From Arizona Agenda -
The Daily Agenda: Congressional scramble!
Republican U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko blindsided Arizona’s political junkies yesterday when she announced she has had enough of the swamp.
“Right now, Washington D.C. is broken; it is hard to get anything done,” she wrote, declaring she won’t run for reelection next year so she can spend more time with her mother and grandchildren.
Already, the scramble is on to replace her. There are rumors that last year’s U.S. Senate GOP nominee Blake Masters might get in the race. That Mark Lamb might drop out of the Senate race and run for the West Valley district instead. That Arizona Treasurer Kim Yee could resign and run, or that any number of Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Ben Toma and Rep. Steve Montenegro, might be eyeing the soon-to-be-vacant seat.
Kari Lake has already announced she’s backing failed Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh, who made it official and jumped into the race a few hours after getting slapped with $55,000 in court sanctions for making things up in his election lawsuit.
Two things here:
1. I'm NOT saying that the folks at AZ Agenda are wrong (they know way more about this stuff than I do) but if Lamb enters this race, he'll have an uphill battle. While under Section II of the US Constitution, he only has to live in the state to be a Congresscritter in any district in the state, in practical terms, it's a good idea to live in the district or at least in the county of the district.
And while the Pinal County Sheriff lives in AZ, he most assuredly doesn't live in the district or even in Maricopa County.
2. The person most relieved by Lesko's decision may be...fellow Republican Congresscritter David Schweikert.
One (or more) of the people looking Lesko's seat may have been looking at mounting a primary challenge to ethically-deprived Schweikert (his lack of ethics doesn't bother them, but lack of Gosar-esque insanity may trouble them), but that's no longer a safe R seat.
Lesko's seat is.
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