Elections never end

One down, nine to go … Now do student loans … And the snake that stole the election.

The special Democratic primary in Southern Arizona’s Congressional District 7 ended predictably on Tuesday, with one Grijalva replacing another.

And with our only congressional election of 2025 at a close, we figured now’s a good time to look ahead to Arizona’s nine congressional districts and the races that will dominate the 2026 election cycle.

Congressional District 1

Every election year, Democrats hope they can take out Republican U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, who represents Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, spanning the Scottsdale and Paradise Valley area.

Yet, every year so far, Schweikert has kept his seat.

On paper, his district is one of Arizona’s rare marginally competitive districts — 26% of voters are Democrats, 33% are independent and 38% are Republicans. And Democrats’ hopes are always bolstered by the belief that Republicans in this well-to-do district are fiscally conservative, but more socially liberal than Schweikert.

Already, nine Democrats are lining up for the chance to challenge Schweikert, including two who have run for the seat in the past — Marlene Galan Woods, who ran in last year’s primary, and Amish Shah, the 2024 Democratic nominee who got roughly 49% of the vote against Schweikert. Woods is a former journalist and the wife of late Republican Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, while Shah is a physician and former state lawmaker.

But first, Schweikert will have to dispatch any challengers from his own party, including cybersecurity expert and former National Security Agency employee Brandon Sproles, who has filed paperwork to challenge Schweikert in the GOP primary.

Congressional District 2

After two terms representing Northern Arizona’s Congressional District 2, Republican U.S. Rep. Eli Crane looks pretty invincible. But in a midterm following Donald Trump’s second presidential victory, Democrats are holding out hope.

Democrat David Alexander has filed paperwork to run against Crane. He got 22 votes as a write-in candidate last year.

Congressional District 3

Democratic U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari won a hard-fought Democratic primary for Congress last year after Ruben Gallego vacated this West Valley seat to run for U.S. Senate.

Ansari defeated former Democratic Party chair Raquel Terán in last year’s primary — but two Democrats are already lining up to challenge Ansari next year: Sandy Cano-Bravo, a realtor and podcaster, and Scotty Russell.

Meanwhile, Republican political gadfly Jarrett Maupin is also running again in this Democrat-dominated district.

Maupin — a felon who cannot vote — ran for Congress in 2014 and got endorsed by local strip club the Great Alaskan Bush Company.

"What can I say? I support freedom of speech, single moms and college students," Maupin told the Republic at the time. "In the long run, it might not be good for (the club). My goal is to help young ladies get their clothes back on.”

Congressional District 4

Likewise, Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton has never had much trouble fending off challenges in his Phoenix-Tempe district.

But that’s not stopping Republicans from trying to unseat him.

Former Republican state lawmaker John Fillmore, who was among the more memorable Republican lawmakers in recent years, threw his hat in the ring, as have Republicans Mark Fisher, Wiley Larsen and Jeremy Riley.

Meanwhile, Tre Rook, a former Green Party candidate for the state Legislature, is challenging Stanton in the Democratic primary.

Congressional District 5

A Battle Royale GOP primary is shaping up for this Mesa seat, as Congressman Andy Biggs steps aside to seek the governor’s office.

So far, eight Republicans have filed paperwork to run for the solidly Republican district, including state Rep. Travis Grantham, Alex Stovall, who has run unsuccessfully several times, including for the state House last year, and former Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely, who says Trump first encouraged him to run for office. We expect to see other high-profile Republicans jumping into that race before the stage is set.

Meanwhile, 10 Democrats have filed paperwork to run in this uber-conservative district.

Congressional District 6

Southern Arizona’s Congressional District 6 is the state’s most competitive congressional district, and Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani will once again face a tough reelection bid.

He won his first race for the office by just 50.7% of the vote, and narrowly held the seat last year with 50% of the vote (in a three-way race where a Green Party candidate took 2.5%).

And that swing district status has drawn a crowd of fourteen Democrats who are interested in running for the seat — the highest-profile of which are Tucson attorney Mo Goldman, Marine Corps veteran JoAnna Mendoza, Chris Donat, who works for Raytheon, and former Army intelligence officer and trans woman Aiden Swallow.

Congressional District 7

The walloping that Adelita Grijalva delivered to her opponents on Tuesday ensures that no serious Democrats will launch a challenge against her next year.

Like her father, she probably won’t have to work very hard to hold that seat for many elections to come.

Congressional District 8

After winning a crowded primary for this solidly conservative West Valley seat last year, Republican U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh shouldn’t have much trouble keeping it in next year’s election. So far, only one Republican has shown interest in challenging the congressman, and we’ve never heard of them.

Congressional District 9

Finally, despite being objectively labeled as Arizona’s nuttiest member of Congress, Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar should have no trouble dispatching his Democratic challengers in the Mohave County-based congressional district.

But this year, he’ll face a challenge from engineer, entrepreneur and professor Lisa Schaefer, an anti-MAGA Republican whose campaign slogan is “humor, not hate.”

“Lisa advocates for Republicans in Congress to stand up for the Rule of Law, efficient use of your taxpayer dollars, stopping excessive government outreach. You know, all those sensible Republican values that the current administration is flouting,” she writes on her website.

Check the mail: Some lucky Arizonans will get letters in the coming weeks announcing their medical debt has been erased thanks to Gov. Katie Hobbs’ plan to have the state wipe out $429 million in medical debt for more than 352,000 Arizonans, the Republic’s Stacey Barchenger writes. Hobbs announced the debt-erasure program last year and signed a non-competitive contract with the Undue Medical Debt nonprofit to implement it using federal COVID-relief funds.

We can’t wipe debt, but we can keep clearing up the news with some help.