Page Hospital is one of the rural hospitals in Arizona at risk because our representative in Congress, Eli Crane, voted to slash Medicaid. (The program is often branded as AHCCCS in Arizona.) Hospital administrators try to remain upbeat to encourage patients to use their facility, but have no way to make up for $800 billion in lost funding.

Rural Arizona’s Lifelines Are at Risk — And Eli Crane Helped Put Them There

Out here in Eastern, Central and Northern Arizona — in Page, Winslow, Globe, and across small towns between — rural hospitals aren’t just health care facilities. They are lifelines: places where babies are born, where emergencies are treated, where aging parents go for care, and where local jobs and economic stability are anchored.

But today, three of those lifelines in Rep. Eli Crane’s own congressional district — Page Hospital, Winslow Memorial Hospital, and Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center — are all on the brink of closure because of federal policy choices he’s supported. More on rural hospitals.

How We Got Here

When Congress passed huge federal spending and tax legislation this year — legislation that includes devastating cuts to Medicaid funding — rural hospitals across Arizona were identified as being at severe risk of collapse because they rely heavily on Medicaid reimbursements to stay open. A University of North Carolina analysis flagged five Arizona hospitals at risk from these cuts — and three of them lie squarely in Crane’s district: Page Hospital, Winslow Memorial Hospital, and Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center in Globe. Crippling Hospitals.

Without those funds, these hospitals face:

Forced closures or drastic service cuts, meaning rural residents will have to drive hours for emergency care and even longer for maternity and specialty services. KNAU
Loss of jobs that are among the largest in their local economies, deepening economic strain in communities that can least afford it. devastating consequences.
Higher health care costs for everyone, not just Medicaid patients, as facilities struggle to make up lost revenue. I ncreased Costs for all Patients

This isn’t hypothetical — it’s the lived reality if these hospitals close, and it’s precisely the outcome that advocacy groups and rural health experts have warned about. Gila Valley Central

Why Eli Crane’s Record Matters

Rep. Crane has consistently supported the kinds of federal Medicaid cuts that put these hospitals at risk — choosing tax breaks for the wealthy over preserving essential health care infrastructure in his own district. Crane’s actions have “devastated health care in his district” and helped undermine access to critical services in communities that depend on them. Arizona Eagle PAC

This isn’t just another policy disagreement — it’s a crisis with real consequences for real people. And rural Arizonans are beginning to understand just how deep the impacts could go.

It’s Time to Step Up for Rural Arizona — Support Arizona Eagle PAC

If you care about keeping rural health care alive, protecting access to emergency care, and holding elected officials accountable when their actions hurt the people they represent, now is the moment to act.

Arizona Eagle PAC was formed specifically to expose what Rep. Crane really stands for, especially among voters who may be conservative but care deeply about community health, economic stability, and honest representation. Arizona Eagle PAC

The PAC is working day in and day out to make sure rural Arizonans hear the full truth. Arizona Eagle PAC

Here’s how you can help right now:

Donate to Arizona Eagle PAC — your contribution fuels outreach and education about how Crane’s record threatens rural hospitals like Page, Winslow, and Globe.

Help Take the U.S. House by Defeating the Worst GOP Representative — Eli Crane

To be candid, calculating the worst of the worst would require AI to consume more electricity than is available on our planet. But let us make the case against Eli Crane.

––He double flipped from favoring the release of the Epstein files to opposing their release. And then when Trump called for the release of the files Crane flipped again to, you guessed it, favoring the release.

–He helped add $3 trillion to the national debt with no plan to repay the money, saddling Americans with paying an extra $150 billion in interest every year forever.

–His cohort and neighbor Paul Gosar is sometimes named the worst, but Crane has Gosar beat in a bad way. Crane does not live in his district, so he doesn’t care what happens there. He can’t be bothered to distribute his allotted community funds to projects in his district, allowing the money to go to other states.

–He refuses to meet with constituents.

–He has devastated health care in his district, threatening the closure of rural hospitals by curtailing Medicaid.

Arizona voters will very likely take the seats of Republican congressmen David Schweikert and Juan Ciscomani in the upcoming midterms. Schweikert has already decided not to run. In a recent poll, 49% said they had an unfavorable opinion of Ciscomani and 20 percent said they had no opinion of him despite his two terms as their congressman.

Which brings us to the third pick up opportunity, Eli Crane. Please support the Arizona Eagle PAC as we go after Crane. This could be the seat that determines control of the U.S. House. Donate Here

You can also mail contributions to Arizona Eagle PAC PO Box 588 Pinetop, AZ 85935.

There are several reasons we are starting to feel good about the chances of defeating Crane. Special elections are showing good results for Democrats. Indications of the “generic ballot” are looking good. Hispanic voters are realizing they want and need something better than what they are getting from the GOP.

With just a little less than a year to go, we are approaching dead even in this race.

Some other things about Eli that aren’t very endearing.

Right-wing billionaires keep Crane in office because they know they can count on him to vote against the interests of his constituents.
Crane devastates Arizona farmers and ranchers by supporting the bailout of Argentina at the expense of U.S. Agriculture,
Crane supports illegal tariffs that are raising the price of food for Americans and ruining our economy.
Crane supported the shutdown of the U.S. government and wants to end Food Stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This will take $110 billion away from supermarkets and small independent store owners as well, tanking the economy.

Arizona Eagle PAC is going hard after Crane for the things he is doing that put him in conflict with conservative voters. While we point out Crane’s flaws, Democratic candidate Jonathan Nez, former President of the Navajo Nation, is running an excellent positive campaign with national support. As an independent expenditure organization, Arizona Eagle PAC is prohibited from discussing strategy with the Nez campaign. Publicly available information shows that Nez is running a well-funded positive campaign that will appeal to the voters. We just need to take a few points away from Crane to ensure that Nez wins. The environment is right.

Democrats didn’t just win last week on Tuesday night, they dominated from Coast to Coast in urban areas, suburbs, and in rural areas. We don’t need much more of a wave to capture Crane’s seat, so let’s do it.

In the two major Governor’s races, Spanberger in VA (+14.6) and Sherill in NJ (+13.4) cruised to double digit wins in two states that Trump lost by fewer than 6 points in 2024. Spanberger had better margins in 90 of Virginia’s 95 counties than Harris and Sherill outran Harris in all 21 New Jersey Counties. Down Ballot, Democrats went from a 51-49 advantage in the VA House of Delegates to 64-36.

Of course, Mamdani won NYC Mayor’s race and CA voters passed redistricting by a lopsided margin.

Democrats rebounded strongest with Latino voters and young voters and that rebound carried across races everywhere in the country.

In Georgia Dems won two statewide races for Public Service Commission by over 20 points in a state Trump won in 2024.

JD Vance’s half brother lost the Cincinnati Mayor’s race by 56 points!

The down ballot carnage for Republicans extended to county boards and small town mayorships across the map from Connecticut to Pennsylvania to North Carolina to Colorado

How bad was election night for Republicans? So bad that a Democratic activist, Jay Ruby, who some of you know, won a seat on the Prescott, Arizona City Council.

What does this all mean for us locally?

For starters, Donald Trump and the Republicans appear unable to “course correct.” Instead of drawing lessons they make excuses. Trump’s arrogance and denial of reality are becoming a liability.

And the Republicans don’t seem interested in figuring out how to appeal to voters in a way that will turn things around.

Virginia Governor’s race shifted +8.8 points left from last year’s presidential election. New Jersey moved +7.5 points to the left. The overall national environment was about a D+8. In 2024 the National House vote was +2.2R so that’s roughly an 8 to 10 point swing in the background environment.

Conveniently, that roughly 9 point improvement is the margin we would need to win AZ2 which Crane won 54.5 to 45.5 in 2024 (9 points). In a +8 to +10 national environment for Dems that turns a lean/likely R race into a true toss up race.

Of course, Dems will have to work at it. The fastest growing Counties in AZ2 are red Pinal and Yavapai and the Republican registration advantage has increased overall in the state and in AZ2, so while CD2 is very much in play, it will take a continued good national environment and a very strong on-the-ground effort to deliver a win.

At the state level a +8 national environment would put Katie Hobbs, Kris Mayes, and Adrian Fontes on paths to re-election (projection would be mid-single digits, well out of recount territory which I’m sure AG Mayes would appreciate). It would almost certainly flip AZ1 and AZ6 the two flippable Congressional Districts that are in less Trump friendly places than AZ2.

It would also put the Democrats in position to flip both houses of the Legislature.

None of this is a given, but if last Tuesday was a sign of things to come, it’s long past time for Democrats to stop licking their wounds and go kick ass in 2026. Between the No Kings Protests and the election results this year (not just Tuesday night but in special elections as well) the resistance is on the rise and what we saw on Tuesday might only be a warm up for an even bigger blowout night in November 2026.

But we must continue to fight! Help defeat Eli Crane. Please donate.