As 16-year congressional run ends, Arizona Republican Rep. David Schweikert mulls future

U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, an Arizona Republican who is nearing the end of a 16-year run in Congress, said Tuesday he is not ruling out a return to politics.

“I’m going to stay involved. I hopefully will reactivate part of the family business, and then a couple years from now we’ll decide if we’re going to run for office again,” Schweikert told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Election Day when asked about his future.

Schweikert, who has young children, said he has been coaching his 4-year-old in soccer.

“I’ve been gone for a while, and so I’m trying to be a good dad,” he said.

Rep. David Schweikert off general election ballot for first time in years

Schweikert ran for governor this year and finished a distant second to fellow U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs in the July primary.

Until this year, Schweikert had been on the general election ballot every two years since 2008, when he lost his first congressional bid. He won a U.S. House seat in 2010 and has been representing the northeast Valley in Congress ever since.

Schweikert said he learned over the years that Election Day can end up being uneventful for candidates until results are released.

“I’ve been in one of the toughest districts right in America for eight election cycles, and you spend the day saying thank you to people that tolerate the battle,” he said. “But there’s almost nothing left to do, and so you live on this diet of rumors [and] caffeine.”

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