Democratic Rep. Tom O'Halleran faces off against Republican Eli Crane in Arizona's 2nd Congressional District election
- Rep. Tom O'Halleran is running against Republican Eli Crane in Arizona's 2nd Congressional District.
- The 2nd District is a largely rural and encompasses the northwest corner of the state.
Three-term Democratic Rep. Tom O'Halleran faces off against Republican Eli Crane in Arizona's 2nd Congressional District.
Arizona's 2nd Congressional District candidates
O'Halleran, first elected in 2016, serves on the House Committees on Agriculture and Energy and Commerce.
The incumbent, who is widely considered "the most endangered incumbent in the House Democratic caucus," previously served in the Arizona State Senate as a Republican from 2007 to 2009 and in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006. In 2014, he left the GOP — citing disagreement with how the party handled education, water, and child welfare issues — only to experience an unsuccessful run as an independent candidate for state senate.
He switched parties yet again in 2016 when he first, and successfully, ran for Congress.
Crane, O'Halleran's challenger, is a combat veteran and small business owner. He has listed election integrity, national security, border security and the economy as key issues on his campaign website.
Crane served in the military for 13 years and, together with his wife Jen, created Bottle Breacher, a bottle opener company featured on the television show, "Shark Tank," that employs veterans nationwide.
Voting history for Arizona's 2nd Congressional District
Arizona's 2nd Congressional District encompasses the northwest corner of the state. The largely rural district includes Apache, Coconino, Graham, Greenlee, and Navajo counties and contains sections of Gila, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, and Yavapai counties.
Joe Biden had a near 2-percentage-point margin of victory over President Donald Trump under the district's previous boundaries in 2020 before the once-in-a-decade redistricting process following the 2020 Census made it Republican-friendly. The new district would have had Trump winning with a near 8 percentage point margin.
The money race
According to OpenSecrets, O'Halleran has raised $4 million, spent $3 million, and has about $1.1 million cash on hand, as of October 19. His opponent, Crane, has raised $3.45 million, spent $3.1 million, and has about $356,000 still left to spend, as of October 19.
As of November 4, several dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups have together spent about $6.1 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase. The pro-Crane National Republican Congressional Committee alone accounts for about 28 cents of every dollar spent by such outside groups.
What experts say
The race between O'Halleran and Crane is rated as "lean Republican" by Inside Elections,"lean Republican" by The Cook Political Report, and "leans Republican" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.