The National Republican Congressional Committee has shifted its focus away from Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District race in which Republican Gabriela Saucedo Mercer is challenging Democratic incumbent Rep. Raul Grijalva, the Arizona Daily Star reports. Though Grijalva was a top GOP target last year, the NRCC is now focusing their resources elsewhere.
The district favors Democrats in voter registration and Grijalva is better prepared for the race than in 2010, according to the Daily Star. But Grijalva says that Saucedo Mercer, who last year said that Middle Easterners’ “only goal in life is to, to cause harm to the United States” and are not welcome in the country, is the reason the NRCC has abandoned the district.
“They put their eggs in Ms. Mercer’s basket and she’s proven to be more of a liability than an asset,” Grijalva said.
