The race for Congressional District 1 is considered one of the most competitive in the nation, with both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee trying to boost their party’s candidate to victory.
Republican Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu and Democratic former state Sen. Tom O’Halleran both want the open seat, vacated when Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick decided to try to unseat long-serving Republican Sen. John McCain.
A fixture in Pinal County politics, residents in other parts of the district might know Babeu best for walking side-by-side with then-presidential candidate McCain in a political ad when McCain uttered the phrase, “Complete the danged (border) fence.”
O’Halleran is better known in the northern part of the state. He is a former Republican state lawmaker who lost his seat in 2008 when he was challenged by Prescott rancher and businessman Steve Pierce.
Two years ago, O’Halleran attempted to get his Senate seat back by running as an independent. He now identifies as a Democrat, and easily defeated his Democratic rival in the August primary.
The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan online newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns says the race is too close to call, labeling it a “Democratic toss-up.”
THE DISTRICT’S
BIG ISSUES
Shortly after learning he had won the Republican primary last month, Babeu shifted his focus to what he called the single largest issue in the district — coal.
Less understood in the southernmost part of the vast district, Babeu said the Environmental Protection Agency has overstepped its mandate by announcing mandatory cuts in the use of coal for power generation.
Such proposals could close the coal-powered Navajo generating station, putting thousands out of work, constricting regional energy supplies and likely fueling increases in energy rates.
Speaking out against the EPA has solidified a Republican base wary of federal mandates and has served as an attack against O’Halleran, who once served as a consultant to environmental groups.
“There are 3,000 jobs directly connected to the four coal-fired generating stations in Arizona,” Babeu said. “They are all in District 1.”
O’Halleran also opposes the EPA’s mandates, saying they were made without being part of a national energy policy and without concern to how they would affect rural communities.
“This is not that competitiveness is taking us out, this is government coming in … without any concern about you, the school district, the fire district or the community around these power plants,” he said. “Some of our best jobs in the district are either at the power plants or at the mines on the Navajo Reservation.”
Both men believe in climate change, with O’Halleran saying he pressured the Bureau of Reclamation to include climate change in its modeling system for the Colorado River more than a decade ago.
Babeu says he wants to see the coal industry adopt new technology to cut pollution. However, he believes it would take more than a decade to bring new energy sources like natural gas to rural Arizona.
O’Halleran notes that even Hillary Clinton has an energy plan using coal.
“Everybody has talked about it,” he said.
BABEU: TIME TO ACT
ON IMMIGRATION
On the campaign trail, Babeu still gets questions about getting comprehensive immigration reform through Congress. He remains optimistic that Congress will tackle the issue next year.
“So many people have asked me that same question, ‘Is this ever going to get resolved?’” said Babeu. “The most important issues in this country seem to percolate to the point that is becomes a crisis for us to finally act. I think we are there now.”
The biggest issue, for him, continues to be securing the border against possible terrorists sneaking into the country.
“Securing the border has a new meaning now, and not just because of illegal immigration or drug cartels that we’ve really focused on,” he said. “With the advent of ISIS and terrorists, it stands to reason that if this volume of people are crossing undetected with military training and all of the financial resources at their disposal, that they can get in just as easy, if not easier.”
He stopped short of saying how often he believed such people were crossing into Arizona from Mexico.
“I am not saying that there is a mad rush of these individuals. What I am saying is that it should raise eyebrows,” Babeu said. “All of us should want a sovereign, secure border because of that.”
Babeu has had his share of political scandals, including allegations that abusive disciplinary practices were used on students at a private school he once ran in Massachusetts and media reports that the fierce opponent of illegal immigration had a romantic relationship with an immigrant.
Babeu has dismissed the attacks as thinly veiled political hit pieces, going so far as to file a bar complaint against Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark for her allegations that Babeu attempted to thwart an investigation into the school.
Babeu ran the school 15 years ago.
The primary was also hard on Babeu, as two of his sisters endorsed one of his Republican rivals, Wendy Rogers.
“Paul thinks only of himself and his political career at the expense of others. He does not care about the people whom elected officials are called to serve,” sister Veronica Babeu Keating said in a prepared statement.
O’HALLERAN: I HAVEN’T CHANGED; THE GOP HAS
O’Halleran’s break from the Republican party happened years ago.
“My values haven’t changed. This is what I’ve done all along,” he said. “What has changed is the party I was with.”
His core issue is how GOP leadership slashed education funding in 2009 when facing a state budget crisis.
O’Halleran said he was devastated that the Legislature was willing to sacrifice K-12 education as well as money to community colleges and the state universities rather than making cuts elsewhere.
“It is short-sighted and not the direction our country should be going in,” O’Halleran said.
Additionally, the Legislature dismantled reforms he helped to enact regarding Child Protective Services by gutting funding.
“Tearing apart families is not leadership,” he said.
He said he ran for Congress once learning that his friend Ann Kirkpatrick, with whom he served in the Legislature, was running for another office.
“I ran because I feel that Congress has let people down,” he said.
Topping his political priorities is a jobs plan that focuses on education, job training and improvements in infrastructure — particularly broadband internet service — in rural parts of the state.
He believes high-speed Internet access is essential for education and small businesses to survive and to allow rural Arizonans to compete in the 21st century.
