Former Arizona state lawmaker ends run for Congress, going into active duty

PHOENIX (AZFamily/AP) — An Arizona congressional candidate is calling off his campaign after being called into active-duty service with the Air Force, he announced on social media this week.

Former state Rep. Travis Grantham, a Republican, served eight years in the Legislature. On Wednesday, he put out a statement on Facebook saying he won’t be filing the signatures he collected to run for Congress in Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District.

In his message, he didn’t rule out running for Congress in the future.

Grantham is also a lieutenant colonel in the Arizona Air National Guard. There is no specific mention of whether he’s getting deployed, but it comes around the time more U.S. forces are heading to the Middle East.

The governor’s office told Arizona’s Family that, at this point, officials aren’t aware of any requests for Arizona’s National Guard or Air National Guard to be deployed.

Grantham said he has no idea how long he will remain on active status. His social media post said he will do whatever is asked for however long he is needed.

Full statement

I wanted you to be among the first to know that I am not going to be filing my signatures to run for Congress. As many of you have been speculating, I have been called into active-duty service for the Air Force. There is no way to take on both responsibilities at the same time, and we have no idea how long I will remain on active status.

What I do know is that victory is the only acceptable outcome, so I will gladly do whatever is asked of me for however long it is needed. It is an honor to serve.

For those of you who have been helping, donating, volunteering, or praying for this campaign, I’m forever grateful, but this is clearly not the right time. Perhaps that day will come again, and I promise you will be one of the first people I’ll ask if that decision ever needs to be made again.

Until then, thank you for your support and friendship from the entire Grantham family to you and yours!

On Friday, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly said that 2,500 marines were being deployed or told to be prepared to deployed to the Middle East.

“I think it’s unfortunate we’re at this point. That makes me even more concerned about this conflict expanding to a ground war. I don’t want to see that,” said Kelly.

Hours after the announcement of additional forces are heading to the Middle East, President Donald Trump said U.S. forces had “obliterated” military targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, the primary terminal that handles Iran’s oil exports, and warned that the island’s oil infrastructure there could be next.

Co-director of the Future Security Initiative at Arizona State University Daniel Rothenberg says it’s hard to predict just how long this war will last.

“It’s not been clearly communicated to the American public exactly what the goals are. There’s been various indications, but it’s not crisp and clear. And I think that that’s a little complicated because, you know, knowing when a war ends really has a lot to do with what you decide the end game is,” said Rothenberg.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? *Please click here to report it*.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send *it to us here** with a brief description.*

Copyright 2026 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.

Join The Conversation

We want to hear what you think. Create a free account to share your thoughts. Read our community guidelines here.