Meet U.S. House Candidate
Amish Shah
Arizona 01
Open Seat
Why This Race Matters
Arizona 01 is one of the most competitive districts in the country. Trump carried it by three points in’24 and Biden by 1.5 points in ‘20. The open seat was created when incumbent Republican Representative David Schweikert left it to run for governor. However, he recently lost the Republican nomination to Trump-backed Andy Biggs who will run against incumbent Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs in November.
In ‘24, Amish Shah ran for Schweikert’s House seat but Schweikert won by 3.8 points. Shah recently won the Democratic primary, defeating three opponents. In November he will face CBS Sports analyst and former Arizona Cardinals football player Jay Feely who defeated two opponents in the Republican primary. Feely, who was endorsed by Trump in the primary, faces a tough general election in a battleground district encompassing the greater Phoenix metro area.
This race is now rated Toss-up by all three major rating organizations.
Arizona is a purple state with a competitive political culture. Democrats control the offices of governor, secretary of state and attorney general but Republicans control both houses of the state legislature. Both US Senators are Democrats but six of the nine Arizona members of the House
are Republican.
Trump-backed MAGA candidates won handily in the July Republican primaries in Arizona. There is speculation that these Republicans, including Jay Feely, will have difficulty courting independent voters creating electoral opportunity for Shah and other Democrats. While AZ 01 leans red, Trump’s unpopularity with independents in this swing district should be beneficial to Shah.
Hear directly from candidate Shah in this short video:
Background + Experience
An emergency room physician for over 20 years in Arizona, Dr. Amish Shah served three terms in the Arizona House of Representatives, winning in 2018. 2020, and 2022. As a state representative, he had a bi-partisan track record serving Arizona families while fighting extremist attacks on abortion and voting rights. Shah practiced medicine during and after his service in the Arizona legislature, including as an emergency room physician at the Mayo Clinic Arizona.
Shah has a BS in Economics from Northwestern University and a Master's degree in Public Health from University of California, Berkeley. He graduated from Northwestern Medical School as part of its Honors Program in Medical Education.
Shah completed his residency in emergency medicine in New York, becoming a faculty member and academic researcher at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan. During his time in New York, he was team physician for the New York Jets of the National Football League.
Dr. Shah founded the first Arizona Food Festival to promote healthy eating and eliminate preventable diseases.
Shah was born and raised in Chicago. His mother and father immigrated from India in 1962 when they were engineering students.
On the Issues
As a state legislator, Shah focused on increasing teacher pay, supporting small businesses, and improving health and safety. In his five years in the state legislature, he had more bills signed into law than any other Arizona Democrat in the last decade.​
Shah’s campaign website details these priority issues:
- Protecting our democracy against attacks
- Lowering costs for Arizonians
- Protecting Social Security and Medicare
- Championing universal healthcare
- Giving every kid a real chance
- Keeping communities safe
- Stopping animal cruelty
“Our victory in this primary was a grassroots victory where Arizona voters made their voices heard. Now it is time to earn the support of each and every voter in this district."