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.[1] 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.
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.
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.[10] 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.[11][12]
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.[13] Fortunately for Renzi some of these details didn't come to light until after the election.
The heavily conservative and gerrymandered District 2, which owed its strange shape to the decision to not have Hopi and NavajoNative 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2006 Arizona’s 5th congressional district election[28]
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.
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.
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 RepresentativeRandy 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.[48][49]
Candidates
Nominee
Randy Graf, former state representative and candidate for this seat in 2004
Former State SenatorGabby Giffords, a moderate Democrat, triumphed against several Democrats, the most notable of which was television anchor Patty Weiss,[48] in the primary, and thus she and Graf faced off against each other in the general election.
Jay Quick (Independent), geologist and businessman[63]
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.[64]
Debates
2006 Arizona's 8th congressional district general election debates
^ abc"2006 House Ratings". House Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. November 6, 2006. Archived from the original on November 7, 2006. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
^ abc"2006 House". Sabato's Crystal Ball. November 6, 2006. Archived from the original on November 10, 2006. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
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