Amish Shah, a physician and former Arizona legislator, has surged ahead in the Democratic primary for Arizona's 1st Congressional District even as national party officials and millions in outside money worked aggressively to boost his rival.
With 84% of votes counted, Shah held a 7-point lead over Marlene Galán-Woods, a former journalist backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, and party operatives in Washington. NBC News had not yet called the race.
The result represents a striking rejection of the party establishment's preferred candidate in what is shaping up as one of the nation's most competitive House races. Shah's resilience also marks the third time this cycle that a DCCC-backed primary candidate has fallen short, following losses in Maine and California.
Shah ran his campaign on his record as a state legislator and emergency room physician, arguing he had fought back against Republican policies and would continue that work in Congress. He emphasized healthcare access and abortion rights as core issues. When outside groups unleashed attack ads questioning his legislative votes and claiming conservative alignments on social issues, Shah struck back, deriding what he called "dark money groups" spreading "deliberate disinformation" and blaming national Democrats for putting their "thumb on the scale."
He went further in a New York Times interview, attacking what he described as a "broken cabal" within the party hierarchy.
The primary clash unfolded in a district that is expected to be deeply competitive in November. Shah lost to Republican David Schweikert in 2024 by a narrow margin. Schweikert sought to move up to the governor's race this year but fell short in the GOP primary.
The Republican nominee for the seat is Jay Feely, a former professional football kicker who won his primary on Tuesday with backing from President Donald Trump. At his election night event, Feely highlighted the seat's importance to House control, calling it one of only three to five districts nationwide that could determine which party holds the chamber.
Feely has built his campaign around Trump's endorsement while attacking Democrats on inflation and housing costs. He initially ran in Arizona's safer 5th District before switching to the 1st, where Trump carried the district by 3 points in 2024. Democrats plan to counter by tying Feely directly to Trump, betting that moderate Arizona voters who have resisted Trump-backed candidates in recent years will reject him again.
The other major Arizona House battleground, the 6th District in the southeastern part of the state, presented little suspense. Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani faces Marine veteran and congressional aide JoAnna Mendoza.
In the 2nd District, Democrats nominated Jonathan Nez, the former Navajo Nation President, to challenge Republican Rep. Eli Crane in a rematch after losing by 9 points two years ago. Trump won that district by 15 points in 2024.
Trump-endorsed Mark Lamb, a former Pinal County Sheriff, won the Republican primary for Andy Biggs' open 5th District seat. Lamb is expected to easily win that suburban Phoenix seat, which Trump carried by 20 points in 2024. The endorsement came despite an Arizona Republican investigation that found his church examined allegations of sexual impropriety against him. Lamb has denied the allegations, and the Pinal County attorney's office closed its own investigation, finding no criminal violation or abuse of power.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Shah's primary triumph exposes real fractures in Democratic unity when the establishment picks wrong, and his path to general election survival just got a lot clearer."
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