Gabrielle Giffords' Retirement Causes Political Fallout In Arizona

With partisan political fever seemingly at an all-time high, every seat counts as the Democratic and Republican parties compete to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

This means that despite bipartisan good wishes for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), and a uniting sense of inspiration from her remarkable recovery, the race for the swing seat Giffords' retirement leaves open will be very competitive.

In 2010, Giffords won the Tucson-area seat by just 1.3 percent. Now Republicans are lining up to try to win it back.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio), who teared up during Giffords' resignation ceremony Wednesday, said the GOP is well-positioned to win the seat, Politico reports. Already Jesse Kelly, the Tea Party-backed Republican who lost to Giffords in the midterms, has filed to run in the Republican special primary.

Still, if Giffords chooses to endorse a candidate, a backing from the very popular former congresswoman could give Democrats a leg up.

Democrats have said it's too early to tell who will jump in the race, but a few names have been floated: State Sen. Linda Lopez (a friend of Giffords), State Senate Minority Whip Paula Aboud, State Rep. Steve Farley, Pima County Supervisor Ramon Valadez, and businesswoman Nan Stockholm Walden.

Speculation swirled that Giffords' husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, would make a bid for the seat, but Kelly said definitively this week that he's not running.

Democrats also floated Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a former two-term governor of Arizona, but she too said she has no intention of running. On the Republican side, State Sen. Frank Antenori and college sports TV broadcaster Dave Sitton have been named as potential candidates.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has set a special primary election for April, and the special general election will be held in June. No matter who jumps in the race, the district is bound to be closely watched in the coming weeks and months.

More election news from beyond the presidential field:

Republican Ex-Gov. Tommy Thompson leads the pack in Wisconsin's tossup Senate race [AP]

Former Nebraska Gov. Bob Kerrey will announce decision very soon about whether to run for Senate in his home state, and isn't worried about carpetbagger claim [New York Times]

Scott Brown is the second-most bipartisan senator, study says [Boston Globe]

Poll shows trouble for Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh (R), who's trailing a generic Democrat 35 percent to 49 percent [HuffPost]

First he was running for U.S. Senate, then Congress, and now Ed Martin announces he'll run for attorney general in Missouri [STLToday]

With less than a week until Oregon's special election, the knives come out [RollCall]

Earlier on HuffPost:

 

 

Comments

[oscartucker]

08:11 PM on 01/26/2012

"Poll shows trouble for Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh (R), who's trailing a generic Democrat 35 percent to 49 percent [HuffPost]"

****Yeah Joe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Aldous Jose A Castro]

08:02 PM on 01/26/2012

The Republican Base did a good job removing Gabrielle Giffords from office. The GOP should send that "lone" supporter of theirs a thank you note.

[mistercoyote]

07:22 PM on 01/26/2012

Give the Republicans another 10 months and they won't win a single election outside the deep south.

[fxcruiser]

03:36 PM on 02/12/2012

Last time that happened, the parties were reversed. It was the Democrats in the south that succeeded from the Republicans in the north. (And the republicans won that campaign as well 5 years later)

[kimhoulian]

07:20 PM on 01/26/2012

unemployment is 8.7 in AZ. All politics are not local when Congress comes together as one body and vote on issues that can affect the entire United States. If you don't blame your governor for an 8.7 unemployment rate and don't hold your Congressperson responsible for it either, how do you justify constitutionally blaming the United State President.

Vote Obama 2012 and for Congress people who will work with him and for the middle and working class.

[fxcruiser]

03:40 PM on 02/12/2012

It is presidents like Obama which prevent job opportunities in the private sector from being created for example the Keystone Pipeline. Where are those jobs AND the dependence on Middle East oil going to? It is going to China, the same country that is the holder of our I.O.U. that our kids and grand kids will be paying. It is probably time you turn in your Facebook typing badges and do some real serious economic research.

[kimhoulian]

06:52 PM on 02/12/2012

So I assume you were not educated about our government policies or practices before Jan.2009 ( you know when President Obama too office) Furthermore I assume you do not know we were indebted to China long before Jan 2009? in August of 2008 unemployme­nt was 6.1 and rising, in January of 2009 the unemployme­nt was 7.6 and employers were still shedding jobs. To say President Obama could have reversed the economy in his first two when the job market had yet to finish shedding jobs due the Bush Administra­tion is ridiculous­. President Bush had eight years to create a thriving economy and he did just the opposite. President is doing a great job to trying to reduce the damage of the Bush years and he has only been in office 36 months, mind you 12 of those months we were still living under the Bush federal budget signed Oct 2008.

I would strongly advise you to take a basic civic class and start paying attention to your local, state, and federal government instead of looking at the exterior shading of the President who was elected to office.