Republican congressional candidate Edna San Miguel dropped out of the Congressional District 3 race Tuesday, leaving incumbent U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a Democrat, with no formal opposition in the November election.
A write-in candidate, Harvey Martin, will not appear on the November ballot.
During a Tuesday morning hearing, San Miguel told Pima County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Bergin she was resigning from the race “under duress.”
She said she was told by lawyers that she could face lawsuits over recovering their legal fees incurred during a petition challenge.
Betty Villegas, a Pima County resident, filed the challenge, claiming a number of the signatures San Miguel collected in her petition to be added to the CD3 ballot were invalid.
A report by the Pima County Recorder’s Office said 1,251 of San Miguel’s 2,035 signatures were invalid.
That left her with 784 valid signatures — 80 short of the 864 needed to meet the minimum signature requirement to be on the CD3 ballot.
Attorney Vince Rabago, who represents Villegas, said there were a number of other issues with the petitions, in addition to the invalid signatures that the Recorder’s Office had already disqualified.
San Miguel’s withdrawal disqualifies her from the race as a Republican and as a write-in candidate as well.
She officially withdrew during Tuesday’s hearing, but sent an email to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office the night before indicating she would drop out.
“Please consider this communication as my withdrawal from the Congressional District 3 U.S. Representative race in Arizona,” San Miguel said in the email.
San Miguel originally indicated in the email that she did not intend to attend the hearing, but told court staff Tuesday that she would .
With San Miguel arriving late to her hearing, court officials were confused as to her intentions.
Some were concerned that she was reconsidering her decision to withdraw from the race.
Bergin then delayed the hearing until 10 a.m., when San Miguel and representatives from her campaign arrived.
