AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Arizona is holding primary elections today. It is the only state doing so. And it's home to several congressional races that could help determine the balance of power in the U.S. House. Now, even though the economy is top of mind for many voters in other places, the big story in Arizona's Republican primary has been which candidate received President Trump's endorsement. Wayne Schutsky of member station KJZZ in Phoenix joins us now. Hi, Wayne.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY, BYLINE: Hello.
CHANG: OK, so of the 18 congressional districts across the country that are considered, like, true toss-ups, two of them are in Arizona, right? So how is President Trump's endorsement coming into play for Republicans who want to represent those districts?
SCHUTSKY: Well, Trump's influence has really defined the race in Congressional District 1. This is a affluent Phoenix-area district where Congressman David Schweikert has successfully fended off Democrats for years. But he left to run for governor, and now the front-runner on the Republican side is former NFL kicker Jay Feely, who was propelled to that position by Trump's endorsement. And Trump and Turning Point actually convinced Feely to get out of that race - this race in a nearby safe Republican district to pave the way for their chosen candidate there. And Feely's facing Joseph Chaplik, who's a former lawmaker, also a very MAGA candidate. So both Chaplik and Feely are really in support of the Trump agenda. So we're not really seeing any policy differences. Instead, we're just seeing kind of a personality attacks type of campaign going on.
CHANG: Oh, great. Fun. OK, so what about other - the other competitive House race there in Arizona?
SCHUTSKY: Yeah, that's CD6 in southern Arizona near Tucson and a lot of rural areas down there. It's represented by Juan Ciscomani, a Republican with Trump's endorsement. He actually didn't face a primary challenge, but he's already being attacked by Democrats over his ties to Trump in that endorsement and especially his support of the Big Beautiful Bill because of the effects it has on SNAP food assistance funding, Medicaid, funding for rural hospitals. And he's actually already being hit with attacks by his likely Democratic opponent on that topic, who also didn't face a primary challenge. And so that's kind of giving us a little look into what a general election could look like for some of these Trump-backed candidates in these competitive districts.
CHANG: Yeah. I know that you've also been reporting on a competitive primary in a safe Republican district. This is east of Phoenix. So I imagine that's a real test - right? - of the kind of influence Trump's endorsement could have. Can you tell us more about that contest?
SCHUTSKY: Yeah. So as I said, this is that district where Trump actually convinced Jay Feely to move into the competitive CD1...
CHANG: Ah.
SCHUTSKY: ...To pave the way for Mark Lamb. He's a former county sheriff in the community, and he's now kind of the front-runner there with Trump's endorsement and Feely getting out of the race. And Trump's endorsement has also provided a lot of protection for the Lamb campaign because The Arizona Republic, our paper of record out here, has done some extensive reporting on a sexting scandal involving Lamb, where he's accused of kind of pursuing extramarital relationships and that kind of thing. So all of that has caught the attention of some Republican voters like Dennis Poulin. I spoke with him at an event hosted by Daniel Keenan, who's a local homebuilder running against Lamb in the primary.
DENNIS POULIN: I have a philosophy of, in my life, that behavior never lies. So if what you say and what you do is in conflict, well, then that's a problem.
SCHUTSKY: But it's still unclear whether those concerns will actually eat into Lamb's support because of the president's endorsement. You know, he's denied the allegations. The president recently doubled down on the endorsement. And some other voters I heard from just believe the scandal is kind of a smear campaign going after this Trump-aligned guy. And many politicos out here still expect Lamb to walk away with it just because he's so well known in the area and that endorsement might just be too much to overcome.
CHANG: That is Wayne Schutsky of KJZZ in Phoenix. Thank you so much, Wayne.
SCHUTSKY: Yeah, thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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