With MAGA stalwart and Freedom Caucus fanatic Representative Andy Biggs looking to earn his party’s nomination for Governor, several Democrats are eying his House seat in Arizona Congressional District (CD) Five as an opportunity for a pickup in the 2026 elections.
One of those Democrats is Chris James, a former Treasury and Small Business Administrator in the Obama/Biden Administration.
A Gilbert resident with his wife and three children, Mr. James promises to be the congressional candidate who will listen to his constituents, including the ones that do not agree with him.
Saying “we deserve leaders who unite rather than inflame, and who are more interested in fixing problems than scoring cheap soundbite points,” James’ campaign will focus on the issues of:
- Delivering quality and affordable healthcare.
- Protecting seniors.
- Investing in public school education
- Investing in roads, bridges, and modern water systems.
- Protecting Democracy.
- Promoting ideas for affordable housing.
- Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Mr. James graciously interviewed with Blog for Arizona to discuss his candidacy to become the next House Representative from Arizona CD Five.
The questions and his responses are below.
Please tell the readers at least two reasons you would like to run for the Arizona Congressional District Five.
“Thank you for that question. I have been passionate about public service pretty much my whole career. I’ve worked in multiple administrations, including eight years in the Obama Administration. So policy is really in my blood. As I was thinking about what I wanted to do next in my life and how I still wanted to be involved and serve my community, running for Congress just seemed like a natural fit. Also, I felt like our district has been so underrepresented and I was really tired of just being underrepresented here – a feeling I’ve heard from so many in this community. That was really one of the motivators and it was just the right time for me to run for Congress. I believe that we can do better in our district. I think it deserves representation and, and I think I bring a lot to the table to help fill that gap.”
What are at least three issues that you will run on to earn the nomination and in the general election in 2026?
“Well, definitely healthcare is and protecting our seniors. My father recently passed away. Before he passed, he had a stroke here in Arizona, and having to navigate with Medicare, doctors and health providers was a real challenge. Something that I thought would be simple turned out to be a real headache when he suffered from a stroke, he fell down and broke his glasses. Now, to me, that seems like, you know we can just go get a new pair of glasses. Well, for my parents who are on Medicare, their Medicare doesn’t pay for glasses. They would have had to pay $500 out of pocket, which is a big expense. That’s not just for my parents. It’s for a lot of parents. My mom relies on Social Security and Medicare, so a lot of folks are in that same boat. So right there, protecting our seniors and helping modernize our Medicare system is so important because some of those essential items that people like my parents need dental, vision and hearing. They’re either not covered or it’s through the supplemental which sometimes is just complicated.”
“I also really want to talk with CD-5 voters about protecting our democracy. . Our Democracy’s under fire Mail In Voting is being attacked, and we know that folks in this Administration and our representatives like Andy Biggs on Capitol Hill are chipping away at the foundations of our democracy. t. We know this is not what Americans want. Look at Arizona – we hold mail in voting sacred.It’s worked for us, and it’s under attack. These attacks are just really embarrassing for that Administration. It just shows a lack of leadership.”
Please explain how you would address housing affordability or affordability in general.
“Heh, I got three kids going to college, so I hope for them to one day be able to afford a home here in Arizona District Five. It’s disappointing but there are things that can be done to help support housing to make it affordable, especially around lending practices. So, there’s lots of things that we can do to really protect existing affordable housing and build new housing to make sure folks in the district can have a pathway to a quality roof over their head.”
Please talk about your views on immigration.
“I support a pathway to citizenship. No one has solved this problem in 40 to 50 years and it just seems like everybody just wants to point their finger. Everybody just wants to blame somebody else. They want to blame the administration before them. They want to blame this and that. Why aren’t we talking about solutions? We’re continuing to talk about problems. Number one, there’s been programs in the United States that small businesses can take advantage of to provide work visas, for people to legally work in the United States. There’s the H 1 and 2 B programs. There’s J-1 Visa programs. So, there’s lots of visa programs out there. Why don’t we re-look at the rules on those Visa programs? Let’s see if we can enhance those Visa programs and let’s support our small businesses who want to have their workersbe able to maybe use one of these programs so that their workers can be here legally.”
“Number two, I believe in investing in effective border security and protecting the human rights and dignity of all who interact with our border for trade, commerce and immigration. We want to protect our borders. Look at how far technology has come with AI with video surveillance. There’s so many options with technology. I’d love to see more resources put into making smart security choices instead of trying to spend billions of dollars on a wall that isn’t effective and more of a political thing.”
Please tell the readers at least two reasons voters should pick you over any opponent in the CD5 Congressional race.
“That’s a great question. There’s going to be a good number of people running for the Democratic primary, and they’re all good people, But I want the voters to really look at our resumes and really see what we have done to help support communities. What have they done to help support the district? What have they done to help create jobs? If I was going to hire somebody for a job, that’s the number one thing I would look at is their resume. What have they done? What have they done to support me? And if I hire them, how are they going to be a good team player. How are they going to be a good employee for my company? Let’s use that same analogy for Arizona Congressional District Five. I’m applying for a job and I have the skills and the track record to back up everything I’ve done. I’ve supported jobs in communities nationwide. I supported economic development. I’ve supported small businesses. I’ve written legislation I’ve tested in front of Congress, and I know how to work in Washington. So those are skills I already have. I’m probably also the only one that has those skills that can hit the ground running on day one when I’m elected for Congress in November.”
Please explain at least two ways your campaign will win over Independent and Moderate Republican voters in CD Five.
“Absolutely. We have to build a strong coalition that includes folks across the political spectrum. There’s a lot of frustration with this current Administration. There’s a lot of frustration with Congress. People are tired of seeing our leadership blaming each other, pointing fingers, and not taking any accountability. I was so disappointed. The 119th Congress only passed 19 bills this year. Andy Biggs, who has been in Congress eight years, hasn’t had one bill pass with his name on it. I’ve had two bills pass with work that I’ve done on advocacy that was passed and signed by President Trump. Andy Biggs hasn’t done anything in the past eight years except point fingers, assign blame and go down to Mar-A-Lago and hang out with Trump. I believe that you need to have someone that can hit the ground running. You need to have someone that can be ready to support and represent everybody. We can’t just represent one group. If I’m elected to Congress, I’ll represent everybody. I want to hear from everybody because I live the same challenges as everybody in the district. Just the same as me and my family. We’ve all seen our kids not entering the workforce with a strong economy. We’ve all seen our grocery bills increase over the past year. We’ve seen over a hundred million dollars of projects that was canceled by the federal government that didn’t come into the district because of the Trump Administration. Those projects would have created jobs. People in the district feel those things. I think a lot of those people are independent, and there’s the feeling that they’re ready to see change and they’re ready to see someone that will represent them and I think I’m that guy.”
Please explain at least two ways your campaign will reach out on the pill to voters who normally do not pay attention to politics and maybe prone to big lie talking points like Democrats are soft on crime.
“We know, those are lies. People want to put some of the social issues front and center and while social issues are very important, sometimes they are a smoke screen. I will continue to talk about things that we can do to support you and what we will do to support this District. I want to hear from everybody. Everybody has a voice and for years I’ve been advocating, and I’ve been saying for years we have a voice we can use to reach out to our Congressman. So, I’m going to keep that same mentality. I want people to tell me what they don’t like, and I’m not going to make a bunch of empty promises that I can fix everything, but I’m going to listen, and I’m going to develop policy that helps support that.”
“One thing on the law enforcement. My brother spent 25 years in various police and sheriffs departments. He just retired and we sat down and talked about what he saw and what we can do to help support our law enforcement officers and our firefighters. What can we do to help support first responders in disasters and I listened and put some of his policies on my website. I got that directly from my brother. It’s common sense stuff to support that and I want people to know that’s the kind of candidate I am. I listen and I develop policy based on the needs in our district, and that’s really important to me.”
Is there anything not covered in the first five questions that you would like the readers to know about your candidacy for Arizona CD Five? Please explain.
“We talked a little bit about Democracy, but I just feel like we’re at a point where either we’re overrepresented by people out of touch – and that’s especially for extremists like Andy Biggs. They either don’t try to know the people in the district. Maybe they don’t care, or maybe they’re in an income bracket where they don’t have the challenges that every day Americans have in our district: trying to navigate the education system. Trying to navigate health care. Being a one income family. For example, my wife and I made the decision years ago when we were raising our kids that one of us was going to work, and one of us was going to stay home and raise the kids and raise the family. And even if we did want to put our kids in childcare, we probably couldn’t afford it. And those are real issues that we face and a lot of people in our district face too. Having someone that understands those issues and having someone that’ll listen to how we can fix them. It doesn’t have to be that complicated. There are things we can do. There’s things right now that Congress can do to help support everyday Americans, instead of pointing fingers. Instead of not taking accountability and playing the politics card. I’m going to be the candidate that’s going to listen, that’s going to be accountable and really help drive true change in our district and country.”
Please click here to find out more about Chris James and his candidacy to become the next House Member from Arizona Congressional District Five.
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