Arizona New Members 2023

Rep.-elect Eli Crane (R-Ariz.-2)

DATE OF BIRTH: Jan 3, 1980
RESIDENCE: Tucson, Ariz.
OCCUPATION: business owner
EDUCATION: Attended University of Arizona, Arizona Western College
FAMILY: wife, Jen Crane; two children

• Rep.-elect Eli Crane (R) will represent Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District after defeating Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D). 

O’Halleran was considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the November midterms, as his seat was redrawn into a district that heavily supported former President Trump. 

Crane, 42, is a combat veteran and business owner who enlisted in the military following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. 

The political newcomer is a former Navy SEAL who went on five wartime deployments, including three to the Middle East with SEAL Team 3. He’s also the owner of a business called Bottle Breacher, which was featured on the television show “Shark Tank” and makes grenades and bullets into bottle openers.

Crane describes himself as a “faith-oriented, family man” who is against abortion, for the Second Amendment and “unafraid to take a stand against cancel culture and the radical left.”  

— Joseph Guzman

Rep.-elect Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.-6)

DATE OF BIRTH: August 1982
RESIDENCE: Tucson, Ariz.
OCCUPATION: adviser, Gov. Doug Ducey (R)
EDUCATION: A.A., Pima Community College; B.S., University of Arizona
FAMILY: wife, Laura Ciscomani; six children

• Republican Juan Ciscomani, a top adviser to Gov. Doug Ducey (R), defeated former state Sen. Kirsten Engel (D) to represent Arizona’s 6th Congressional District.

He will fill the seat vacated by retiring Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D), who represented the state’s 2nd District but much of whose constituents were drawn into the 6th. The election was for Arizona’s only open seat. 

Ciscomani is a first-generation American whose parents immigrated from Mexico. He has used his life experience to make immigration his top issue. He advocates for tighter border security, and supports the policies used by the Trump administration, including “finishing the wall.”

He said he wants to stop “drug cartels and human traffickers,” and has blamed an increase in fentanyl overdoses on the Biden administration’s border policies. 

He was backed by major GOP establishment figures, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and House GOP Whip Steve Scalise (La.). 

— Nathaniel Weixel