U.S. Rep. David Schweikert (R) in September 2024. Photo by Gage Skidmore | Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Incumbent U.S. Congressman David Schweikert was still leading the race for Arizona’s First Congressional district after new results were released Wednesday evening.
Schweikert, a Republican who was first elected to Congress in 2010, had trailed his Democratic opponent Amish Shah when early results were released on election night. But the Repubcalin overtook his challenger when more were published early Wednesday morning, and has maintained that lead.
As of 7 p.m. Wednesday, when Maricopa County released results from 127,000 additional ballots, Schweikert had garnered 51.2% of votes to Shah’s 48.8%. The Associated Press has not yet called the race.
Maricopa County had tallied almost 1.5 million of the approximately 2.1 million ballots cast in the county. In a press release Wednesday evening, the county announced that it was a long way from releasing complete results: Workers had only tallied early ballots received part of the way through the day on Oct. 30, a before Election Day.
That means it could be days before the winner is clear.
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Maricopa is Arizona’s most populous county and home to almost 60% of the state’s registered voters. The county isn’t expected to finish tabulating ballots until 10 to 13 days after the election.
Congressional District 1 covers portions of central and northern Phoenix, along with Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills and Cave Creek. It is one of the state’s most affluent districts.
Schweikert, who narrowly was reelected in 2022, was considered one of the most vulnerable Congressmen this year, but his campaign’s focus on the economy may have resonated with voters in his district.
According to an exit poll by the Washington Post, 32% of voters polled listed the economy as the top issue in 2024, just behind the state of democracy at 34%. Abortion was a top issue for only 14% of voters polled.
Shah, an emergency room doctor, is a former state lawmaker who resigned from the legislature in January to focus on his effort to oust Schweikert. Shah was first elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2018 and stepped down halfway through his third two-year term.
Shah was one of many Democratic candidates at all levels of government that campaigned on abortion access as a top issue.
The Grand Canyon State on Tuesday resoundingly supported a ballot measure that will enshrine the right to abortion into the state constitution, but voters didn’t necessarily favor pro-choice candidates in other races.
Schweikert is a fiscal policy wonk who leaned into the far-right extremism that former President Donald Trump brought with him in 2016. He has repeatedly co-sponsored a nationwide abortion ban during his more than a decade as a congressman, and he has supported increasing the retirement age to 69, which would delay Social Security benefits for seniors.
The Federal Election Commission and the House Ethics Committee fined Schweikert $175,000 in 2020 and 2022 for a total of 11 campaign finance violations, according to Politifact. He was accused of failing to report loans, and allowing campaign money to be used for non-campaign expenses.
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