PHOENIX (AP) — Republican David Schweikert has won an eighth term in a wealthy Phoenix-area congressional district by fending off a challenge from a former Democratic state lawmaker.
Schweikert defeated Amish Shah, an emergency room physician, on Sunday in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, which includes north Phoenix, Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and Paradise Valley.
While Republicans have a voter registration advantage in the district, that trend began to trend toward the center after Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, as some voters who had historically supported Republicans became reluctant to vote for Democrats or left their ballot papers blank.
Redistricting ahead of the 2022 midterm elections accelerated the trend, raising hopes among Democrats that Schweikert could be defeated and the district flipped. Schweikert is known for railing against the national debt.
The Associated Press left email messages with Schweikert and Shah’s campaigns seeking comment on Sunday.
Schweikert has been in close races before. He won re-election in 2022 by just 3,200 votes against a relatively unknown Democrat who received minimal support from national Democrats.
Schweikert’s reputation has been tarnished by ethics scandals in recent years. In 2022, he was fined $125,000 by the Federal Election Commission for embezzling campaign funds. Two years earlier, he agreed to pay a $50,000 fine and accept 11 campaign finance violations following an investigation by the U.S. House Ethics Committee.
Shah, who emerged as the primary winner from a field of six Democrats, had advocated for lowering housing and health care prices.
Earlier Sunday, Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton won re-election against Republican Kelly Cooper in the 4th District, which includes the cities of Tempe, Mesa and Chandler outside Phoenix. Stanton, a former mayor of Phoenix, has served in Congress since 2019.
In the 6th Congressional District, Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani continued to have a tight race with Democrat Kirsten Engel, whom he narrowly defeated two years ago. The district extends from Tucson east to the New Mexico state line and includes a section of the Arizona-Mexico border.
The US Senate race between Republican Kari Lake, a well-known former television news anchor and staunch Trump ally, and Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego, an Iraq War veteran, has also not yet been decided.
