Arizona's 1st congressional district election, 2006
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The Arizona 1st congressional district election, 2006 was an election for the United States House of Representatives. The two main candidates were two-term Republican incumbent Rick Renzi and Democratic civil rights attorney Ellen Simon. Renzi defeated Simon by a 52% to 44% margin.
Candidates
Republican
- Rick Renzi first won election in 2002 with only 49% of the vote and a margin of just 6,000 votes.
Democratic
- Ellen S. Simon is a civil rights attorney and a resident of Sedona.
Libertarian
- David Schlosser is a resident of Flagstaff. After losing the Congressional Election, he launched an unsuccessful campaign for Mayor of Flagstaff.
Primary Campaign
Arizona has an open-primary. There were seven candidates who ran in the September 12, 2006 primary, five of them Democratic, Libertarian David Schlosser, and Republican Rick Renzi. Renzi collected 37,644 votes and Schlosser 606. Among the five Democrats, Simon won a decisive victory.[1]
| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Ellen Simon | 20,273 | 52.8% (of Dem vote) |
| Susan Friedman | 7,062 | 18.4% (of Dem vote) |
| Bob Donahue | 5,927 | 15.4% (of Dem vote) |
| Mike Caccioppoli | 3,635 | 9.5% (of Dem vote) |
| Vic McKerlie | 1,512 | 3.9% (of Dem vote) |
General election
At one point, Renzi appeared to have an easy race for his third term when Democrat Jack Jackson Jr., a Native American former state representative, dropped his challenge. Democrats then drafted civil rights attorney Ellen Simon, who won the Democratic primary. Despite entering the race in May, Simon had been able to raise $821,595 as of August 23. However, she still trailed Renzi significantly in cash on hand as Renzi held on to a slight lead in the polls.
In mid-August CQPolitics changed their rating of this race from Safe Republican to Leans Republican.[2] The most recent Cook Political Report rating was: Leans Republican.
Nevertheless, Renzi was able to hold on to his lead, and won by eight percentage points.[3]
| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Rick Renzi | 98,243 | 51.8% |
| Ellen Simon | 82,390 | 43.4% |
| David Schlosser | 9,054 | 4.8% |
References
- ↑ 2006 primary election results, Arizona Secretary of State's Office, accessed October 16, 2006
- ↑ Bob Benenson (2006-08-10). "Big Batch of Rating Changes Reflects Stronger Democratic Breeze". CQPolitics.com.
- ↑ 2006 General Election (Unofficial Results), U.S. Representative in Congress - District No. 1, Arizona Secretary of State's Office, accessed November 13, 2006