The 2006 congressional elections in Arizona were elections for Arizona's delegation to the United States House of Representatives, which occurred along with congressional elections nationwide on November 7, 2006. Arizona has eight seats, as apportioned during the 2000 United States census. Prior to the election, Republicans held six of the eight seats and Democrats held two. In the 8th district, Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe retired, leaving an open seat. Following the elections, Democrats gained two seats at the expense of the Republicans, who lost two.

Overview

Statewide

By district

Results of the 2008 United States House of Representatives elections in Arizona by district:

District 1

The normally Republican 1st district, based in the region north of Phoenix and Tucson and one of the largest districts by land area in the country, had been represented by Republican Rick Renzi since his initial election in 2002.

Republican primary

Renzi faced ethical problems in this election and was named by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington as one of the most corrupt candidates running for office that year.

Candidates

Nominee

• Rick Renzi, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Ellen Simon, attorney and activist

Eliminated in primary

• Mike Caccioppoli, former radio correspondent
• Bob Donahue, businessman
• Susan Friedman, marketing director
• Vic McKerlie, dentist

Withdrawn

• Jack Jackson Jr., former state representative

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee

• David Schlosser, public relations manager

Results

General election

Campaign

Attorney and community activist Ellen Simon emerged as the Democratic nominee, and though she initially trailed Renzi by wide margins she made up much a large amount of ground and closed the gap, causing many to consider the race competitive. Simon challenged Renzi to a series of eight debates, to which Renzi responded by attacking Simon's husband for being behind on child support payments to his ex-wife.

On 24 October, federal officials opened an inquiry into Renzi. It began when a local landowner filed a complaint that said that Renzi had pressured him into buying land he owned in exchange for his support on the landowner's petition with the federal government for a land swap. When that landowner refused, Renzi sold the land to a second company, who funneled the $200,000 payment ($312,000 adjusted for inflation) through a wine company his father owned. Fortunately for Renzi some of these details didn't come to light until after the election.

Endorsements

Polling

Predictions

Results

Renzi won re-election by an eight-point margin, despite the strong Democratic performance nationwide.

District 2

The heavily conservative and gerrymandered District 2, which owed its strange shape to the decision to not have Hopi and Navajo Native Americans represented by the same congressman due to historic tensions between them, had been represented by Republican Trent Franks since his initial election in 2002. Franks had been re-elected comfortably in the intervening years due to the conservative nature of the Phoenix suburbs that the district pulled from.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Trent Franks, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• John Thrasher, educator

Eliminated in primary

• Suchindran Chatterjee, engineer and educator
• Gene Scharer, educator and nominee for this seat in 2000

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Powell Gamill, molecular biologist

Results

Independents

• William Crum (write-in), blogger

General election

Campaign

Franks faced Democratic challenger John Thrasher, a music teacher who based his campaign around anti-corruption and immigration reform.

Results

Franks comfortably won re-election, albeit by a smaller margin than usual.

District 3

The staunchly conservative 3rd district, based in the northern portion of Phoenix and its northern suburbs, had been represented by incumbent Republican John Shadegg since his initial election in 1994.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• John Shadegg, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Herb Paine, consultant

Eliminated in primary

• Don Chilton, retired engineer
• Jim McCoy

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Mark Yannone, businessman

Results

General election

Endorsements

Results

True to the district’s conservative nature, Shadegg defeated Paine by a wide margin, though it was significantly reduced from his 2004 margin.

District 4

The heavily liberal 4th district, based in the southern portion of Phoenix and its southern suburbs, had a high Hispanic-American population. Incumbent Democrat Ed Pastor had represented this portion of the state since a special election in 1991 to replace Mo Udall.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Ed Pastor, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Don Karg, aerospace executive

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Ronald Harders, write-in candidate

Results

General election

Results

District 5

The conservative-leaning 5th district included a small portion of Phoenix and many of its northeastern suburbs, such as Scottsdale and Tempe. Republican J. D. Hayworth had represented the area since his initial election in 1994 and many considered him to be vulnerable to a Democratic challenger.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• J. D. Hayworth, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Democratic primary

Harry Mitchell, a former Mayor of Tempe, State Senator, and Chairman of the Democratic Party of Arizona, emerged as the Democrats' leading challenger to Hayworth.

Candidates

Nominee

• Harry Mitchell, chair of the Democratic Party of Arizona former state senator and former Mayor of Tempe

Endorsements

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Warren Severin, businessman

Results

General election

Debates

• Complete video of debate, September 1, 2006
• Complete video of debate, October 17, 2006

Polling

Predictions

Results

The race was close for much of the fall, and Mitchell ultimately edged out Hayworth on election day by a four-point margin and was elected to his first term in Congress.

District 6

The heavily conservative 6th district, based in the eastern suburbs of Phoenix, had been represented by Republican Congressman Jeff Flake since his initial election in 2000.

Republican primary

Flake had built up a repertoire in Congress as being a staunch fiscal conservative and an anti-earmark advocate.

Candidates

Nominee

• Jeff Flake, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Democratic primary

No Democrat filed.

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Jason M. Blair

Results

General election

Results

Flake faced no Democratic opponent and was overwhelmingly re-elected to his fourth term in Congress over Libertarian candidate Jason Blair.

District 7

The heavily Democratic 7th district, based in southwestern Arizona and covering much of the state’s border with Mexico, had a majority Hispanic-American population and had been represented by Democratic Congressman Raúl Grijalva since 2003.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Raúl Grijalva, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Ron Drake, former Mayor of Avondale

Eliminated in primary

• Joseph Sweeney, perennial candidate

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Joe Cobb, political advisor and economic instructor

Results

General election

Grijalva faced the former Mayor of Avondale, Republican Ron Drake, and Libertarian write-in candidate Joe Cobb.

Candidates

Results

Grijalva defeated both Drake and Cobb by a comfortable margin.

District 8

Long-serving Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe, a respected moderate and an openly gay man, declined to seek a seventh term in Congress and thus created an open seat. The marginally conservative 8th district, based in southeastern Arizona, had narrowly supported George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 and the election was considered to be competitive.

Republican primary

Former State Representative Randy Graf, who was heavily conservative and had challenged Kolbe in the Republican primary in 2004, defeated the more moderate Steve Huffman, a state representative, in the primary, in spite of ad buys in favor of Huffman by national Republicans.

Candidates

Nominee

• Randy Graf, former state representative and candidate for this seat in 2004

Eliminated in primary

• Frank Antenori, U.S. Army veteran
• Mike Hellon, former chair of the Arizona Republican Party
• Steve Huffman, state representative
• Michael T. Jenkins, automobile repair shop owner

Declined

• Jim Kolbe, incumbent U.S. Representative

Endorsements

Results

Democratic primary

Former State Senator Gabby Giffords, a moderate Democrat, triumphed against several Democrats, the most notable of which was television anchor Patty Weiss, in the primary, and thus she and Graf faced off against each other in the general election.

Candidates

Nominee

• Gabby Giffords, former state senator

Eliminated in primary

• William Daniel Johnson, white nationalist activist
• Jeffrey Lynn Latas, U.S. Air Force veteran
• Alex Rodriguez, member of the Tucson Unified School District board
• Francine Shacter, former Democratic precinct chairwoman
• Patty Weiss, television anchor

Endorsements

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee

• David Nolan, co-founder of the Libertarian Party

Results

Independents

• Russ Dove (write-in), militiaman; campaign manager for William Daniel Johnson
• Leo F. Kimminau (write-in)
• Paul Price (write-in)
• Jay Quick (Independent), geologist and businessman

General election

Campaign

Giffords was the tentative favorite for most of the election, as many moderates were turned off by Graf’s conservative views and Kolbe did not endorse him as the Republican candidate.

Debates

Polling

Predictions

Results

On election day, Giffords emerged victorious over Graf by a comfortable twelve-point margin and won her first term in Congress.

References