Matt Heinz will again challenge Republican Martha McSally for the Arizona Congressional District 2 seat.
The Tucson Democrat, who works as an emergency room physician, says the district needs a change in leadership. On Tuesday, Heinz announced he would again enter the CD2 race, hoping to challenge McSally next year.
"I think the problem is not a lot has changed," he said. "There is a lot of people who are still hurting and being hurt by the dysfunction in Washington."
Heinz, who got 43 percent of the vote last November, says he took a lot of time after losing to McSally to consider whether he'd challenge her again.
But over time, it was his patients who helped convince him to run.
They would want to talk politics, not the pressing medical condition that brought them into the emergency room, he said.
Many told Heinz that they really regret not voting for him, he said.
Heinz said the election of Donald Trump, he has raised the level of activism in the district.
"There is a palpable kind of change," he said.
This also means there's a renewed focused on McSally.
He said her vote to back the American Health Care Act was particularly troubling, because it will leave many residents in the district without insurance.
Heinz will enter an already crowded field of Democrats seeking the nomination. A half-dozen candidates that have already announced their campaign.
They are: small business owner Billy Kovacs; geologist Alison Jones,;pilot Jeff Latas; formerΒ Assistant Secretary of the ArmyΒ Mary Matiella; small business ownerΒ Charlie Verdin; Tucson residentΒ Chris Wright; and former state representative Bruce Wheeler. Some of the potential candidates have announced they are running for the nomination while others are testing the waters with a exploratory campaign.
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