Free Republic

Brian Murray knows just how fierce an opponent Arizona's Sen. Kyrsten Sinema can be. The Republican strategist saw his candidate lose to Democrat Sinema in their 2012 race for the House. Calling the experience "unpleasant," Murray admits his candidate, Vernon Parker, was flawed, but "flawed candidates win all of the time. Kyrsten, however, was an absolute machine." Sinema, along with fellow centrist Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, has recently become the epicenter of American politics largely because she insists on siding with the interests of her constituents instead of the demands of her party. Over the past few...

PHOENIX - U.S. Representative Kyrsten Sinema was part of a bipartisan congressional delegation that made a three-day visit to Afghanistan this week. The Arizona Democrat's office says the delegation went to Afghanistan to see the drawdown of the American military presence and the transition of security responsibilities to Afghan forces.

Tuesday’s primaries in Arizona offered a little bit of everything, including a Member vs. Member race and what GOP strategists are calling “a gift.” The 9th District is brand new, after the Grand Canyon State was awarded another seat in Congress through reapportionment, and its first general election could be a fascinating race between an openly bisexual Democrat and an African-American Republican. Kyrsten Sinema won the Democratic nomination with 42 percent over state Senate Leader David Schapira (31 percent) and former state party chairman Andrei Cherny (27 percent). Vernon Parker, an official in both Bush administrations and Paradise Valley city...

With Arizona’s primaries now complete, a key Congressional race has emerged in the state’s newly created District 9. Prior to the primary, this swing district had been rated “Lean Democratic” by the Cook Political Report, but the District’s Cook Partisan Voting Index is “Even,” indicating its voters have voted in line with the national average over the last two presidential election cycles. Significantly, the district has more registered Independents than either Republicans or Democrats. Now, with both parties having selected their candidates, Democrats no longer have the edge and this race should be re-characterized as a Tossup. The GOP candidate...

Former Paradise Valley mayor Vernon Parker has won the Republican nomination in Arizona's new 9th Congressional District. Some early ballots remain to be counted but results Wednesday with all 141 precincts reporting show Parker with an 800-vote margin over Wendy Rogers, with a total of more than 38,000 votes cast in the seven-way GOP race. Parker will face former state Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in the general election. She won the district's three-way Democratic primary. The 9th District takes in much of Tempe and parts of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Mesa and Chandler.