Democrat Jonathan Nez (left) and Republican U.S. Rep. Eli Crane (right) are vying to represent Congressional District 2. Photos by Shondiin Silversmith/Arizona Mirror and Gage Skidmore/Flickr via CC BY-SA 2.0
Republican Eli Crane has built a solid lead in his quest to win a second term in the U.S. House of Representatives, as preliminary election results show him leading Democratic challenger Jonathan Nez by 12 percentage points in the Second Congressional District.
Crane is poised to continue to represent Arizona’s largest congressional district, which stretches from south of Phoenix to the borders of New Mexico in the east and Utah in the north, encompassing much of eastern and northern Arizona.
With about half of the district’s vote tallied, Crane led Nez 56% to 44%.
The current district, redrawn in 2021 during the once-a-decade redistricting process, includes heavily GOP Yavapai County, and Republicans have a strong registration advantage. The redrawn district gave the GOP a seven-point edge, a stark difference from the nearly evenly split district it replaced.
Congressional District 2 covers about 60% of Arizona, and tribal land makes up a large portion of that district. The district includes 14 tribes in northern, eastern, and central Arizona, and those tribal members make up about 20% of the district’s total population.
Crane, 43, is from Tucson and lives in Oro Valley, outside the district. He served in the U.S. Navy for 13 years, where he joined the SEAL team, and operated a small business called Bottle Breacher until he sold it in 2022. He is a member of the Homeland Security, Veteran Affairs, and Small Business Committees as well as the House Freedom Caucus, Western Caucus, and Copper Caucus.
During his first term in Congress, Crane, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, sponsored 15 bills that mainly focused on veterans, public lands, natural resources and immigration issues. Only two bills passed the House, but none have been signed into law.
The first-term Republican has made his presence known in Congress, especially after being one of the six Republicans to vote out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He’s taken a hard stance against reproductive rights as the co-sponsor of “The Life At Conception Act,” which would ban abortions with no exceptions as well as ban women’s access to birth control and IVF.
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