2006 Arizona's 1st congressional district election

The Arizona 1st congressional district election, 2006 was an election for the United States House of Representatives. The two main candidates were two-term Republican incumbent Rick Renzi and Democratic civil rights attorney Ellen Simon. Renzi defeated Simon by eight points.

Candidates

 * Rick Renzi (Republican), incumbent U.S. Representative since 2003
 * Ellen Simon (Democratic), civil rights attorney
 * David Schlosser (Libertarian), public relations manager

Primary campaign
Arizona has an open-primary. There were seven candidates who ran in the 2006-09-16 primary, five of them Democratic, Libertarian David Schlosser, and Republican Rick Renzi. Among the five Democrats, Simon won a decisive victory. The three candidates who received the most votes in their party advanced to the general election.

General election
At one point, Renzi appeared to have an easy race for his third term when Democrat Jack Jackson Jr., a Native American former state representative, dropped his challenge. Democrats then drafted civil rights attorney Ellen Simon, who won the Democratic primary. Despite entering the race in May, Simon had been able to raise $821,595 as of August 23. However, she still trailed Renzi significantly in cash on hand as Renzi held on to a slight lead in the polls.

Then-President George W. Bush spoke at a fundraiser for Renzi, saying that "He's got his priorities straight. He prioritizes his faith. He loves his family -- all of them."

In mid-August CQPolitics changed their rating of this race from Safe Republican to Leans Republican. The most recent Cook Political Report rating was: Leans Republican.

On 2006-10-24, federal officials opened an inquiry into Congressman Renzi. It began when a local landowner filed a complaint that said that Renzi had pressured him into buying land he owned in exchange for his support on the landowner's petition with the federal government for a land swap. When that landowner refused, Renzi sold the land to a second company, who funneled the $200,000 payment ($0 adjusted for inflation) through a wine company his father owned. Nevertheless, as some of these details didn't come to light after the election, Renzi was able to hold on to his lead and won by eight percentage points.