The decision to hold a debate between Democrats Kirsten Engel and Daniel Hernandez outside of Arizona’s 6th Congressional District (CD6) is drawing criticism and raising eyebrows.
Engel and Daniel Hernandez will participate in their debate in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District (CD7) rather than face voters and would-be constituents in CD6.
It is all about the optics say critics. CD6 is considerably more conservative than CD7 and the duo’s progressive positions may not elicit the same reaction from a live right-leaning audience.
Critics say it is no surprise that Engel and Hernandez feel more at home in CD7. Both Engel and Hernandez have worked mainly in CD7 for years, and have relatively little interaction with the more mainstream voters on the East Side, Northwest Tucson, the Foothills and virtually no notable experience with voters in Cochise or Pinal counties. However, redistricting protected Congressman Raul Grijalva’s territory, forcing duo to look for the next nearest district.
It is not the first time Tucson Democrats made this mistake. The last time there was an open seat, in 2017, not one but two Democrats held their campaign launch events outside the district’s boundaries.
“The 7th Congressional District is as close as uber-liberals Kirsten Engel and Daniel Hernandez will come to representing the 6th Congressional District in Congress, especially given they can’t find CD6 on a map. Their embarrassing mistake is another reminder that Hernandez and Engel are too far left for the 6th District,” said RNC Spokesperson Ben Petersen.
“The decision does not bode well for either candidate in November,” said Constantin Querard, adding that “there is no shortage of good locations in the 6th district they could be using, and 2022 is not the year the Democrats can afford bad optics or unforced errors.”