TUCSON — When it comes to endangered species in Arizona, there are the bonytail chub, the Sonoran pronghorn and, perhaps soon, the Congressional Democrat.
Of the state’s eight House members, five are Democrats. That may change next Tuesday, with four of the five in varying degrees of trouble. Democrats, Republicans and independents are about evenly split in Arizona, but Republicans could soon have a virtual lock on the upper reaches of power in the state.
“It’s high anxiety for Democrats everywhere, but it’s especially so in Arizona,” said Barry Dill, a Democratic strategist in Phoenix who is still hopeful that the party’s incumbents can rebound in the final days before Election Day.
Representative Ed Pastor, who represents western Phoenix, is considered safe. And in the race for the open seat in the Third Congressional District, Jon Hulburd has been locked in a close contest against Ben Quayle, son of former Vice President Dan Quayle. But elsewhere in Arizona, Democrats are on the defensive, even incumbents who were thought to dominate their districts, like Representative Raúl M. Grijalva in the Democratic-leaning Seventh District.
In Congress since 2003, and before that a county supervisor and a school board member, Mr. Grijalva enjoyed relative cakewalks in his previous elections. But not this time.
In a humbling reversal, Mr. Grijalva, 62, is fighting for his political life against a virtual unknown, Ruth McClung, an Idaho native who moved to Arizona in 2000 to go to college. Ms. McClung, 28, has the support of Tea Party activists and is receiving major support from outsiders like Sarah Palin and Americans for Tax Reform.
The tables have clearly turned. It is usually the challengers who struggle to persuade entrenched incumbents to debate them. This time around, with incumbency a dirty word, some challengers are playing hard to get.
Full Story: Arizona House Democrats Try to Fight Off Extinction – NYTimes.com
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