O’Halleran, D-Ariz., won his seat in the 2016 election, and won additional terms in 2018 and 2020. He is unopposed in this year’s Democratic primary election. /Gary Sizemore
Republican congressional candidates who want a shot to unseat one of the nation’s most endangered House Democrats clashed Wednesday in a face-to-face debate in Arizona’s race for the 2nd Congressional District that spans the northeastern part of the state.
The trio sparred over Arizona officials’ handling of the 2020 election results, illegal immigration and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot a the U.S. Capitol.
The winner of the Aug. 2 GOP primary election will face incumbent Rep. Tom O’Halleran, a three-term centrist Democrat whose district in the past has been one of the state’s most competitive.
Arizona’s new congressional maps have redrawn him into a district that still includes northeastern Arizona, but now includes the Prescott area and is considered more GOP friendly.
Three of the seven Republicans who want to oust O’Halleran — state Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake; Ron Watkins, a computer scientist who has been believed to be a central player in the QAnon conspiracy theory; and Andy Yates, a small business owner from Prescott — cast themselves as best qualified to represent the rural area.
The other candidates, architect Mark DeLuzio, farmer and small business owner Steven Krystofiak, Williams mayor John Moore, and former Navy SEAL Eli Crane, did not participate. Three declined to debate and one did not respond to the invitation, host Ted Simons said.
