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Arizona CD1 candidates Jay Feely and Amish Shah clash over data centers
The article reports on a contentious debate in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District (CD-1) between Republican Jay Feely and Democrat Amish Shah.
Updated Oct 16, 2026, 2:28 PM ET
Amish Shah, a Democrat and emergency physician who served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2019 to 2024, faces Republican Jay Feely for Arizona's open 1st congressional district seat in 2026.
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Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Amish Shah.
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Recent media coverage for Amish Shah.
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Amish Shah Wins Democratic Nod in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District
Amish Shah won the Democratic primary in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, defeating the DCCC-endorsed Marlene Galán-Woods despite the party’s backing.
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Ex-Democrat Senator Privately Backs Trump-Endorsed Republican in Key Arizona House Race
The piece reports that Amish Shah, a former Arizona state representative with a history of breaking with Democratic leaders, is the Democratic candidate running against Feely (a former NFL kicker) for Arizona’s 1st…
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Crazy from the electoral heat
Amish Shah, a Democrat running for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District (AZ-01), has been the target of a GOP-driven controversy over a video showing him parking in a handicapped spot during an event.
No story this week names this candidate.
- Birthplace
- Chicago, Illinois
- Education
- Northwestern University (Bachelor of Arts in economics)
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Doctor of Medicine)
UC Berkeley School of Public Health (Master of Public Health)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Amish Shah was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Gujarati parents who immigrated from India in the 1960s while pursuing degrees in engineering. His father is Jain and his mother is Hindu. Shah earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics at Northwestern University and a Doctor of Medicine at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine, and he later completed a Master of Public Health at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
Career
After his medical training, Shah completed a residency in emergency medicine in New York City and became a faculty member and academic researcher at Mount Sinai Medical Center. He worked as a team physician for the New York Jets for five seasons, then moved to Arizona for a sports medicine fellowship at the University of Arizona, served as chief medical officer of Urgent Consult, and worked as an emergency physician at the Mayo Clinic Arizona.
Shah entered state politics in 2018, when he and Jennifer Longdon defeated incumbent Representative Ken Clark in the Democratic primary for the 24th legislative district and went on to win the general election.
He took office on January 14, 2019, won reelection in 2020, and after the 2022 redistricting represented the 5th district from 2023 to 2024. He served on the House Health and Human Services Committee in all three terms and was its ranking member in the last.
Shah resigned in February 2024 to run for Congress in the 1st district, winning a six-candidate Democratic primary with 23% of the vote before losing to Republican incumbent David Schweikert by 52% to 48%.
2026 race
Arizona's 1st congressional district, based in the northeastern Phoenix suburbs including Scottsdale, is open in 2026 because Schweikert withdrew from the race in September 2025 to run for governor.
Shah announced a second campaign for the seat in May 2025 and won the Democratic primary on July 21, 2026, taking 39.4% of the vote against former KSAZ-TV news anchor Marlene Galán-Woods (34.4%), businessman Jonathan Treble and media firm owner Rick McCartney.
In the general election on November 3, 2026, he faces Jay Feely, a CBS Sports analyst and former Arizona Cardinals football player who won the Republican primary with 49.8%.
Shah and Feely previously worked together for the New York Jets, where their careers overlapped during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.