the Hopi reservation is completely surrounded by the Navajo reservation. In order to comply with current Arizona redistricting laws, some means of connection was required that avoided including large portions of Navajo land, hence the narrow riverine connection. George W. Bush carried the district in 2004 with 61% of the vote. John McCain won the district in 2008 with 60.75% of the vote while Barack Obama received 38.07%. During the Super Tuesday, February 5, 2008 Arizona Democratic primary, the district was won by Hillary Clinton with 54.52% of the vote while Barack Obama received 35.62% and John Edwards took in 7.43%. In the Arizona Republican primary, the 2nd district was won by favorite son John McCain with 49.51% while Mitt Romney received 29.51% and Mike Huckabee took in 10.46% of the vote in the district. After the 2012 census, the bulk of the Maricopa County portion of the old 2nd became the 8th district, while the new 2nd district took in most of the territory of the old 8th district. That district, in turn, had been the 5th district from 1983 to 2003. In the 2014 midterms, the district was the last House of Representatives race to be decided, as the official recount began on December 1 due to Republican Martha McSally leading incumbent Democratic congressman Ron Barber by fewer than 200 votes. Ultimately, Barber lost to McSally by 167 votes. In the 2018 midterms, McSally retired to run for the U.S. Senate, and Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick was easily elected to replace her. Following her defeat in the 2018 Senate race, McSally was appointed to the Class III U.S. Senate seat made vacant by the death of Senator John McCain. History and demographics Athabaskan-speaking Native Americans lived in this region long before the arrival of the Europeans who established the Arizona Territory. In the late 19th century, Apache chief Cochise and a band of Chiricahuas built their stronghold on the Dragoon range of mountains. The tribe would often ambush and rob passersby as an attempt to keep interlopers off their land. The presence of the tribe deterred the settlement of the area for far longer than the rest of the Arizona Territory. The district, containing a county now called by his name, developed when its varied and valuable resources were found in the 1870s. The discovery of silver mines in 1878 in the Tombstone district spurred much growth and investment