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 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.
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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.
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"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 Republican Rep. David Schweikert, who has represented the Phoenix-area seat since 2013 despite Democrats investing heavily to flip the district blue.
He is seeking a second consecutive nomination after arguing he remains the strongest candidate to challenge Feely in the general election. Galán-Woods, meanwhile, is expected to emphasize her background as a longtime Arizona television journalist and her ability to appeal to independent and suburban voters.
Galán-Woods is making another bid for the nomination with support from several national Democratic organizations, which view Arizona's 1st District as one of the party's best pickup opportunities in 2026.
The winner will go on to the general election on Nov. 3.