Republican Arizona Congressman Dave Schweikert on Tuesday told the Washington Post that he’s suffered enough “intense frustration” with an “intellectually calcified” Congress and will instead throw in the Grand Canyon State’s GOP gubernatorial primary, a field that’s already a little crowded and in which convicted felon President Trump has already doubly endorsed both miserable white nationalist MAGA Congressman Andy Biggs and 2022 primary loser Karrin Taylor Robson.
Schweikert’s announcement, making him now the 15th Republican in the chamber to call it quits on DC so far this cycle, seems pretty likely to have less of an impact on the gubernatorial race than it does control of the House as his seat in Arizona’s 1st District has been seen as among the most highly competitive on the map nationally since it was drawn in 2021. Schwiekert squeaked by with a less than 1 percent margin win in 2022 and then slightly more comfortably at 3.8 percent in 2024.
Trump had in July successfully hounded “moderate” Congressmen Mike Lawler and Bill Huizenga to stay put in the House and out of the New York gubernatorial and Michigan Senate GOP primaries, respectively, to protect their vulnerable seats. It was a power move to maintain the incumbency advantage that either didn’t work on Schweikert or, maybe even more likely, that the fat bastard was too distracted to even try it, endangering a critical swing seat and forcing the NRCC to spend.