Amish Shah set for Jay Feely House race in Arizona swing district
The Associated Press projects Shah won the Democratic primary in Arizona’s 1st District, setting up a general election fight with Republican Jay Feely.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
Democrat Amish Shah is headed for a general election showdown with Republican Jay Feely in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District after Tuesday’s primaries, according to a projection from The Associated Press.
Shah, a physician and former state legislator, defeated Marlene Galán-Woods, a former Republican who had support from the national Democratic Party. CBS News reported the result as another setback for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee after its preferred candidates also lost primaries in Maine’s 2nd District and California’s 22nd District.
The race now moves to one of the country’s most closely watched House battlegrounds. Arizona’s 1st District includes Scottsdale and areas to its northeast, according to CBS News.
The seat is open because Republican Rep. David Schweikert, who has served eight terms in Congress, ran instead for governor. The Associated Press projected that Schweikert lost Tuesday’s Republican gubernatorial primary to Rep. Andy Biggs.
Schweikert has represented the current 1st District since 2023. Before that, he served in Arizona’s 5th and 6th congressional districts, according to CBS News.
A Democratic rematch
Shah and Galán-Woods had already faced each other once before. Both ran in the 2024 Democratic primary, when Shah became the party’s nominee. He then lost the general election to Schweikert by nearly 4 percentage points, according to CBS News. Galán-Woods placed third in that earlier primary.
Galán-Woods is a former broadcast journalist and was married to Grant Woods, the late former Arizona attorney general. CBS News reported that Grant Woods left the Republican Party over President Trump.
Last month, Galán-Woods signed a pledge criticizing the Democratic Party’s left wing after primary wins by democratic socialists, according to CBS News. The move underscored a fight inside the party over its future direction.
Shah’s win gives Democrats a nominee who has already run across the district, while national party influence in the primary takes another hit.
Feely wins the GOP side
On the Republican side, Feely defeated former state lawmaker Joseph Chaplik, according to CBS News. Chaplik, a member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, left his legislative seat to focus on the congressional campaign.
Feely is a former NFL player and former CBS Sports analyst. He first ran in Arizona’s 5th District, but President Trump endorsed one of his opponents there and urged Feely on Truth Social to seek another district or a different office, according to CBS News.
Trump later gave a dual endorsement in the 1st District Republican primary to Feely and Gina Swoboda, the former chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party. Swoboda later left the race and launched a campaign for Arizona secretary of state. CBS News reported that Trump issued another endorsement of Feely earlier this month.
The November contest will now put Shah, the repeat Democratic nominee, against Feely, a Trump-backed Republican newcomer to the district race, in a seat both parties are expected to fight hard for.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.