The Hottest Republican Congressional Primary Race in the Country

The fiscal watchdog organization Club for Growth is calling the Congressional primary race in Arizona’s newly redistricted CD6 the most watched Republican congressional primary race in the country. Due to Arizona gaining a new House seat and redistricting, incumbent House Republicans David Schweikert and Ben Quayle saw their districts overlap. The redistricting committee, which is controlled by the left, did this to Republicans purposely. Quayle’s house ended up barely inside of Arizona’s new CD9. Since the new CD9 contains Tempe, which is not as conservative as CD6 in the Northeast Valley, Quayle announced shortly after the redistricting that he would be running in CD6, not CD9 where he lives. He is not required to move into CD6 in order to run there.

Both Quayle and Schweikert entered office in 2011. They have taken very different paths since then. Quayle has gone along with leadership to become the establishment favorite, avoiding controversial votes rather than crossing Speaker Boehner. Quayle missed 65 votes last year. By missing votes, Quayle is able to claim he has one of the best conservative records in Congress. To avoid the perception that he votes as he is told, Quayle voted against approving the notes from the House Journal, a benign and meaningless vote that was exposed as a parliamentary procedural trick.

In contrast, Schweikert, a Tea Party favorite, has stood up to House leadership on major legislation, only missing around five votes last year. He voted against CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. CISPA grossly infringes upon privacy rights, permitting internet companies like Facebook and Google to turn over emails from their users to law enforcement without obtaining probable cause or a search warrant first. Most Republican members of Congress voted for it, since they receive large contributions from those companies for their campaigns. Schweikert also voted against SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, which would transfer vast amounts of power to the Department of Justice to shut down websites over vague intellectual property accusations. Schweikert voluntarily stepped down from his position as Deputy Whip last year on principle, unwilling to lobby other members to vote for bills he did not agree with.

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