PHOENIX - State Sen. Russell Pearce, the choice of fellow Republican senators-elect to be the next Arizona Senate president, says the chamber will be "the Tea Party Senate."
The Mesa Republican is a fiscal conservative and author of legislation cracking down on illegal immigration.
Republican senators-elect held a postelection reorganization caucus Wednesday and chose him to be the next president.
He later told reporters that he wants the Senate to take a bottom-up approach that listens to the people's will on fiscal accountability issues and not follow mandates from the Republican National Committee.
In an Internet posting to supporters, he identifies himself as "Tea Party Senate president-elect."
Senators will officially elect a new president in January when the new Legislative session begins.
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