Arizona House Congressional District (CD) One is one of the most-watched Congressional races in the country.
A district where, in 2022, incumbent David Schweikert prevailed in a non-Presidential election year by about a point and the Democrats are gleeful that this seat can be a pickup on the road to recapturing a House majority in this November’s elections.
So gleeful that six Democrats are vying to secure their party’s nomination this July to campaign for the seat in the November elections.
Former American Red Cross Chief Executive Officer, Make a Wish Foundation Chief Operating Officer, City Councilman, and Congressional Investigator Kurt Kroemer is one of them.
A very impressive candidate in this primary race, Mr. Kroemer graciously took time to discuss the status of the primary campaign.
[Ed. Michael Bryan] Just popping in to interject that TheDGT.org recently interviewed Kurt at one of their weekly Monday Noon Zooms. Check it out here!
The questions and his responses are below.
- How would you assess your chances for victory in the July primary? Please give us at least two reasons you feel that way.
“I think better and better. I’m actually getting more and more optimistic about this. I have a sense that there’s some momentum toward the campaign. It’s a qualitative assessment and not quantitative but I’m just getting more and more good feedback from the debates. Every time there’s a debate lots of people reach out to me and say I think you did the best in the debate. You seem to know the most. You have good answers.”
“I think the second thing that gives me more confidence is just being out and talking to people. Most folks at this time literally don’t even know there’s a primary. It’s incredible. I’ve knocked on 15,000 doors. There is no other candidate that has knocked on that many doors for this election cycle. 15,000 doors and I’m not exaggerating, 90% of the people don’t even know there’s a primary. They’ve heard of none of us. And when I knock on their door, they literally say ‘You’re the only candidate that’s come to my door and I like what you have to say.’ I’m doing that four to five hours a day in this heat. One thing people need to know is that I’m relentless. Just yesterday, I was out knocking on doors, and in every door that answered not a single person knew there was a primary and these are Democratic voters. I mean these are high propensity voters. Maybe I’m giving a little strategy away but, seriously, that’s what the story is right now.”
“I’ve also seen some internal polling from different sources. It’s not really out there in the public but 50 to 70% of the people have not made up their minds yet and this reinforces what I’m hearing at the door. We are three weeks away from voters getting ballots and 50 to 70% have not made up their minds. So everybody has a chance, an equal chance.”
- With regards to the policy issues, what are at least two areas voters have been bringing up to you when you visit them at the door or town hall campaign events? Please explain.
“What’s interesting is that every poll nationally says it’s the economy stupid, right? Every poll says it’s the economy that people are most concerned about. I am not exaggerating 15,000 doors. Let’s say 3 to 4 thousand of them answered. Not a single person has brought up the economy. Not a single person. I go to Independent doors, too. What I’m hearing first of all, for sure, is their concern about our Democracy. They see attacks on our Judiciary. They see attacks on our ability to actually vote. They see attacks on a woman’s right to choose and all these other things and so they’re very very, very concerned about our democracy and our freedoms and that’s literally why I jumped into this race. I know how Democracy dies. I’ve worked in places in Africa where I’ve seen democracy slowly fade and the Republican party is following that Autocratic Playbook, page by page. And so that’s the number one issue.”
“I think the second issue is just stopping the chaos. People are exhausted and I think they’re looking for someone who will go to Washington to get things done. It’s like stop this chaos and this bickering and just get things done. And I do tell these people that I actually worked in Congress for ten years when things did get done. When I was a senior executive at the Red Cross, I worked up on the Hill to get pieces of legislation passed. I actually helped to get a 60-million-dollar appropriation for the Red Cross to help people impacted by Hurricane Katrina. I know how this works and I know how to get things done. That’s one area where I’m different than the other candidates. No one else has that Capitol Hill experience. If you want stuff done, well, I’ve got a track record of doing just that in Congress. I am the only candidate that’s done that.”
Have any of the voters been bringing up the Border issue with you?
“They bring this up now and then. When it does come up, most people say they want a border that[‘s secure and we treat people humanely and I agree with them on those basic tenets. The Border policy needs to be consistent. It needs to be clear and it needs to be efficient. Right now, the process by which people go through to get their asylum claims adjudicated takes about five years. That’s crazy. What’s stopping reform from happening is the Republicans don’t want to solve any of this. They don’t want more immigration judges and immigration courts so that we can expedite these asylum claims because If we solve the problem at the border, what are the Republicans going to run on? Their entire platform is predicated on fear, hate, anger, and resentment. There’s nothing else and they use the border problem as a cudgel, but I am heartened by the fact that they speak to humanity too. They want us, to secure the border, but they want people to be treated humanely and that is absolutely the way we should think about this.”
How would you assess David Schweikert’s positions on the border and are they the same as Mr. Trump and other Republicans?
David Schweikert votes 94% of the time the same as Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Schweikert and her are in lockstep with Donald Trump. David Schweikert is Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert. He’s just quieter about it. He is a MAGA extremist on everything and, again, he’s put up no solutions for the border. I mean, they’re ridiculous. Build a wall. Okay, you build a wall. I’ll build a bigger ladder. I mean, this is sophomoric and so, yeah, he’s in lockstep with Trump and that entire value system on every vote he’s taken since he’s been in office. It’s horrific.
Have any of the voters brought up Mr. Trump and his 34 convictions?
“Well, it happened about two weeks ago, but again, I’ve been out knocking on doors every day for four or five hours. And since that happened people have brought that up and it’s more in the concept of, and again, these are even Independents, that ‘how can somebody vote for a convicted felon right on top of the liable cases that he’s had and the sexual assault cases. I mean, this (Trump)is a damaged human being. I mean he is a damaged human being, and I don’t even know how he’s close to possibly, sitting in the White House again, and people get that, especially a lot of Independents. These Independents have told me time and again that I used to be a Republican. I’m a registered Independent and now I’m voting Democrat. Overwhelmingly, Independents are saying that to me so I have some confidence that this is going to turn out, okay but it’s not guaranteed.”
- Please tell the readers about the composition of your ground get-out-the-vote operation for the primary and, if you prevail, the general election in November.
“We’re trying to be super smart about our get-out-the-vote operation. I was a two-time city councilman from Bowie, Maryland, the fifth biggest city in Maryland. It’s a suburb of DC. I was a city councilman there when I was working for Congress so I know how to run campaigns and we’ve had a very thoughtful process from the very beginning of this from who we’re targeting to get our signatures and who we’re targeting to get our message out to. We’re really micro-targeting specific voters through VAN and other sources. I know who votes. I know when they vote. I know how they vote. I know if they vote in the primaries. I’ve got some interns, including one from Oregon, who found me on LinkedIn and said he said to me that he was impressed by the work I’ve done in my life and he really wanted to work on this campaign. So he’s down here with me every day doing that. We’ve then got some other things we’re going to do closer to the time that the ballots go out to get some more information out there about what this campaign is all about and why I’m the best candidate?”
- Is there anything not asked in the previous three questions that you would like readers to know about you and your candidacy and how you were better than David Schweikert? Please explain.
“Me being better than Schweikert. Well, let me count the ways! What I would ask people to do is to pause for a moment. Think about their own value system. Think about their moral compass. Then look at the six candidates and ask themselves which one of us most closely mirrors their moral compass. What have we actually done in our lives? I’ve spent my entire life in the service of others and the breadth, scope, and depth of the work, I think, certainly makes me the most qualified candidate. That’s what Congress is supposed to be about: helping people and that’s what I’ve done my whole life. You’re actually supposed to go to Washington to help people. Lots of people say I’m going to do this, that, and the other thing but actions speak louder than words. And I think that’s what differentiates this campaign. I don’t just talk but I act. I’ve spent my life doing this and I’m going to continue to do that. And as far as Schweikert, I think if you think about the value system, his value system, and what he stands for it’s completely antithetical to everything I stand for. I mean, he doesn’t want a woman to be able to have bodily autonomy. He wants to attack the LGBTQ community. He wants to keep giving tax cuts to rich people. He wants to attack Medicare and Social Security. He wants to take away voting rights. Now, how’s that thinking been working for us for the past 40 years? Not well. So we’ve to fundamentally change the conversation to focus on people. Look, he’s selfish. I’m selfless. There you go.”
Please click on this link and this one to research Mr. Kroemer’s campaign website in the race for the Democratic Party nomination in Arizona Congressional District One.
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