Kirsten Engel and Juan Ciscomani
By Camryn Sanchez || Arizona Capitol Times
Candidates in a competitive new congressional district are lobbing false allegations at one another in ads over abortion and police support.
Republican Juan Ciscomani claimed in an ad that his opponent, Democrat Kirsten Engel, wants to “defund the police,” which she denied. She claimed in an ad that Ciscomani wants an abortion ban with no exceptions, and wants to prosecute women who seek abortions, which Ciscomani denied.
After last year’s redistricting process, the new 6th Congressional District emerged in Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick’s district, but Kirkpatrick, a Democrat, isn’t running for re-election.
Without an incumbent running, the race between Ciscomani and Engel is neck-in neck.
“My opponent Kirsten Engel is lying to distract from her extreme record. Engel is supported by Nancy Pelosi, she’ll make inflation worse, defund the police and release criminals,” Ciscomani said in his ad titled “The Truth.”
Ciscomani’s campaign consultant Daniel Scarpinato said the basis for this claim is the fact that Engel is endorsed by the pro-abortion nonprofit NARAL Pro-Choice America. NARAL tweeted last year that it wants to defund the police. Engel also used to work as an attorney for Earthjustice, which was then called the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. Earthjustice said online that it supports some form of defunding the police in 2020.
