The 2010 United States Senate election in Arizona took place on November 2, 2010, along with other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. The primaries were held on August 24, 2010. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John McCain, who had lost the 2008 presidential election to then-United States Senator from Illinois Barack Obama, ran for reelection to a fifth term and won, defeating Democratic challenger Rodney Glassman. As of 2026, this was the last time the counties of Coconino and Pima voted for the Republican candidate.
Republican primary
Background
Incumbent Republican senator John McCain lost his bid for President of the United States in the 2008 election on November 4, 2008. By November 18, he had indicated his intention to form a political action committee to run for Senate re-election in 2010. McCain confirmed his decision at a press conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 25, 2008, saying, "I intend to run again and will make an announcement at an appropriate time." In his appearance, McCain made a point of shifting from discussion of national issues to local ones, and followed up with renewed attention to the state during the next few months. In February 2009, McCain began active fundraising efforts for his re-election campaign.
McCain faced a possible Republican primary challenge. He had won less than half the votes against the field of candidates in the 2008 Arizona Republican presidential primary, and had only won the presidential contest in Arizona by 8.5 percentage points. The person most mentioned as a possible primary challenger was radio talk show host and former U.S. congressman J. D. Hayworth, who was being urged to run by his listeners. (Hayworth had once been allied with McCain and had supported his 2000 presidential campaign, but the two diverged ideologically shortly thereafter.) However, McCain's strong opposition to the economic stimulus package of 2009 warmed some conservatives to him and made a primary challenge less likely.
As 2009 progressed, McCain got two announced primary challengers, U.S. Navy veteran and businessman Jim Deakin, and Chris Simcox, the co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. Simcox's April 2009 announcement of his candidacy garnered a fair amount of press attention; he stated that "John McCain has failed miserably in his duty to secure this nation's borders and protect the people of Arizona from the escalating violence and lawlessness. ... Coupled with his votes for reckless bailout spending and big government solutions to our nation's problems, John McCain is out of touch with everyday Arizonans. Enough is enough."
In October 2009, Hayworth said that he was considering a primary challenge: "There's a great deal of respect for John as a historical figure. But he's long been at odds with the conservative base of the Republican Party and more recently with Arizonans." Hayworth quoted a poll which said that 61 percent of Arizona Republicans thought McCain had lost touch with his party. McCain had raised $4.7 million for his Senate re-election, and he had access to more than $20 million left over from his 2008 presidential effort. A November 2009 Rasmussen Reports poll surprisingly showed that Hayworth was nearly even with McCain among likely Republican Party primary voters in the state. As January 2010 progressed, McCain began running negative ads against Hayworth. On January 22, 2010, Hayworth resigned from his talk radio position at KFYI, a necessary step to becoming a candidate. On January 23, Hayworth announced at a meeting of the Arizona Republican Party State Committee that he did intend to run, and that a formal announcement would be forthcoming soon.
As the contest began, some elements of the Tea Party movement supported Hayworth, but others stayed out of the contest, and still others supported Jim Deakin. The threat from Hayworth helped account for McCain's sometimes-awkward reversals or softpedallings of his former positions on issues such as the bank bailouts, national security, campaign finance reform, and gays in the military; Hayworth said, "John is undergoing a campaign conversion." McCain remained strong among party centrists and independents, and had strong financial resources. McCain also had the endorsements of the entire Arizona congressional delegation. Regardless, pundits predicted it would become "one of the country's fiercest political contests of 2010."
Hayworth officially launched his bid on February 15, 2010, in Phoenix. His announcement led Simcox to drop his campaign and endorse Hayworth, saying that he wanted to present a united conservative front. Hayworth attracted the support of a good number of top-rated radio talk show hosts, including Michael Savage. Hayworth called for a series of 10 debates between himself and McCain. This echoed a proposal that McCain had unsuccessfully made to Obama during their 2008 presidential campaign; this time, McCain labeled the idea a "desperate publicity stunt." With Hayworth using the campaign slogan "The Consistent Conservative," McCain backed off his reputation for unorthodoxy, saying, "I never considered myself a maverick. I consider myself a person who serves the people of Arizona to the best of his abilities." McCain's former vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, staged a campaign appearance with him in late March; she said that McCain was deserving of support among Tea Party movement-types. Many in the crowd came to see Palin rather than McCain and were unsure of whom they would vote for in the primary.
Both candidates endorsed Arizona SB 1070, the anti-illegal immigration state law passed in April 2010 that aroused national controversy, and both made tough stands on border control central to their campaigns. McCain retained a financial edge, having $4.6 million in hand at the end of the first quarter to Hayworth's $861,000.
Hayworth's campaign began to struggle when infomercials he had made in 2007 came to light, which had pitched access to free government payment programs from a company that was accused of swindling thousands of people. McCain ran television ads that labeled Hayworth a "huckster", and in return Hayworth's wife charged McCain with engaging in deliberate character assassination. Hayworth also had difficulty rallying conservative backing due to his past support for Congressional earmarks and for his past associations with lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff.
Hayworth was further harmed by stating that the United States never declared war on Germany during the Second World War, when in fact it did on December 11, 1941.
During the summer, McCain began running immigration-themed ads featuring Pinal County sheriff Paul Babeu, a strong supporter of SB 1070; however, Hayworth asked McCain to withdraw the ads because Babeu had recently appeared on the white nationalist radio show The Political Cesspool.
Candidates
- John McCain, incumbent U.S. senator
- Jim Deakin, businessman
- J. D. Hayworth, former U.S. representative
Endorsements
John McCain
U.S. executive branch officials
- William Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education, former director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and host of the conservative radio talk show The William Bennett Show
Governors
- Jan Brewer, governor of Arizona
- Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida and brother of former U.S. president George W. Bush
- Jane Dee Hull, former governor of Arizona
- Bob McDonnell, governor of Virginia
- Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska and McCain's running mate in 2008
- Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota
- Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts and candidate for President in 2008
- Fife Symington, former governor of Arizona
U.S. Senators
- Scott Brown, U.S. senator of Massachusetts
- Jon Kyl, U.S. senator of Arizona
- Fred Thompson, former U.S. senator of Tennessee
U.S. Representatives
- Jeff Flake, U.S. representative of Arizona
- Trent Franks, U.S. representative of Arizona
- Jim Kolbe, former U.S. representative of Arizona
- Matt Salmon, former U.S. representative of Arizona
- John Shadegg, U.S. representative of Arizona
State legislators
- Andy Tobin, Arizona state representative
Organizations
- Arizona Fraternal Order of Police
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- NRA Political Victory Fund
Individuals
- Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine and former presidential candidate
- Luis Gonzalez, former outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks
- Michael Medved, host of the radio talk-show The Michael Medved Show
- Grover Norquist, tax-reform activist
J. D. Hayworth
U.S. Representatives
- Dana Rohrabacher, U.S. representative of California
State legislators
- State Senate Majority Leader Chuck Gray
- State Senator Russell Pearce
- State Senator Ron Gould
County officials
- Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona
Organizations
- Arizona Police Association
- Gun Owners of America
- National Association of Police Organizations
- National Border Patrol Council Local 2544
- Phoenix Law Enforcement Association
Individuals
- Mark Levin, host of the conservative radio talk show The Mark Levin Show
- Michelle Malkin, conservative journalist and writer
- Robert Stacy McCain, conservative journalist and writer and McCain's cousin
- Jay A. Nenninger, anti-abortion activist, president and executive director of Arizona Right to Life
- Michael Savage, host of the conservative radio talk show The Savage Nation
- Douglas R. Scott Jr., anti-abortion activist, president of Life Decisions International
- Chris Simcox, founder of Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and former candidate who withdrew from the campaign
- Orly Taitz, controversial Obama eligibility lawyer and dentist [Warning:possible malware and redirecting]
Jim Deakin
Individuals
- Roger Boone, leader of 200-member Flagstaff, Arizona Tea Party Patriots
Democratic primary
Background
Many considered popular Democratic governor Janet Napolitano a possible Democratic challenger to McCain, and some very early polling showed her ahead or competitive with him in a prospective 2010 matchup. Napolitano was term-limited as governor in 2010, and had openly discussed the possibility of a Senate race, especially given McCain's 2008 electoral results in the Democratic-trending state.
However, Napolitano was nominated by President-elect Barack Obama to be the new Secretary of Homeland Security on December 1, 2008, making it appear unlikely that she would challenge McCain.
In February 2009, Arizona Senate minority leader Jorge Luis Garcia was saying: "There hasn't been any discussion about any [candidates]. The Democratic Party would be willing to lend support to a candidate against Senator McCain. It would be very expensive—very, very, very expensive." In April 2009, only one person had announced a candidacy, Rudy Garcia, the former mayor of Bell Gardens, California. In October 2009, national Democratic leaders were saying that they were not bothering to recruit anyone to face McCain, but that same month, Tucson Councilman Rodney Glassman filed an exploratory committee for this Senate seat at the urging of Arizona Attorney General and Arizona gubernatorial candidate Terry Goddard.
Other possible Democratic challengers mentioned included Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon, U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, and Terry Goddard. However, Goddard had formally announced his candidacy for the 2010 Arizona gubernatorial race, and Phil Gordon was exploring a run for John Shadegg's Congressional seat in Arizona's 3rd district.
Candidates
- Rodney Glassman, Tucson city councilman
- John Dougherty, former investigative reporter for Phoenix New Times
- Cathy Eden, former state legislator and an aide to governors Rose Mofford and Janet Napolitano
- Randy Parraz, civil rights and labor activist, attorney
Debates
Debates were planned for:
- Friday, July 9, 2010, in Phoenix, to be televised on KTVK Channel 3
- Wednesday, July 21, 2010, in Yuma, to be radio broadcast on NPR's Yuma affiliate, KAWC
- Thursday, August 5, 2010, in Tucson, to be televised on KUAT
General election
Candidates
- Rodney Glassman (D), city councilor of Tucson
- Jerry Joslyn (G), businessman
- John McCain (R), incumbent U.S. senator
- David Nolan (L), former chairman of the Libertarian Party and inventor of the Nolan Chart
Campaign
After spending over $20 million during the primaries, McCain still had more than $1 million in cash on hand after the primary election. Glassman criticized McCain on women's issues. In August 2010, Glassman released a TV advertisement called "Arizona First."
Debates
- September 26: All four candidates on KTVK-TV in Phoenix. It ran without commercial interruption from 6pm to 7pm.