Democrats hold Giffords’ House seat in Arizona
Democrats held onto the House seat of former representative Gabrielle Giffords in a special election Tuesday, boosting their hopes of retaking control of the House this fall.
In results from other states, former senator George Allen won a Senate primary over three conservative Republicans, earning a shot at regaining the seat he lost six years ago. Maine, Nevada and North Dakota also finalized matchups for U.S. Senate contests in November.
Republicans had tried to make the Arizona House contest a referendum on President Obama’s handling of the economy. But they came up short against Giffords’ hand-picked nominee, Ron Barber, the former director of Giffords’ district office.
Barber beat Republican Jesse Kelly, a former Marine who narrowly lost to Giffords in 2010.
Democrats had hoped that appearances by Giffords would help push Barber to victory.
Giffords, 42, resigned in January to focus on her recovery from a gunshot wound to her head during a gunman’s shooting spree a year earlier. Six people died and 13 were wounded.
A loss for Democrats would have added to the difficulty of gaining the 25 seats they need to take control of the House. Republicans hold a 240-192 advantage with three vacancies.
Tuesday’s win for Barber will be temporary. Kelly has pledged to run for a full term, setting up a fall rematch with Barber in a district that has been redrawn to be friendlier to Democrats than the current district is.
With 99% of the Virginia vote counted, Allen had 65% of the vote. His nearest rival, Tea Party leader Jamie Radtke, had 23%.
Allen’s opponents ran to his right on social issues and por- trayed him as a pliant member of a free-spending GOP-ruled Senate in his earlier term.
They warned that his Democratic opponent in November, former governor Tim Kaine, will use the same criticisms of him in a race that could determine partisan control of the Senate.
The other Senate primaries set up what are expected to be some of the most competitive races in November which will help determine party control of the Senate next year:
-In Maine, Republican Secretary of State Charlie Summers and state Sen. Cynthia Dill, a Democrat, won their respective primaries for the Senate seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe. The front-runner, former governor Angus King, is running as an independent.
-In Nevada, incumbent Republican Sen. Dean Heller and Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley easily prevailed in their primaries to set up their fall matchup.
-In North Dakota, Rep. Rick Berg won the Republican nomination in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad and will face Democrat Heidi Heitkamp in November.