Joe Biden is running ahead of President Trump in an Arizona stronghold, boosting Democrats down ballot in the district.
Biden, the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, is 2 percentage points in front of Trump in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, 50% to 48%, according to an internal Democratic poll.
Trump won the northeastern Phoenix district by 10 points over 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. GOP nominee Mitt Romney beat former President Barack Obama there by 20 points in 2012.
The poll was conducted by Democratic congressional candidate Hiral Tipirneni’s campaign. Tipirneni, an Indian American physician, is challenging Republican Rep. David Schweikert in the district.
Tipirneni is leading Schweikert by 3 points, 48% to 45%, the GQR Research poll found.
Pollsters also reported that Arizona Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kelly has a 4-point advantage on Republican incumbent Martha McSally, 50% to 46%.
Schweikert was reprimanded by the House this month after the Ethics Committee revealed he admitted to 11 violations of House rules, the Code of Ethics for Government Service, federal laws, and campaign finance regulations between 2010 and 2018.
The Ethics Investigative Subcommittee uncovered that Schweikert “erroneously disclosed or failed to disclose” $305,000 in loans or the repayment of loans “made or obtained for the benefit of his congressional campaigns” from July 2010 to December 2017. He additionally didn’t report “at least $25,000 in disbursements made by his campaigns; failed to report more than $140,000 in contributions received by his campaigns; and falsely reported making disbursements totaling $100,000.”
Schweikert, who was first elected to Congress in 2010, was reelected in 2018 by 10 points.
The poll, released this week, was fielded Aug. 6-12, surveying 548 likely general election district voters. Its results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
