U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Tucson, speaks with the media on Jan. 22, 2024, to discuss a proposal to place a statue of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani has taken a narrow lead over former Democratic state legislator Kirsten Engel in the hotly contested battle to represent southern Arizona’s swing district.
Democrats have made winning Congressional District 6, which includes the eastern half of Tucson, and stretches to the state’s southern and eastern borders, one of their major priorities this year and invested heavily in the effort to flip the seat blue.
While Engel jumped out to an early lead among early voters and was about 10 percentage points ahead of Ciscomani for much of Tuesday night, the first-term Republican had a strong performance among voters who showed up at the polls on Election Day and he had narrowed the gap by early Wednesday morning.
Votes counted on Wednesday put Ciscomani narrowly ahead, with a 417-vote lead.
The race is a rematch of 2022, which saw Ciscomani defeat Engel by less than two percentage points.
The Tucson Sentinel reported that Engel focused her campaign on Ciscomani’s votes to restrict abortion access and his links to a conservative organization whose leaders support “restoring Biblical values in your neighborhood, state and nation” and oppose abortion and LGBTQ rights. Ciscomani has served on the board of directors of the nonprofit that oversees the Texas-based Patriot Academy.
Ciscomani, meanwhile, boasted that he was ranked one of the most bipartisan lawmakers in the House of Representatives and he has brought federal dollars home to CD6, which includes precincts in Pima, Pinal, Cochise, Graham and Greenlee counties. He also Engel as “out-of-touch and elite” and said she was weak on border security and didn’t support law enforcement.
Republicans on Tuesday gained a majority in the U.S. Senate, and they are poised to have a majority in the House of Representatives, as well.
Pinal County, one of the Arizona counties represented by CD6, still had more than 25% of its precincts yet to report their results as of Wednesday evening.
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