business named International Air Response, Inc. (IAR). Grantham attended

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

, where he received a bachelor's degree in

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...

. During his time at Arizona State, he enlisted in the Air National Guard, ultimately achieving the rank of

staff sergeant Staff sergeant is a Military rank, rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administr ...

before commissioning as an officer out of college.

Elections

In 2012, Grantham

ran RAN may refer to: * Radio access network, a part of a mobile telecommunication system * Rainforest Action Network * Ran (gene) (RAs-related Nuclear protein), also known as GTP-binding nuclear protein Ran, a protein that in humans is encoded by t ...

for the U.S. House in the newly drawn 9th district. He was defeated by Vernon Parker in the 7-way Republican primary, receiving 18.4% of the vote and coming in 3rd. In 2016, Grantham and incumbent

Eddie Farnsworth Eddie Farnsworth (born May 4, 1961) is an American politician and a former Republican member of the Arizona State House of Representatives and Arizona State Senate. Farnsworth previously served in the House consecutively from January 10, 2011 ...

defeated LaCinda Lewis in the Republican primary for

Arizona's 12th legislative district Arizona's 12th legislative district is one of 30 in the state, consisting of a section of Maricopa County. As of 2023, there are 48 precincts in the district, all in Maricopa, with a total registered voter population of 148,788. The district has ...

. They were unopposed in the general election.

Legislative activity

In 2018 Grantham sponsored a proposed state constitutional amendment which would have allowed the legislature to place candidates for the US Senate on the ballot. Also in 2018 he opposed the extension of a sales tax used to support education saying, "We're not addressing what I believe to be one of the main issues of the bill - which is hey, there's these buckets in the bill that money is dropped into them and the schools have to spend the money as the bill's written." In 2021 he served as speaker pro tempore of the House. In April 2021, he made news after referring "colored people" and demanding that a black legislator be "sat down" during a debate about a voting rights bill.

Background and personal information

Grantham is a current Lieutenant Colonel in the 161st Air Refueling Wing of the

Arizona Air National Guard The Arizona Air National Guard (AZ ANG) is the aerial militia of the Arizona, state of Arizona, United States, United States of America. It is, along with the Arizona Army National Guard, an element of the Arizona National Guard. As state militia ...

, in which capacity he has deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. Grantham is trained on the

Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling tanker aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boeing gave ...

, in which he has over 3,000 flight hours. Grantham is married to Patricia Patton and has two daughters, Katelyn and Kristyn. The family lives in

Gilbert, Arizona Gilbert is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Located southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Gilbert is home to 288,128 residents. It is the fifth-most populous municipality in Arizona and is considered a suburb of Phoenix. I ...

References

External links

Biography
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Grantham, Travis 1979 births Living people 21st-century members of the Arizona State Legislature Arizona National Guard personnel Arizona State University alumni Candidates in the 2012 United States elections National Guard (United States) colonels People from Gilbert, Arizona Politicians from Scottsdale, Arizona Republican Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives Scottsdale Community College alumni United States Air Force colonels United States Air Force personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)