Arizona House Speaker Toma announces run for Congress, endorsed by Debbie Lesko

Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma announced Thursday his bid for the state's eighth Congressional district, and already has an endorsement from current Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz. 

"Today, I'm announcing my candidacy for Congress in Arizona's 8th Congressional District," Toma wrote on the social media platform X. "Our country is in trouble and Washington DC is a mess. If we, as conservatives, don't get our act together, we will doom the country to another four years of Joe Biden."

Toma currently serves in the Arizona state legislature in District 22 and serves as the Speaker of the House.

"Just as I have led the Republican caucus in the Arizona State House, I will work tirelessly to unify our party in Congress and advance a conservative agenda to change the direction of our country," he wrote. 

Lesko announced last month that she would not be running for reelection in the eighth district and threw her support behind Toma following his announcement. 

"I’m proud to endorse @RepBenToma," Lesko wrote on X. "Ben Toma lives in our district. He knows our district. He cares about the people that live in our district."

Toma will be joining former Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters and former Arizona attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh in the GOP primary for that district.