Arizona's 1st congressional district election, 2006

The Arizona 1st congressional district election, 2006 was an election for the United States House of Representatives. The two main candidates were two-term Republican incumbent Rick Renzi and Democratic civil rights attorney Ellen Simon. Renzi defeated Simon by a 52% to 44% margin.

Candidates

Republican

*Rick Renzi first won election in 2002 with only 49% of the vote and a margin of just 6,000 votes.

Democratic

*Ellen S. Simon is a civil rights attorney.

Early life and education

Simon was born and raised in a suburb of Cleveland, the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. [John Christian Hopkins, [http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/oct/100706jch_halestorm.html "Renzi release creates Hale storm: Incumbent blasted at Simon rally"] , "Gallup Independent", October 7, 2006] She graduated in 1974 from Brandeis University with a bachelor's degree in political science and urban studies . In 1979 she received a law degree from Suffolk University Law School.

Legal career

Simon served as law clerk to Judge Ann Aldrich, United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, from 1983 to 1984. [ [http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:GcfloeP6RV0J:www.ellensimonlaw.com/ellen%2520simon%2520biography.htm Cache of biography at EllenSimon.law] , accessed October 16, 2006] . After clerking, she became a well known civil rights attorney in the Cleveland area, founding her own firm, and specializing in employee protection law. She was the lead attorney in a several landmark Ohio cases. Among those were winning the first discrimination case of its kind, on behalf of an AIDS patient who was refused admission to a hospital, and winning a case in Ohio's first same-sex sexual harassment trial. [http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:GcfloeP6RV0J:www.ellensimonlaw.com/ellen%2520simon%2520biography.htm+%22ellen+simon%22+%22law+clerk%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6&client=firefox-a] In July 2001, the National Law Journal ranked her as one of the "Nation's Leading Litigators."

Simon has taught Employment Law at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

Personal

Simon is married to Blaine Tanner, who has become a campaign issue. Tanner and his previous wife separated in 1991. After the separation, there were allegation that Tanner was a "deadbeat dad." [Jon Kamman, [http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0817district10817.html "Woes of candidate's husband cloud race"] , "Arizona Republic", August 17, 2006] In response, Simon and Tanner filed a libel suit that asked for an injunction against Pamela Tanner, who lives in Canada, saying that she made numerous false and defamatory claims in the postings and accusing her of trying to extort $10 million from them by threatening media exposure. Just days before the Arizona Democratic primary, a Canadian court ruled against the ex-wife. [Aaron Blake, [http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/090606/renzi.html "Renzi challenger wins injunction against husband’s ex-wife"] , "The Hill", September 6, 2006]

Libertarian

*David Schlosser

Primary Campaign

Arizona has an open-primary. There were seven candidates who ran in the September 12, 2006 primary, five of them Democratic, Libertarian David Schlosser, and Republican Rick Renzi. Renzi collected 37,644 votes and Schlosser 606. Among the five Democrats, Simon won a decisive victory. [ [http://www.azsos.gov/results/2006/primary/DEM-1001.htm 2006 primary election results] , Arizona Secretary of State's Office, accessed October 16, 2006]

General Election

At one point, Renzi appeared to have an easy race for his third term when Democrat Jack Jackson Jr., a Native American former state representative, dropped his challenge. Democrats then drafted civil rights attorney Ellen Simon, who won the Democratic primary. Despite entering the race in May, Simon had been able to raise $821,595 as of August 23. However, she still trailed Renzi significantly in cash on hand as Renzi held on to a slight lead in the polls.

In mid-August "CQPolitics" changed their rating of this race from Safe Republican to "Leans Republican". [cite news | url=http://www.cqpolitics.com//2006/08/big_batch_of_rating_changes_re.html | author=Bob Benenson |date= 2006-08-10 |title=Big Batch of Rating Changes Reflects Stronger Democratic Breeze | publisher=CQPolitics.com] The most recent "Cook Political Report rating was: Leans Republican."

Nevertheless, Renzi was able to hold onto his lead, and won by eight percentage points. [ [http://www.azsos.gov/results/2006/general/GEN-1001.htm 2006 General Election (Unofficial Results)] , U.S. Representative in Congress - District No. 1, Arizona Secretary of State's Office, accessed November 13, 2006]

References

External links

* [http://www.ellensimonforcongress.com// Simon Ellen's congressional campaign site]
* [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/pre-election/bios/56792.html "Associated Press" profile]