Arizona's 1st Congressional District election, 2016

2018 → ← 2014

Arizona's 1st Congressional District

General Election Date November 8, 2016

Primary Date August 30, 2016

November 8 Election Winner: Tom O'Halleran

Incumbent prior to election: Ann Kirkpatrick

Race Ratings Cook Political Report: Lean D Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean D Rothenberg & Gonzales: Lean D

Arizona U.S. House Elections District 1 • District 2 • District 3 • District 4 • District 5 • District 6 • District 7 • District 8 • District 9

2016 U.S. Senate Elections

2016 U.S. House Elections

The 1st Congressional District of Arizona held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 8, 2016.

Arizona's 1st Congressional District was a battleground district in 2016. Incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick (D) chose not to seek re-election to pursue a U.S. Senate bid. Tom O'Halleran (D) defeated Paul Babeu (R), Kim Allen (L write-in), and Ray Parrish (G) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Babeu defeated Ken Bennett, Gary Kiehne, Wendy Rogers, Shawn Redd, and David Gowan in the Republican primary, while O'Halleran defeated Miguel Olivas to win the Democratic nomination. The primary elections took place on August 30, 2016.

HIGHLIGHTS

Arizona's 1st Congressional District seat was open following incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick's U.S. Senate run.

The district was competitive in every election following the 2010 Census redistricting.

Heading into the election, Tom O'Halleran (D) had a small lead over Paul Babeu (R) in fundraising totals and polling.

Candidate Filing Deadline	Primary Election	General Election
June 1, 2016	August 30, 2016	November 8, 2016

Primary: A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Arizona utilizes a semi-closed primary system. Unaffiliated voters may choose which party's primary they will vote in, but voters registered with a party can only vote in that party's primary.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Incumbent: Heading into the election, the incumbent was Ann Kirkpatrick (D), who was first elected in 2012. Kirkpatrick did not seek re-election in 2016. She instead sought election to the U.S. Senate seat held by John McCain (R).

As of the 2010 redistricting cycle, the 1st District stretched along the eastern and northeastern portions of the state and included Apache, Coconino, Graham, Greenlee, and Navajo counties. Portions of Gila, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, and Yavapai counties were also included in the district.

Election results

General election

U.S. House, Arizona District 1 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Tom O'Halleran	50.7%	142,219
	Republican	Paul Babeu	43.4%	121,745
	Green	Ray Parrish	6%	16,746
Total Votes				280,710
Source: Arizona Secretary of State

Primary election

U.S. House, Arizona District 1 Republican Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Paul Babeu	30.8%	19,533
Gary Kiehne	23.4%	14,854
Wendy Rogers	22.4%	14,222
Ken Bennett	16.7%	10,578
Shawn Redd	3.3%	2,098
David Gowan	3.3%	2,091
Total Votes		63,376
Source: Arizona Secretary of State

U.S. House, Arizona District 1 Democratic Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Tom O'Halleran	58.8%	30,833
Miguel Olivas	41.2%	21,632
Total Votes		52,465
Source: Arizona Secretary of State

Candidates

General election candidates:

Tom O'Halleran a
Paul Babeu
Ray Parrish
Kim Allen (Write-in)

Primary candidates:

Democratic

Tom O'Halleran - Former state sen. a
Miguel Olivas

Republican

Gary Kiehne - 2014 candidate
Ken Bennett - Former Secretary of State
Paul Babeu - Pinal County Sheriff a
Wendy Rogers - Retired U.S. Air Force pilot
Shawn Redd

Withdrew:
Thomas Vearl Whipple (R)
James Maloney (D)
Kayto Sullivan Jr. (D)
Carlyle Begay (R) - State sen.
David Gowan (R) - State House Speaker
Michael Mitchell (Write-in)

Race background

Tom O'Halleran was one of the initial members of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Emerging Races. Emerging Races was the second tier of the Red to Blue program in 2016. According to the DCCC, it included the districts "where campaigns are on track and working hard to put seats in play."

Ken Bennett and Gary Kiehne were early members of the NRCC's Young Guns Program in 2016, while Paul Babeu was added to the list in September 2016. The Young Guns program "supports and mentors challenger and open-seat candidates in races across the country."

Endorsements

Paul Babeu (R)

• Former Gov. Jan Brewer

Ken Bennett (R)

• Former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl - "Our national debt continues to grow at a dangerous pace and we must send leaders to Washington that have proven records of solving problems. Now is not the time for on-the-job training."

• Former U.S. Rep. John Shadegg - "I am happy to support (Bennett’s) candidacy and confident he will bring meaningful reform to our government,"

David Gowan (R)

• Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio - "Congress is in desperate need of men of David’s talents, vision, and character, and I have no doubt that he will jump into the job with his constituents best interests at heart from day number one. Arizona has greatly benefited from David’s leadership as Speaker of the House, and the voters of Arizona’s 1st Congressional District will be in good hands with David representing them in Washington."

Gary Kiehne (R)

• Arizona House Speaker and former candidate David Gowan

• Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Tom O'Halleran (D)

• Former Democratic candidates Fred DuVal, Terry Goddard and Felecia Rotellini
• Former Rep. Ron Barber - "Ari­zona needs lead­ers in Con­gress who un­der­stand how to build an eco­nomy that works for every­one, not just those at the top. I trust Tom to look out for fam­il­ies who live paycheck to paycheck. I watched him fight for all-day kinder­garten—and win. I watched him work to re­form child pro­tect­ive ser­vices—and im­prove the lives of count­less kids. Tom won’t get pushed around by party polit­ics. He’ll do what’s right for fam­il­ies."
• Outgoing incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick - "He's tough and committed to working across the aisle to get things done. I trust Tom to work hard for the people of Arizona."

Polls

Arizona's 1st District - Tom O'Halleran vs. Paul Babeu
Poll	Tom O'Halleran	Paul Babeu	Margin of Error	Sample Size
Global Strategy Group September 22-25, 2016	45%	38%	+/-4.9	400
Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org

Media

Paul Babeu

Support

"Listen" - Babeu campaign ad, released September 2016

Opposition

"PRESS CONFERENCE" - DCCC ad opposing Babeu, released October 2016

Tom O'Halleran

"Accountable" - O'Halleran's first ad, released September 2016

David Gowan

"Leader We Need" - Gowan's first ad, released July 2016

Wendy Rogers

"World On Fire" - Rogers' first ad, released August 2016

Campaign themes

Tom O'Halleran

“	Jobs and the Economy: Tom believes that in order for our economy to grow, we must end policies that pressure middle class families and take action to create good-paying jobs. The deck has been stacked against middle-class families and small businesses for too long. Hard-working Arizonans are having a hard time affording a basic standard of living, and many can no longer afford to send their own children to our state universities—that’s not right. Social Security and Medicare: Tom will protect Social Security and Medicare from those who support dangerous schemes to privatize the programs, hand them over the Wall Street or turn them into “vouchers.” He knows that Social Security is not an “entitlement program”—it is a commitment that has been made to America’s seniors after a lifetime of work. Veterans: There is no more sacred commitment than the one we have made with America’s veterans. We must take care of those who have fought for our freedom by ensuring that they have proper access to their veterans’ benefits, healthcare, and ensuring that we have programs to help with job placement and training. The perpetual mismanagement of the VA hospitals around the country is unacceptable and has a detrimental impact to the health and well being of our veterans. Education: Investing in our children’s education not only benefits the individual child and families, but also is an investment in our state and country’s economic future. Our children’s education is one of the most important parts of their lives. It is a critical factor for future wage earning and being able to provide for their future families. Immigration: There is perhaps no greater example of gridlock in Washington than this issue of immigration reform. The federal government has continually failed to secure our borders or fix America’s broken immigration system. While there is broad consensus on the steps that we can take to improve our system, immigration reform has stalled because of a lack of will among some politicians and others who would rather have a political issue to complain about than actually solve our problem. The security of our citizens and the rule of law are too important to be stalled based on purely political considerations. Congress has an obligation to act and fix this problem.	”
—Tom O'Halleran's campaign website, http://www.tomohalleran.com/issues

Paul Babeu

“	Homeland Security and Border Control: Our borders are NOT secure, as evidenced by hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants pouring across our southern borders and Mexican Drug Cartels continuing to push billions of dollars in drugs across America through Arizona. Worse yet, if illegal immigrants and cartel members can easily walk across our border, it stands to reason that possible terrorists with military training, deliberate plans and lots of money can cross the border while more easily evading detection. Energy: One of the pillars of a productive and innovative economy is access to continuous and affordable energy sources. I believe in an “All Energy All The Time” policy on energy – be it solar, wind, bio, nuclear, natural gas or coal. To consciously avoid pursuing sources of energy hampers our competitiveness unilaterally – another way in which we have allowed President Obama to put our country in the back seat. Veterans': As a U.S. Army veteran, I believe that our federal government and elected leaders have broken their sacred trust with our veterans when it comes to the care and support of them and their families upon their return home. The VA system is outdated and broken and far too many veterans are homeless, unemployed and impoverished. Delayed care and intentional false scheduling has killed Arizona veterans. VA staff who haven’t performed their jobs should be immediately fired and barred from any further pay or bonuses. The administrators who orchestrated this scam in order to qualify for bonuses should face criminal charges. Second Amendment Rights: The second amendment is a fundamental individual right, not a collective right. Opponents of it maintain that it is outdated in an age of modern technology, but it is as important as ever and no one knows that better than America’s lawful gun owners. As a gun owner, I support every lawful Americans’ right to own the weapon of their choice to protect their life and liberties. Health Care: In recent years, President Obama has seen fit to structurally reengineer ONE SEVENTH of the overall domestic economy to fix a problem that did not exist. Did we get to keep the doctors and insurance plans we liked? Did health care costs come down? Did premiums become more affordable? None of what was promised to us is reality.	”
—Paul Babeu's campaign website, http://www.sheriffpaul.com/issues/

Campaign contributions

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Source: This graphic was generated using data from the FEC.

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Source: This graphic was generated using data from the FEC.

Tom O'Halleran

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Source: This graphic was generated using data from the FEC.

Paul Babeu

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Source: This graphic was generated using data from the FEC.

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The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may not represent all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer, and campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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District history

2014

See also: Arizona's 1st Congressional District elections, 2014

Arizona's 1st Congressional District was a battleground district in 2014 due to the fact that the seat was held by a Democrat, but the district had a slight Republican lean. Incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick faced no challenger in the Democratic primary. In the Republican primary, Andy Tobin triumphed over Gary Kiehne and Adam Kwasman. The race between Tobin and Kiehne remained too close to call for over a week following the primary. In the end, Tobin won by 0.7 percent of the vote. Kirkpatrick ultimately defeated Tobin in the general election on November 4, 2014.

U.S. House, Arizona District 1 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ann Kirkpatrick Incumbent	52.6%	97,391
	Republican	Andy Tobin	47.4%	87,723
Total Votes				185,114
Source: Arizona Secretary of State

2012

See also: Arizona's 1st Congressional District elections, 2012

The 1st Congressional District of Arizona held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Paul Gosar (R) decided to run for the 4th District in 2012, and Ann Kirkpatrick (D) won the 1st District seat in the general election.

U.S. House, Arizona District 1 General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ann Kirkpatrick	48.8%	122,774
	Republican	Jonathon Paton	45.1%	113,594
	Libertarian	Kim Allen	6.1%	15,227
Total Votes				251,595
Source: Arizona Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election"

Important dates and deadlines

See also: Arizona elections, 2016

The calendar below lists important dates for political candidates in Arizona in 2016.

Dates and requirements for candidates in 2016
Deadline	Event type	Event description
September 24, 2015	Ballot access	First day to file new party petitions for the presidential preference primary
October 24, 2015	Ballot access	Last day to file new party petitions for the presidential preference primary
November 13, 2015	Ballot access	First day to file as a candidate for the presidential preference primary
December 14, 2015	Ballot access	Last day to file as a candidate for the presidential preference primary
January 1 to February 1, 2016	Campaign finance	January 31 report due (covering November 25, 2014, to December 31, 2015)
March 3, 2016	Ballot access	Deadline for filing new party petitions for the general election
March 22, 2016	Election date	Presidential preference primary
May 2, 2016	Ballot access	First day for filing candidate nomination petitions
June 1, 2016	Ballot access	Last day for filing candidate nomination petitions
June 1 to June 30, 2016	Campaign finance	June 30 report due (covering January 1 to May 31, 2016)
July 21, 2016	Ballot access	Deadline for filing as a write-in candidate for the primary election
August 19 to August 26, 2016	Campaign finance	Pre-primary report due (covering June 1 to August 18, 2016)
August 30, 2016	Election date	Primary election
September 29, 2016	Ballot access	Deadline for filing as a write-in candidate for the general election
September 20 to September 29, 2016	Campaign finance	Post-primary report due (covering August 19 to September 19, 2016)
October 28 to November 4, 2016	Campaign finance	Pre-general report due (covering September 20 to October 27, 2016)
November 8, 2016	Election date	General election
November 29 to December 8, 2016	Campaign finance	Post-general report due (covering October 28 to November 28, 2016)
Source: Arizona Secretary of State, "Elections Calendar & Upcoming Events," accessed June 5, 2015

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Arizona, 2016
• United States House of Representatives elections, 2016

Footnotes

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Arizona's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Ruben Gallego (D)

Mark Kelly (D)

Representatives

District 1

David Schweikert (R)

District 2

Eli Crane (R)

District 3

Yassamin Ansari (D)

District 4

Greg Stanton (D)

District 5

Andy Biggs (R)

District 6

Juan Ciscomani (R)

District 7

Vacant

District 8

Abraham Hamadeh (R)

District 9

Paul Gosar (R)

Republican Party (6)

Democratic Party (4)

Vacancies (1)