Contact Information
Candidate Background
Candidacy
Undergraduate education: Arizona State University
Graduate education: Arizona State University
Harry Mitchell was born in Phoenix and currently lives in Tempe, Ariz. Mitchell earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from Arizona State University.
Mitchell taught high school government and economics and served on the Tempe City Council from 1970 to 1978, when he was elected mayor of Tempe.
Mitchell served as mayor of Tempe for 16 years ending in 1996. He became a state senator in 1998.
He was elected to the U.S. House in 2006.
Mitchell and his wife, Marianne, have two children.
Profile
Harry Mitchell is sometimes referred to as "everybody's grandpa," and continues to portray himself as a lawmaker attuned to 21st century issues like green collar industries and alternative energy.
But like other vulnerable Arizona Democrats, Mitchell has had to play defense on immigration in 2010. He sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him not to sue to block the state's tough new immigration law, and he urged him to send thousands of troops to the Mexican border to try to stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
Mitchell touts his fiscal conservatism and tried to get Congress to tighten its own belt before the country went into recession in 2008. He sponsored a bill in 2007 to cease automatic congressional pay raises. However, before the bill could be heard, Congress attached an amendment to another bill that will freeze pay raises for 2010. To show further solidarity, Mitchell donated his $8,500 raise in April 2009 to charities in his district for the second year in a row. His bill on automatic pay hikes passed in 2010.
He has made veterans' health a priority while in office. The 5th District congressman wrote in September 2008 to the head of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee asking for increased monitoring at a Department of Veterans Affairs nursing home in Prescott, Ariz., after a newspaper report documented allegations of patient neglect and abuse.
He previously introduced the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act in 2007 and co-sponsored the Webb-Mitchell GI Bill in 2008. The latter, which passed 416-12, provides education benefits to veterans.
Mitchell made his name in Tempe as a high school government and economics teacher for 28 years. While still a teacher, he served on the Tempe City Council until he was elected mayor in 1978.
Mitchell was mayor of Tempe for 16 years ending in 1996. He then became a state senator in 1998.
He won Arizona's 5th District seat after promising voters reform in Washington, D.C. Mitchell successfully beat Republican incumbent J.D. Hayworth, who had held the seat for 12 years. Mitchell's victory reflected voter dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq and scandals on Capitol Hill.
Mitchell beat his Republican opponent in the 2008 general election to win a second term. It was the second straight defeat for the GOP, despite 38,000 fewer registered Democrats in the district.
Campaigns
Harry Mitchell faces a repeat of his 2008 re-election bid in the November 2010 election, facing Republican David Schweikert.
Mitchell won with 53 percent of the vote in the 2008 election.
Mitchell successfully ran for Arizona's 5th District in 2006, beating out four-term Republican incumbent J.D. Hayworth with 50.4 percent of the vote.
Mitchell was elected to the state Senate in 1998 and served as the assistant minority leader prior to his election to the U.S. House.
(Last updated by Bob Christie on September 2, 2010.)
