More Perfect Union, a progressive nonprofit, has something to say about that. The organization is spending $1 million to rent more than 180 billboards in nine key congressional districts across the country. That includes Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, the Scottsdale and Phoenix district represented for more than a decade by GOP Rep. David Schweikert.
The ad buy targets the Trump reconciliation bill, which Schweikert supports but did not vote for during the last go-around in the House because he said he fell asleep during the vote. “It’s embarrassing,” he told KTAR about the mishap, though opponents have wondered if Schweikert concocted that story to avoid the political consequences of voting for a national debt-exploding bill that nonetheless calls for big cuts to social programs like Medicaid.
The bill is currently being negotiated further in the Senate. If it passes, it will go back to the House of Representatives for approval.
The billboard features a champagne-popping Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and one of the richest men in the world, while highlighting how the bill would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest people in the country.
“Make under $51k? You pay more,” the billboard notes, adding that the top 0.1% would gain $390,000 a year.
“The Republicans’ Billionaire Tax Scam would be an unprecedented handout to the wealthy — paid for on the backs of working families,” said Faiz Shakir, founder and executive director of More Perfect Union, in a press release. “It’s crucial that we keep highlighting the stakes of this fight.”
GOP Rep. David Schweikert, who represents a district that includes parts of Phoenix and Scottsdale, is considered vulnerable in the 2026 election.
That perspective is backed by nonpartisan data. A report from the U.S. Congressional Budget Office found that if the bill is passed as is, low-income Americans will be significantly worse off through 2034, middle earners would be $500 richer every year and the wealthiest 10% of Americans will line their wallets even more.
“The agency estimates that in general, resources would decrease for households toward the bottom of the income distribution, whereas resources would increase for households in the middle and top of the income distribution,” Phillip Swagel, the director of CBO, wrote in a letter.
A Penn Wharton analysis found that Americans also found that while the bottom earners in American society will become poorer, the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans — those making more than $4.3 million a year — will have their taxes cut by about $390,000 per year, hence the billboard’s claims. Fortune also reported that nonpartisan Urban Institute’s Tax Policy Center, the Yale Budget Lab, the right-leaning Tax Foundation and the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy all found similar results.
Schweikert’s office did not respond to a Phoenix New Times inquiry about his support for the bill, the billboard ad buy or his support for cutting taxes for the wealthy. However, he and other Arizona Republicans have expressed reservations about the bill, including several who voted in favor of it.
Earlier this month, after Tesla billionaire Elon Musk publicly fell out with Trump and blasted the budget bill as an abomination that does nothing to tame the national debt, Schweikert and others felt emboldened to offer their own criticisms. Schweikert said that “Musk is absolutely right” about the debt. Rep. Eli Crane wondered on social media why Musk hadn’t piped up before the bill was passed, while Rep. Andy Biggs — who is running for governor — tweeted that Musk is “not wrong.”
Notably, few of the lawmakers' concerns seemed to be about cuts to social programs that serve low-income constituents. Instead, they appear to prefer the bill cut more in order to pay for tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations without adding to the national debt.
Whether the billboard campaign has any effect on the bill’s ultimate form remains to be seen, but it’s clear that More Perfect Union and others see it as a chance to damage Schweikert’s reelection prospects. For years, liberal and progressive operatives — including the Democratic Party — have spent serious money and time trying to oust the fiscal conservative.
In 2022, Schweikert narrowly eked out a win over Democrat Jevin Hodge, who was appointed to the Arizona Legislature in 2024 but only served 46 days before resigning after sexual misconduct allegations. Schweikert won by 3,195 votes — less than 1%. Last year, he defeated Democrat and former state lawmaker Amish Shah by nearly 17,000 votes. The larger margin of victory was in line with Trump’s resounding win in Arizona.
Shah has already announced his intention to challenge Schweikert again.
