Who is David Schweikert? What to know about this Arizona congressman who barely avoided defeat

Rep. David Schweikert won a surprisingly close election against Democratic challenger Jevin Hodge.

After trailing Hodge for much of the week, Schweikert, R-Ariz., took the lead Sunday night by 894 votes. His lead had expanded Tuesday by 3,008 votes.

Schweikert will represent Arizona's 1st Congressional District in what will be in his seventh term in the U.S. House of Representatives. The recently redrawn district encompasses Scottsdale, Cave Creek, Paradise Valley and parts of north Phoenix.

What is David Schweikert's political resume?

Schweikert, 60, is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, a powerful committee that is responsible for overseeing tax regulation and entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Prior to serving in Congress, Schweikert was a state representative in the Arizona House of Representatives and as Maricopa County treasurer. He has been in Congress for more than a decade since defeating Democratic incumbent Rep. Harry Mitchell in 2010.

What is Schweikert's top priority?

The economy is a major issue for Schweikert, who represents one of the wealthiest areas in Arizona.

He told The Republic in a questionnaire: "Congress needs to bring federal spending under control and get the country’s budget on a path to balancing. The failure to control government spending has played a major role in the out-of-control inflation Arizona is now experiencing."

Schweikert also supported Trump's 2017 tax cuts, which he said were responsible for generating new employment. Democrats argue that those tax cuts only aid the richest Americans.

Why was the 1st Congressional District race between Schweikert and Hodge so close?

A variety of factors made the race close, including: candidate quality, fundraising, demographic changes in the district, fatigue with former President Donald Trump and Schweikert's ethics violations.

Who is the Democrat who nearly beat Schweikert?

Hodge was a strong candidate who outperformed expectations.

Chuck Coughlin, president and CEO of the Phoenix-based consulting firm HighGround Inc., told The Republic: "Hodge ran a surprisingly competitive race,"  he said.  "And … with some more help from national Democrats, or the organized Democratic structure, may have prevailed if they had supported him more fully."

Hodge earlier defeated Phoenix basketball executive Adam Metzendorf in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary. Like his 2020 Maricopa Board of Supervisors run, Hodge once again came up achingly short in his bid for Congress.

Politics runs in the family for the 28-year-old, who leads the oldest Head Start Program in Arizona. His mother, Berdetta Hodge, is a member of the Tucson City Council and, according to her profile, became in 2016 the city's first Black woman voted into that office.

What are Schweikert's ethics issues about?

Schweikert has long been plagued by various ethics issues surrounding campaign funds. While he has has put much of the responsibility for these violations on his ex-chief of staff Oliver Schwab, Schweikert's scandals have hurt his ability to fundraise.

Earlier this year, the Federal Election Commission assessed Schweikert $125,000 in financial penalties for not properly recording and utilizing campaign money.

This was preceded by the U.S. House of Representatives issuing a formal reprimand and $50,000 fine for 11 ethics breaches that Schweikert admitted violating. Those include using campaign dollars for personal use and improper spending of his members' allowance, which is funded by taxpayers.

In 2021, Schwab independently made a deal with the FEC for his rule transgressions.

Ugly GOP primary: Schweikert, Norton question each other's ethics

Did money make a difference in the race?

Hodge was an exceptional fundraiser, which is one of the reasons why the race was so close. By contrast, Schweikert had lackluster fundraising skills in part because of his prior record with campaign funds that led to his ethics violations.

Between April 1 and Oct. 19, Hodge had about $2.23 million in total receipts, with about approximately $1.92 million coming from individual contributors.

Out of the more than $1.77 million in total receipts Schweikert had between Jan. 1 and Oct. 19, about $907,000 came from individual contributors.

What is Schweikert's political relationship like with former President Donald Trump?

Like most of the Republican congressional candidates in Arizona, Schweikert was endorsed by Trump. The former president's backing was a double-edged sword: helping Schweikert win a tough GOP primary but hurting him in the general election.

Schweikert tried to craft a nuanced position surrounding the erroneous claims repeated by Trump that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

After the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, Schweikert voted against certifying the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania while voting to certify Arizona's results.

Coughlin, the political consultant, told The Republic: "I think voters saw that as a betrayal of democracy. In the end, he participated in that and I think that hurt him," he said. "He was clearly a Trump candidate."

Is Arizona's new 1st Congressional District a purple swing district?

While the 1st district is considered competitive, it does lean Republican. It is expected to become more favorable to Democrats in the future.

However, Doug Cole, a veteran political consultant also at HighGround, said the closeness of the race may indicate that the political demographics are changing faster.

"That district is more of a swing district than... a couple months ago," he said. "It's more of a purple district now."

Coughlin said the tightness of the race could suggest a tough reelection battle for Schweikert in two years, a presidential election year when more people will vote.

"It shows that in a presidential cycle, which will be in '24, Mr. Schweikert is definitely vulnerable," he said.

Tara Kavaler is a politics reporter at The Arizona Republic. She can be reached by email at tara.kavaler@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @kavalertara. 

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What to know about AZ congressman David Schweikert