Amish Shah, Jay Feely battle for Arizona CD-1 seat

High-profile race in Congressional District 1 will likely be decided by independents. And that district will get a new representative for the first time since 2011 as David Schweikert wraps up a 16-year run in Congress. Now, this race features Democrat Amish Shah versus Republican Jay Feely. Fox News' Justin Lum joining us live now in Phoenix, where the Arizona Democratic Party Watch Party will be held tonight. Justin. Mark Ellen, the stage behind me is set. The audio has been checked. The cocktail bar and the food are being prepared as we speak while we wait for the Arizona Democratic Watch Party to begin. And as you two know, there's a very interesting dynamic here in this race for CD1 between Dr. Amish Shah and Jay Feely. At one point many years ago, they were basically both co-workers on the New York Jets. Dr. Shah was a team physician. Feely was the kicker. And here About 18 years later, facing off to win and become a congressman of Arizona District 1. Now, this is the wealthiest district in Arizona. And remember, back in the 2024 general election, Shaw narrowly lost to Republican Dave Schweikert by three points or so. Also important to note, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did not nominate Shaw this time around. Instead, Marlene Gallon-Woods. Was that person to represent as nominee, but Shah still won the primary and now the Democratic Party is fully behind him. He has talked about knocking on nearly 30,000 doors over the years, campaigning and shaking up the establishment. He has also spent $5.5 million on this campaign, around $2 million more than Feely. The emergency physician was also a state lawmaker from 2019 to 2024, touting a bipartisan legislative record. And during this campaign, he has prioritized more affordability. Affordable health care proposing a public option for people to buy into Medicare at lower costs. Political expert Barrett Marsden on Shaw's battle for District 1 on his second run. Had some decent name ID. Again, he's a pretty likable fellow. Hello. And I think he just captured people who kind of knew his name already. Doctor, he has a pretty good resume. So I think he just captured, you know, Democrats and the independents who voted in the Democratic primary. You know, this is a district that has leaned Republican. Now, what we're hearing from experts is that the independent voter turnout is going to decide who comes out of this as congressman for District 1. I'm told by Shaw's staff, he'll be watching with friends and supporters before heading out to this party here where we'll be at all night watching the race for CD1. Guys, back to you. All right, Justin, thank you so much. Yeah, that district, of course, associated with David Schweikert for so many years, highly competitive with that balance of power in Congress at stake. We're going to check in now with Taylor Wirtz, who is with the Republican candidates' headquarters. Jay Feeley, Taylor. Yeah, Mark and Ellen, we're out at Dillon Precision in North Scottsdale. You can see the stage set and ready for the Jay Feeley watch party, which is scheduled to get underway in about 30 minutes. We know that this will be one of the most closely watched races in the country. Experts calling it really a coin toss of a race. So surely a lot of excitement to follow here tonight. We know that Jay Feeley is a political outsider. Feeley's A former NFL kicker who played for the Cardinals for several years and worked as a sports broadcaster after that. So this is his first time running for political office. He's branded himself as MAGA in a lot of ways, being handpicked by President Trump to run for District 1. He's running on a platform driven by support for finishing the southern border wall, strict ICE enforcement, and expanding Trump-era tax cuts. The district is considered by many experts to be center-right politically, with Republican Dave Schweikert beating out Feeley's opponent, Dr. Amish Shah, for the seat in 2024. Now, most early polls have shown Shah with a slight lead, but in this district, really anything could happen. We know that eyes across the country are going to be following this race closely as it could play a role in determining which political party controls the U.S. House of Representatives. We'll be here all night with the latest reaction and updates. Live in North Scottsdale, Taylor Wertz, Fox 10 News.