Former NFL placekicker Jay Feely wants to tackle the House of Representatives, and he’s taking his campaign to the Dallas midterm convention stage on Wednesday.
The Arizona Republican is running in the highly competitive First Congressional District, and he’s facing off against Democrat Amish Shah for the seat left open by retiring Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ).
Feely told Townhall in an interview prior to his address that he is seeking to be “inspirational” in his Wednesday night remarks, and wants to specifically make an appeal to younger Americans who “don't have the belief economically that they can partake in the American dream.”
The Republican he believes the economy is the top issue in his district, which includes Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.
President Donald Trump beat then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election in Arizona, especially as the border crisis and immigration were in focus. Even though the border has quieted down, the topic still remains top of mind in the border state.
“We need to codify it,” Feely said regarding border policies.
“Everything that's been done is because President Trump did it with an executive order. You know, we need to codify it into law to make sure that we don't have illegal immigration going forward,” the former football player continued.
“You go all the way back to [President Ronald] Reagan and Tip O'Neill. They make this deal […] ideally it was not, it was supposed to end illegal immigration by providing amnesty,” Feely said. “Well, that didn't happen.”
“Obviously, we've seen what happened over the next, 30-40 years and what that did to our country, how we offshore jobs and offshore manufacturing plants and how we gutted the middle class. And thankfully, we are having a re-onshoring of manufacturing,” Feely added. “We are creating equal trade parameters and we're trying to bring investment back into this country, which we desperately needed.”
As someone who has not been in elected office prior, he said that it was surprising “how much money plays a big part in races.”
“Ideally, money wouldn't play that big of a part in who gets into office, who are our elected officials, and the ones creating and crafting the policies that are gonna shape our country,” he said.
His opponent, Shah, a doctor, has made abortion one of his main focuses in the race.
“But protecting that right doesn’t stop at the state line. What happens in Congress matters, and federal action could still threaten access to reproductive healthcare here in Arizona,” he said in a recent post.
Shah's campaign manager, Eve Zhurbinskiy told Townhall in a statement that "while Feely is on stage cheering on Trump for passing the Big Ugly Bill that adds $4 trillion to the national debt while kicking millions of Americans off of their health insurance, Dr. Amish Shah will be in the emergency room treating the Arizonans most in need of care."
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