State of play: Dems battle for shot at crucial Arizona House seat amid GOP's razor-thin majority
Two Democratic candidates remained locked in a battle as of early Wednesday morning to claim their party’s nomination in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District for a chance to face former NFL...
By Fox News · Fox News
Two Democratic candidates remained locked in a battle as of early Wednesday morning to claim their party’s nomination in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District for a chance to face former NFL kicker Jay Feely. Former television news anchor Marlene Galán-Woods and former state Rep. Amish Shah, the two frontrunners, fell shy of capturing enough of the vote to win the nomination outright by early Wednesday morning. The winner of the primary will go on to have a rare opportunity to flip a seat in the Canyon State and, more broadly, potentially decide the balance of power in Washington, D.C. Feely, who received President Donald Trump’s "complete and total endorsement" in the final stretch of the race, won his GOP primary late Tuesday night. TRUMP-BACKED FIREBRAND WINS ARIZONA GOP GOVERNOR PRIMARY, SETTING UP HIGH-STAKES SHOWDOWN The seat could very well decide whether Republicans hold on to a slim majority in the House of Representatives or whether Democrats break a Republican governing trifecta come the November midterms . Although the district has favored Republicans since 2020, incumbent Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., has only narrowly hung on to the seat in the past two cycles, beating out Shah in a 51.9% to 48.1% victory in 2024. Schweikert announced that he would not pursue reelection last year, announcing that he would instead pursue a gubernatorial bid . Trump-backed Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., won his primary and was ahead of Schweikert by over 50 points early Wednesday. VULNERABLE REPUBLICAN WINS GOP PRIMARY IN ARIZONA TOSS-UP DISTRICT DEMS AIM TO FLIP BLUE "I’ve grown to believe Washington is unsavable. I do believe Arizona is savable," Schweikert told Axios. This isn’t the first time Amish Shah and Marlene Galán-Woods have competed against each other for their party’s nomination, having clashed in the Democratic 2024 primary for the district. At that time, Shah narrowly defeated Galán-Woods before advancing to the 2024 general election, where he lost to Republi…