Arizona picked up an eighth congressional district after the 2000 census. It originally encompassed the extreme southeastern part of the state. It included all of
Cochise County and parts of
Pima,
Pinal, and
Santa Cruz counties. For all intents and purposes, it was the successor to what had been the
5th district from 1983 to 2003. Longtime
Republican incumbent
Jim Kolbe retired in 2007, and was succeeded by
Democrat Gabby Giffords, who was
shot and severely wounded at a public event on January 8, 2011. Giffords resigned her seat on January 25, 2012. In a special election held on June 12, 2012, Democrat
Ron Barber was elected as the new congressman. For the 2012 election, Barber was redistricted to the
2nd district, which includes the bulk of the old 8th district. The 8th was redrawn to include nearly all of the Maricopa County portion of the old 2nd district–as mentioned above, more than 92 percent of the old 2nd's population. The district had previously been the 3rd district from 1963 to 2003. That district's congressman, Republican
Trent Franks, won the election for the new 8th. After the 2022 redistricting, the 8th was one of only two districts, the other being the East Valley-based 5th, that retained essentially its same boundaries. == Composition ==