His Democratic-leaning district remapped into one that leaned heavily Republican, U.S. Rep. Tom O’Halleran could have just retired and ceded the sprawling Arizona district he was virtually certain to lose to the Republican who ended up victorious in Tuesday's election. He didn’t.
“That’s not who I am,” the three-term Democrat said Friday from his home in Sedona. “I could have said no. I felt that we needed to try to defend it because of the needs of not only the state but the country. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some. At least you get into the game.”
O’Halleran was the most vulnerable incumbent in Arizona’s nine-member congressional delegation and lost to businessman and former Navy Seal Eli Crane, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. The Associated Press called the race late Thursday after additional votes were counted.
