Kirsten Engel: Congressional District 6 Candidate

Arizona’s re-drawn 6th Congressional District stretches from the state’s southeastern border to as far north as Alpine and as far west as eastern sections of Tucson. Incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick is retiring, which makes the the 6th District Arizona’s only open-seat Congressional Election.

We invited the two candidates in the race to join us for our debate. The Republican candidate did not respond to our invitation. The Democratic candidate did: she is Kirsten Engel, and she joined us to discuss the issues.

Her background

Congressional District Six Candidate Kirsten Engel is a professor at the University of Arizona College of Law where she teaches environmental law and legislative analysis to graduate and undergraduate students. Prior to her teaching career, Ms. Engel practiced environmental law with state and federal agencies. She is a mom, an environmental attorney, and a former State Legislator who has spent the past five years fighting to restore funding to public schools, protect Arizona’s natural resources, and make our communities safer. She’s ready to take that fight to Washington to find common-sense solutions to the challenges faced in Arizona’s Sixth Congressional District.

She stressed the importance for access to healthcare. “We know as a result of what happened with the Supreme Court repealing Roe v. Wade that now women do not have that fundamental right, that they have enjoyed for 50 years, over their own healthcare decisions,” she said.

Healthcare is an issue she says is prominent in her district. Water is also an issue that she wants to address, including the “mega-drought” and economic opportunity.

She says that, in regards to healthcare, people need to make those decisions themselves. This includes reproductive health choices.

“We have a territorial law that potentially criminalizes doctors and for providing this basic healthcare. It is very uncertain landscape,” she said.