Don't expect Chris Simcox to quit this year's Republican Senate race to make way for J.D. Hayworth. Simcox, the founder of the border-watch group Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, announced his intention in April to challenge four-term incumbent Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the state's GOP primary. But most of the attention over the past couple of months has centered on Hayworth, a former congressman and current KFYI-AM (550) radio host who is considering his own run. Hayworth, a firebrand on the illegal-immigration issue, and Simcox likely would compete for some of the same voters and campaign contributors.
"No way in hell," Simcox told The Arizona Republic when asked about speculation that a Hayworth candidacy might drive him from the race. "After what I know I've built, there's no way I'm dropping out of this race. I will not let down the people who have supported me to this point." Simcox said he is somewhat annoyed by the continued chatter about a possible insurgent run by Hayworth, whom Simcox said "has always been a GOP establishment guy." Simcox characterized himself as a true outsider candidate.
"Not only have I been out there working for the last eight or nine months, but so has (fellow Republican Senate candidate) Jim Deakin," Simcox said. "We've been out there working the state and not getting recognition from anybody, and J.D. opens his mouth because he has his bully pulpit and he's the frontrunner in the polls."
Most election watchers started taking the possibility of a Hayworth challenge seriously after a November Rasmussen Reports poll found McCain and Hayworth in a statistical dead heat. McCain had 45 percent to Hayworth's 43 percent, with the survey's margin of error plus or minus 4 percentage points. Simcox garnered 4 percent support.
In other developments:
• Citing Capitol Hill's heavy workload, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., expressed reluctance to wade into the messy Maricopa County brawl that has pitted Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas against sitting Superior Court judges and county supervisors. Kyl, a lawyer who sits on the influential Senate Judiciary Committee, called the Arizona Supreme Court's intervention appropriate.
Last month, Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch appointed a "special master" to oversee and help settle the infighting.
"Obviously, Senator McCain and I are back in Washington. We've been a little busy," Kyl said Tuesdayduring a news conference with McCain in Phoenix. "I think it would be very difficult for us to get the kind of information that we would need in order to weigh in in a persuasive way with the court system here, or in some other way."
• Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., is teaming up again with Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, to put the kibosh on Congress' next pay raise for fiscal 2011, which starts Oct. 1. Mitchell and Paul were instrumental last year in stopping the pay raise for fiscal 2010, resulting in a $2.5 million saving. Under a 20-year-old procedure, Congress gets an automatic raise every year unless lawmakers vote otherwise.
"With unemployment high and so many families struggling to make ends meet, it is unconscionable to think that Congress is considering giving itself a pay raise," Mitchell said in a written statement.
