Sen. Jake Flake of Snowflake has decided not to run for the U.S. House seat that will be vacated by Republican Congressman Rick Renzi.
“I’ve decided that I want to stay here in the Senate,” Flake said Feb. 12. “I just studied it and felt like I could do more good right here in the Senate.”
Flake said last week he was weighing a congressional bid in the 1st Congressional District, the state’s largest.
The district encompasses more than 59,000 acres, stretching from the Arizona-Utah border, down to Florence in Pinal County, taking in Flagstaff and the bulk of the state’s eastern border.
Renzi has said he will not run for re-election. Renzi has been the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for his involvement in a land-swap deal. Republicans Sydney Hay and Preston Korn already have announced their candidacies in the race, though another state representative — Andy Tobin of Paulden – is exploring a run, as is Corporation Commissioner Kris Mayes. Earlier this year, state Rep. Bill Konopnicki announced he would not enter the race after a three-month-long exploratory campaign.
The Democrat candidates for the open seat are Jeff Brown, Ann Kirkpatrick, Howard Shanker and Mary Kim Titla.
Flake serves as chairman of the Senate Natural Resources and Rural Affairs Committee. He began serving in the Legislature in 1997 as a representative and became House speaker in 2003. He was elected to the state Senate in 2005.