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General Election: Meet the House candidates

Posted 10/6/20

What is shaping up to be one of the most-watched races for the U.S. House of Representatives this fall is the one between Fountain Hills resident and incumbent Republican Congressman David Schweikert …

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General Election: Meet the House candidates

Posted

What is shaping up to be one of the most-watched races for the U.S. House of Representatives this fall is the one between Fountain Hills resident and incumbent Republican Congressman David Schweikert and challenger, Democrat Dr. Hiral Tipirneni.

This is a second effort by Tipirneni to gain a seat in Congress from Arizona. Two years ago, she challenged Congresswoman Debbie Lesko, losing in that race.

Schweikert has had solid support in the district since he was first elected in 2010. After reports earlier this summer of his admitting to 11 violations of House Ethics Code, and receiving a reprimand and a $50,000 fine, many recent polls are calling the race a toss-up.

Schweikert is a long-time Fountain Hills resident, coming here with his parents as a young man. He is a graduate of Arizona State University and has maintained a real estate business for many years.

Schweikert began his political career in 1990 when he was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives. He was later elected Maricopa County Treasurer before running for Congress.

He holds a seat on the House Ways and Means Committee, and previously served on the House Financial Services Committee. He also sits on the bicameral Joint Economic Committee, serving as the Senior House Republican Member, as well as several other task force and caucus committees.

Schweikert said he believes the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed and that the Second Amendment ensures that all law-abiding citizens have the right to protect and defend themselves and their loved ones.

Schweikert said that while others attempt to manipulate statistics to pursue a gun control agenda, law-abiding citizens exercising their Second Amendment right has led to less violent crime throughout the country.

“For too long, the elites in Washington have forced a top-down bureaucratic regulatory regime onto the backs of American entrepreneurs. This elites-know-best approach has led to a corrupted system that protects favored incumbents and props up easier to control institutions.”

He added that, with the advent of modern peer-to-peer technology, there is an opportunity to return to America’s entrepreneurial roots.

As the child of a birth mother who gave him up for adoption, Schweikert said he understands more than most the importance of the sanctity of life. He said he has been 100 percent pro-life throughout his career, and states he is committed to protecting and defending the rights of the unborn.

Tipirneni is an immigrant from India arriving in the United States with her family at age three. She served as chief resident of the University of Michigan’s Emergency Medicine program before coming to Phoenix, where she worked for more than 20 years as an emergency room physician, a cancer research advocate and recently served on the board of directors of the Maricopa Health Foundation, which supports the county’s public health care delivery system.

Tipirneni said she she is realizing the dream of her immigrant parents believing that if you worked hard and lived by the rules of democracy, you could be successful no matter where you came from.

Tipirneni states she supports Second Amendment rights overall for law-abiding Americans to obtain firearms through legal channels to protect their homes, themselves and their families, and for hunting and sport. She notes that America is the only industrialized nation with such a high degree of gun violence and believes it should be addressed as a public health issue.

Tipirneni believes the federal tax code, particularly for families and small businesses, must be simplified.

“We must expand workforce training programs so businesses, large and small, can bring good-paying jobs to our communities,” she said. “We must also find a way to ensure access to affordable childcare so that families can get ahead.”

Tipirneni said it is her fervent belief that elected representatives should support policies reflecting clearly established women’s reproductive health rights. In short, abortions should stay safe, and legal.

“For the record, no one is ‘pro-abortion’ – one is essentially either pro-choice or anti-choice,” she said.

Tipirneni said she is running for Congress to take on Washington insiders and continue using her problem-solving, team-oriented approach to work with Republicans and Democrats alike to get the results Americans need.