2006 United States House of Representatives elections in Arizona
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Review of the elections
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: – ···scholar·JSTOR(April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
2006 United States House of Representatives elections in Arizona
← 2004
November 7, 2006 (2006-11-07)
2008 →
All 8 Arizona seats to the United States House of Representatives
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.
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. 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.[2]
2006 Arizona's 1st congressional district open primary
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
Rick Renzi
37,644
49.1
Democratic
Ellen Simon
20,273
26.4
Democratic
Susan Friedman
7,062
9.2
Democratic
Bob Donahue
5,927
7.7
Democratic
3,635
4.7
Democratic
Vic McKerlie
1,512
2.0
Libertarian
David Schlosser
606
0.8
General election[]
Candidates[]
Rick Renzi (Republican), incumbent U.S. Representative
Ellen Simon (Democratic), attorney and activist
David Schlosser (Libertarian), public relations manager[7]
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.[8] 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.[9] Ultimately, Renzi won re-election by an eight-point margin.
Endorsements[]
Rick Renzi (R)
Federal officials
George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States[10]
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. He faced Democratic challenger John Thrasher, a music teacher who based his campaign around anti-corruption and immigration reform.[15] Franks comfortably won re-election, albeit by a smaller margin than usual.[16]
Primary[]
Candidates[]
Suchindran Chatterjee (Democratic), engineer and educator[17]
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. In 2006, Shadegg faced Democratic nominee Herb Paine, a consultant, in the general election. True to the district’s conservative nature, Shadegg defeated Paine by a wide margin, though it was significantly reduced from his 2004 margin.
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. In 2006, Pastor faced Republican Don Karg, an aerospace executive, and Ronald Harders, a Libertarian write-in candidate.
Primary[]
2006 Arizona's 2nd congressional district open primary[19]
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Democratic
Ed Pastor
14,833
67.4
Republican
Don Karg
7,175
32.6
Libertarian
Ronald Harders
12
0.1
General election[]
Candidates[]
Ed Pastor (Democratic), incumbent U.S. Representative
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. 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. 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.
Primary[]
2006 Arizona's 2nd congressional district open primary[19]
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
J. D. Hayworth
38,275
63.3
Democratic
Harry Mitchell
20,852
35.0
Libertarian
Warren Severin
387
0.7
General election[]
Candidates[]
J. D. Hayworth (Republican), incumbent U.S. Representative
Harry Mitchell (Democratic), chair of the Democratic Party of Arizona; former state senator
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. Flake built up a repertoire in Congress as being a staunch fiscal conservative and an anti-earmark advocate. Flake faced no Democratic opponent and was overwhelmingly re-elected to his fourth term in Congress over Libertarian candidate Jason Blair.
Primary[]
2006 Arizona's 6th congressional district open primary[19]
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
Jeff Flake
43,199
100.0
Libertarian
Jason M. Blair
19
0.0
General election[]
Candidates[]
Jeff Flake (Republican), incumbent U.S. Representative[14]
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. Grijalva faced the former Mayor of Avondale, Republican Ron Drake, and Libertarian write-in candidate Joe Cobb. Grijalva defeated both Drake and Cobb by a comfortable margin.
Primary[]
Candidates[]
Joe Cobb (Libertarian), political advisor and economic instructor[24]
Ron Drake (Republican), former mayor of Avondale
Raúl Grijalva (Democratic), incumbent U.S. Representative
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. 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 open primary, in spite of ad buys in favor of Huffman by national Republicans.[26][27] Former State SenatorGabby Giffords, a moderate Democrat, triumphed against several Democrats, the most notable of which was television anchor Patty Weiss,[26] in the open primary, and thus she and Graf faced off against each other in the general election. 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. On election day, Giffords emerged victorious over Graf by a comfortable twelve-point margin and won her first term in Congress.
2
2
Elections in Arizona