Harris Campaign, Engel Canvas in Arizona’s Border Battleground District

Democratic House hopeful Kirsten Engel speaks to volunteers at a canvassing event in Tucson, Arizona, on July 28, 2024. Nathan Worcester/The Epoch Times

Democratic Party volunteers and politicos gathered at a campaign office in Tucson, Arizona, over the weekend for a pre-primary canvassing push that promoted the party’s expected presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and provided a platform for House candidate Kirsten Engel.

The event was one of several across Arizona in the weekend before the July 30 primary.

“She is hitting all the notes that I’m hitting in my campaign, most importantly the reproductive rights issue,” Ms. Engel, an environmental and administrative law professor at the University of Arizona, said of Ms. Harris in an interview with The Epoch Times.

“We’re excited about how much turnout there is today,” Alia Kapasi, Ms. Engel’s campaign manager, told The Epoch Times.

On the morning of July 28, 100 days from the general election, about 11 people sat in the audience when Ms. Engel spoke to them. On a folding table nearby sat the clipboards that volunteers would carry.

While Arizona’s Sixth Congressional District is a battleground district in a battleground state, the stakes aren’t as high for Ms. Engel in the primary. The former state senator isn’t facing any competition from fellow Democrats as she prepares for her rematch with incumbent Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.).

She narrowly lost to him before, in 2022. Ms. Engel told The Epoch Times that national backing from the Democrats will make the difference this time. It’s one of the districts targeted for a flip by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this cycle.

Although Mr. Ciscomani was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, he has previously praised Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), now deceased, a Trump foe who was once a decisive influence on the Arizona GOP.

In Kathleen Winn, he has a primary opponent running to his right. Ms. Winn has taken issue with Mr. Ciscomani’s record of voting with Democrats more than other Arizona Republicans in the House, something the freshman congressman has trumpeted as a positive on social media.

Mr. Ciscomani’s high ranking for bipartisanship—45th in Congress per the 2023 Lugar Index—appears to track with the partisan realities of his territory. The Cook Partisan Voting Index gives the Sixth District an R+3 rating. The Cook Political Report rates the district a toss-up. Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball moved it to “Toss-up” from “ Leans Republican” earlier this year.

Dave Smith, the chair of the Pima County Republican Party, told The Epoch Times he thinks Mr. Ciscomani votes too often with Democrats but that he’s willing to back him.

“I will support him if he wins the primary,” he said.

On the other side, Ms. Engel highlighted her opponent’s opposition to the Democrat-led border deal earlier this year. The deal was a $118 billion legislative compromise that also included funding for Ukraine and Israel. It failed in the Senate on Feb. 7. Much of the district lies on or near the southern border.

“We need a much tougher approach to stop this crisis,” Mr. Ciscomani wrote of the bipartisan package in a Feb. 6 social media post.

A Democratic campaign office in Tucson, Ariz., on July 28, 2024. Nathan Worcester/The Epoch Times

“To me, there doesn’t seem to be such a thing as a moderate Republican, and we certainly don’t have that in my opponent, Juan Ciscomani,” Ms. Engel told The Epoch Times.

Mr. Ciscomani has taken issue with Ms. Engel’s border-related stances, calling them “too extreme,” in a video posted on July 23 on social media platform X.

He drew attention to her denial that Arizona faces an “immigration crisis” during a 2022 debate with other Democratic hopefuls hosted by PBS.