63 Days to Election Day: Kirsten Engel

Who: Kirsten Engel

Where: AZ-06 (the eastern two-thirds of Tucson, and areas east to the border with New Mexico and south to the border with Mexico)

hy: Arizona is arguably the most important state in the union this November. It’s a crucial battleground for the Harris/Walz ticket, it has a close race for an open Senate seat in which Ruben Gallego is hoping to best Kari Lake, and it has two House districts that are prime for flipping from Red to Blue.

In AZ-06, Kirsten Engel, an environmental attorney and University of Arizona College of Law professor, is a very strong opponent against Trump-endorsed first-term incumbent Juan Ciscomani. This is a rematch of a close 2022 race in a district that Biden would have carried by a whisker in 2020 if the district had existed in its current form. Gabby Giffords represented a similar area from 2007 to 2012.

Engel, a former Arizona state house legislator, is an advocate for reproductive rights, clean energy and securing the state’s water future—and for showing Arizonans what a functioning Congress looks like. She describes Ciscomani as an extremist who doesn’t reflect the values of their district: He voted for repealing the clean energy tax credits that were in the Inflation Reduction Act, supported keeping Arizona’s 1864 criminal abortion ban in place, and serves on the board of the Patriot Academy, a Christian Nationalist organization.

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