Are Democrats surrendering toughest House district?

Democrats bragged last year that U.S. Rep. Martha McSally would be a “oneterm wonder,” identifying her as one of their top Republican targets in the 2016 House races. Like a washed-up one-hit musician, they said, she would quickly fade.

But that hope seems to be slipping away.

Officials at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently left McSally’s southern Arizona district off their list of seats to win, while including another Arizona district.

Her GOP allies see that as a promising sign for their efforts to hang onto Arizona’s 2nd District, which includes Tucson and much of southern Arizona.

Democrats “are seeing all that she’s been able to do for southern Arizona,” said McSally spokesman Patrick Ptak. “I think it’s a clear assessment they consider her unbeatable and that it’s not worth their resources.”

McSally defeated then-Rep. Ron Barber by less than 200 votes in 2014, in the tightest congressional race in the country.

Since then she has elevated her profile as a retired Air Force colonel fighting the retirement of the Tucson-based A-10 fighter fleet.

And she has astounded the political world by having nearly $2 million in her campaign account, far more than the two Democrats hoping to challenge her.

Physician and former state lawmaker Matt Heinz has about $300,000 on hand, while counselor and former state lawmaker Victoria Steele has less than $50,000. Even Steele’s endorsement by Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., on Tuesday isn’t likely to boost fundraising enough to match McSally.

The Rothenberg Political Report, a nonpartisan Washington analyst, recently changed its rating of the 2nd District from “Lean Republican” to “Republican Favored.”

DCCC spokesman Tyler Law said Dem- ocrats will continue to compete and that the race could change in the coming months.

“This has always been a competitive district and we will work to make sure it stays that way,” Law said in a written statement.

The Democrats did list Arizona’s 1st District among the U.S. House seats it hopes to win this November.

The seat is open as Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., is running for U.S. Senate. The party highlighted Democrat Tom O’Halleran, a former state lawmaker and police officer whom Kirkpatrick has endorsed, but not the other two lesser-known Democrats competing for the seat.