As predicted, former state Senator Kyrsten Sinema's not the only Democrat with her eye on Arizona's new Congressional seat -- this morning, state Senate Minority Leader David Schapira announced that he, too, will run in Arizona's newly formed 9th Congressional district.
Schapira's announcement isn't exactly a surprise to those familiar with Valley politics -- he formed an exploratory committee for a potential run in November, and rumors of his entering the race have been floating around for months.
"The residents of this community are on the front lines of turning our economy around. They deserve a representative who will fight every day to create jobs and uphold their values," Schapira says in a press release announcing his candidacy. "This new district represents an opportunity to send Washington a message that education and jobs should be at the forefront of the national agenda."
Also as predicted, it doesn't appear that Schapira will give up his Senate seat to run for Congress, which he's not required to do because he's in the final year of his term (Arizona's "resign to run" law allows candidates to keep their current gig as long as they're in the last year of their term).
Congressman Ben Quayle, a Republican, currently lives in what is now District 9. thanks to the new Congressional district map,
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We spoke to Congressman Quayle over the weekend. He says he's yet to make any decision about which seat he'll run for.
Whoever wins a Republican primary in GOP-leaning District 6 is likely to easily win the general election -- and elections to come -- so it's a much more attractive seat for Republican candidates than District 9, which is fairly evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.
Check out Schapira's campaign website here.
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