Rep. David Schweikert is about to find out how forgiving his suburban Phoenix constituents are over an admission he misused campaign funds.
The House on July 31 reprimanded the Arizona Republican after an investigation found a series of campaign finance irregularities. Schweikert, first elected to the House in 2010, admitted to 11 rules violations and agreed to pay a $50,000 fine.
Now, Schweikert, 58, is two months off from facing voters in Arizona’s 6th District, which includes most of northern Phoenix, as well as Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and the Cave Creek. The district includes swaths of voters who have voted Republican for decades, some going back to the Barry Goldwater days. The Cook Political Report gives it a +9 Republican lean. And President Trump beat Hillary Clinton there in 2016, 52%-42%.
But like much of Arizona, demographics are shifting, reflected in the attention Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign is giving the Grand Canyon State. And many local Republicans have voiced concerns about Trump’s temperament and behavior. All of which, when combined with Schweikert’s ethics troubles, have created an opening for his Democratic opponent, physician Hiral Tipirneni.
The campaign arm for House Democrats claimed in early August Tipirneni was only 3 points behind the incumbent. And, not surprisingly, she’s hitting Schweikert hard over his campaign finance foibles.
But Tipirneni doesn’t exactly have a stellar political track record. In 2018, Tipirneni ran twice for the 8th District House seat, which takes in many of the suburbs north and west of Phoenix, in Maricopa County. She lost to now-Rep. Debbie Lesko, a Republican, in a special election for a vacancy and the general election.
