Democrat Kirsten Engel and Republican Juan Ciscomani are each leading in their party’s primary on Tuesday night to run in the Nov. 8 midterms to represent U.S. Congressional District 6, which covers a swath of Tucson.
Unofficial early results Tuesday night show Engel leading the Democratic primary with more than 60% of the vote against two opponents. State Rep. Daniel Hernandez had nearly 34% of the vote. The Associated Press called the race for Engel and Ciscomani late Tuesday.
If she wins in November, Engel plans to work in Congress on the economy, job creation, bringing down inflation, water issues, climate change and reproductive rights, she told the Star Tuesday night.
“Reproductive health-care rights are really at the top of the ticket right now, and that is something that I will be a very strong advocate for in Congress,” she said.
Engel is a well-known Democrat who has represented Tucson for years in the state Legislature.
Engel most recently represented Legislative District 10 in the Arizona Senate. She held that position from January 2021 to September when she left to focus on her congressional campaign. Before that she served two terms as a District 10 state representative. As well, Engel is an environmental attorney.
In the Republican primary, unofficial results Tuesday night show Ciscomani leading with nearly 48% of the vote against four opponents.
“Tonight's victory is not for any one person,” Ciscomani said to about 175 supporters during an acceptance speech at his campaign headquarters in Tucson. “It's a victory for Arizona. It's a victory for our country because we're just 98 days away from finally making Nancy Pelosi a former speaker of the House.”
He said Congress needs to deal with inflation, the high cost of gas and oil, the high cost of living and border security.
“This is a national security issue as much as it is a humanitarian issue,” he said. “This administration has not only created this crisis, but they've decided to ignore it. We need people in D.C. who are going to take these issues seriously.”
Ciscomani is a senior advisor to Gov. Doug Ducey on regional and international affairs. He previously served as a senior program development specialist at the University of Arizona and was vice president of outreach for the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
The newly drawn CD6 stretches from midtown Tucson through Graham and Greenlee counties and most of Cochise County and up into Casa Grande.
U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, a Democrat, currently holds the seat in what used to be CD2 before this year’s redistricting. She did not run for reelection. CD2 was long known as a competitive district, being held by a Republican or a Democrat in recent years.
