Kris Mayes

Republican Kris Mayes announced the formation of an exploratory committee Tuesday as she considers running for the U.S. House in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District.

Republican incumbent Rick Renzi is under federal investigation for possible public corruption and is not seeking re-election. The seat is attracting plenty of attention, from both Republicans and Democrats.

Mayes’ exploratory committee has all the tell-tale signs of a full-fledged campaign. She has the endorsement of former U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, help from the GOP-oriented political consulting firm High Ground, and a fully developed campaign Web site, www.krismayes.com. Prescott businessman Malcolm Barrett is her committee’s finance chairman.

Mayes currently is a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, the state agency that regulates utility companies. Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano initially appointed her to fill an open seat in October 2003, and Mayes won election on her own in 2004 and 2006. Mayes previously served as spokeswoman to Napolitano, and before that worked as a political reporter for The Arizona Republic.

She lives in Phoenix, but has history in the 1st District, a mostly rural district that takes in sweeping portions of the northern, central and eastern portions of the state. She was born and raised in Prescott, which is within the district, and served as valedictorian at Prescott High School.

Mayes told me last week that if she runs for the U.S. House, she’ll move back to Prescott, and that if she wins, she’ll maintain her main district office in Prescott. She already holds regular monthly office hours in Prescott in connection to her ACC position.

“It’s where my heart is. It’s where my family is. And it’s the best congressional district in America,” she said.

Really? What makes it the best district in America?

“Oh, 1,000 different things. Do you have time?” Mayes replied.

Certainly enough time for the short list.

“It is an amazingly diverse district geographically, as well as demographically. And it is obviously a large district and one that’s facing a number of issues that I’ve been working with here at the commission,” she said.

Those ACC-related issues have to do with water allocation and energy development.

The district is in political flux. It used to be anchored by Flagstaff and cities and towns along the Mogollon rim. It probably still is anchored by those cities, but not as much these days, though. The 1st District also takes in booming east Pinal County, a developing suburban region that’s tilting the political balance in the district to the desert cities below the rim.

On Tuesday, Mayes started to outline a broader political agenda. The highlights: She supports extending President Bush’s tax cuts; she backs Second Amendment rights (that’s the “right of the people to keep and bear arms” amendment); she opposes abortion; she supports increased federal efforts to secure the U.S.-Mexico border; and she’s in favor of forest thinning and forest restoration efforts.

Mayes, who is single and unattached, has run two previous statewide campaigns and is prepared for the rigors of a congressional campaign. She’s well aware that the entry fee for a competitive race is about $1 million.

“If I move forward, we’ll aggressively fund-raise. Any congressional race is expensive and anyone who gets involved in one of these has to be ready to raise money and campaign hard. This is a district that you’ve got to do both in. You’ve got to be able to really hit the ground running and really campaign hard. You’re doing a lot of parades, a lot of door-to-door, a lot of phone calls, everything,” she said.

She has Toyota 4-Runner with 95,000 miles on the odometer. She expects to rack up the mileage if she decides to runs in the district that’s larger than the state of Illinois. “I assume that at the end of this, it will be double. I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to hitting the road talking to people,” she said.

She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Arizona State University, a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University in New York, and a law degree from ASU.

Despite Mayes’ potential entry into the race, the eventual Democratic nominee is likely to win the district, said Emily Bittner, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party.

 “We have really, really terrifically strong candidates who have strong ties to the district, who have a good sense for the direction that they want to take this country,” Bittner said.

The Democratic field features taxi company employee Jeffrey Brown, former state Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, environmental attorney Howard Shanker, and former TV reporter Mary Kim Titla.

Bittner said, “That district has been represented for so long by a Republican who is inextricably linked to corruption. I think voters in that district are tired of a party that turns its nose away from corruption.”

The lone Republican who has launched a full campaign to succeed Renzi is radio talk show host Sydney Hay.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 12:31 pm and is filed under CD 1 race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.