{"id":20002,"date":"2026-07-22T11:05:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=20002"},"modified":"2026-07-22T11:05:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:05:22","slug":"trump-flexes-power-in-arizona-primaries-as-democrats-dodge-far-left-upset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=20002","title":{"rendered":"Trump flexes power in Arizona primaries as Democrats dodge far-left upset"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n

NEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s sway within the GOP was on display in Arizona\u2019s primaries Tuesday night, as his endorsed candidates powered through key Republican contests while Democrats avoided a far-left upset in one of the state\u2019s House races.<\/p>\n

But Trump\u2019s influence in Republican primaries was the top storyline of the night, with his endorsed candidates powering through key contests up and down the ballot.<\/p>\n

Rep. Andy Biggs, a former House Freedom Caucus chair who landed Trump\u2019s endorsement, easily captured the GOP nomination for governor, topping Rep. David Schweikert and the rest of the Republican field by over 50 points.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, former NFL kicker Jay Feely, who received Trump\u2019s “complete and total endorsement” in the final stretch, also won the GOP primary in Arizona\u2019s competitive 1st Congressional District. <\/p>\n

TRUMP-BACKED FIREBRAND WINS ARIZONA GOP GOVERNOR PRIMARY, SETTING UP HIGH-STAKES SHOWDOWN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Rep.<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.<\/span> (Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, another Trump-backed candidate, won the GOP primary in Arizona\u2019s 5th Congressional District, the deep-red seat Biggs is vacating to run for governor, and Trump-backed Juan Ciscomani advanced in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District after running unopposed.<\/p>\n

Biggs\u2019 win sets up a high-stakes general election against Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who cruised to renomination after running unopposed in the Democratic primary. Hobbs, a former Arizona secretary of state, narrowly defeated then-GOP nominee Kari Lake four years ago and now heads into a second-term fight against one of Trump\u2019s most prominent allies in Congress.<\/p>\n

The race in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, where former NFL kicker Jay Feely came out victorious in the GOP primary Tuesday night, is a rare open seat contest as Schweikert, who has held the seat but gave it up to run for governor, created an open-seat battle in the suburban Arizona district.<\/p>\n

The Phoenix-area district includes northeastern Maricopa County and large parts of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Fountain Hills. Feely now moves into a general election fight, where he is expected to face former state Rep. Amish Shah, who was up by almost nine points early Wednesday morning. The Associated Press hadn’t called the race as of 3 a.m. Wednesday.<\/p>\n

EX-NFL STAR BACKED BY TRUMP WINS BATTLEGROUND STATE PRIMARY: ‘TRUE AMERICA FIRST CONSERVATIVE’<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Ex-NFL<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Jay Feely, former NFL kicker and Republican Congressional candidate for Arizona, speaks to members of the media outside a polling location at Fountain Hills Community Center during a primary election in Fountain Hills, Arizona, on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Arizona’s primaries will provide an early test of how much President Trump’s focus on debunked claims of 2020 election fraud motivates Republicans.<\/span> (Cassidy Araiza\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Lamb\u2019s win in Arizona\u2019s 5th District gave Trump another victory in a reliably Republican seat and positioned the former Pinal County sheriff to replace Biggs in Congress. Lamb, who has campaigned on “God, family, freedom” and echoed Biggs\u2019 hard-line border message, heads into the general election as the favorite in a district that heavily leans Republican, even after his campaign faced scrutiny earlier this year over allegations involving inappropriate messages to women outside his marriage.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Mark<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Sheriff of Pinal County Mark Lamb speaks during Republican Senate candidate Jim Lamons town hall event at the Combs Performing Arts Center in San Tan Valley, Ariz., on Thursday, Jul. 7, 2022.<\/span> (Bill Clark\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

While Trump-backed Republicans powered through their primaries, Democrats avoided a potentially damaging left-wing upset in Arizona\u2019s 4th District, where Rep. Greg Stanton held off progressive challenger Kai Newkirk.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Newkirk challenged Stanton from the left, making the race a test of whether the left-wing energy that has shaken Democratic primaries elsewhere could break through in Arizona. Stanton\u2019s win blunted that narrative, at least for one night, and spared Democrats from having to defend a more polarizing nominee in a battleground Sun Belt district.<\/p>\n

The result gave establishment Democrats a needed win after a cycle in which progressive challengers have increasingly pressured incumbents over issues including Israel, ICE, healthcare and corporate influence.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Alec Schemmel is a Politics Reporter for Fox News Digital who is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina but now resides in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore Metro Area.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! President Donald Trump\u2019s sway within the GOP…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}