David Schweikert

RepublicanU.S. Representative, AZ-1

Age	64 (b. 1962-03-03)
Gender	Male
In office since	2011-01-05 (~15 yrs)
Race / ethnicity	White
Religion	Catholic
Education	Saguaro High School (1980); attended Scottsdale Community College; B.S. in Finance and Real Estate from Arizona State University (1985); MBA from the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU
Prior occupation	Real estate businessman and financial consultant; owner of an Arizona-based real estate business (Sheridan Equities LLC)
Military service	No
Birthplace	Los Angeles, California
Marital status	Married — Joyce Schweikert
Children	2
Residence	Fountain Hills, Arizona

Wikipedia · Ballotpedia · OpenSecrets · Official site

Pending research: languages · notable relatives · openly lgbtq.

Career & politics

First elected	2010
Ideology	Conservative; received a 97% score from the American Conservative Union Foundation (2019). Founding member of the House Freedom Caucus (left 2023).

Financial

Net worth: estimate

No holdings recorded yet (from official Financial Disclosure filings).

Scandals & crimes ledger

resolved — FEC Civil Penalty — Knowing and Willful Campaign Finance Violations (MUR 7923) business

campaign-finance · 2010-01-01 · Federal Election Commission · Schweikert's campaign committee (Friends of David Schweikert) agreed to a $125,000 civil penalty consent order. The FEC found the committee and treasurer Valerie Giramberk knowingly and willfully violated FECA by misreporting disbursement purposes, misreporting payees, and converting campaign funds to personal use. Former chief of staff Oliver Schwab separately agreed to pay a $7,500 fine for failure to maintain records.

In FEC MUR 7923, the FEC determined that Schweikert's campaign committee knowingly and willfully violated federal campaign finance law over roughly 2010–2017. Specific findings included approximately $78,000 in disbursements with insufficiently detailed purpose entries (e.g., 'strategic consulting'), approximately $50,000 in disbursements where the payee was misreported (payments attributed to Schwab's personal credit card), and conversion of campaign funds to personal use (dry cleaning, child care, flight upgrades for personal travel, and similar personal expenses). Schwab had submitted false consulting invoices to conceal the true purpose of disbursements. The consent agreement was finalized January 11, 2022 and publicly announced February 2022.

Sources: Cronkite News (Arizona PBS) · The Hill · FEC — MUR 7923 Consent Order · PolitiFact · Business Insider India

resolved — House Ethics Committee reprimand and $50,000 fine for 11 violations

ethics-violation · 2018-06 · U.S. House Committee on Ethics; full U.S. House of Representatives · Schweikert admitted to 11 violations of House rules, the Code of Ethics for Government Service, and federal law. The House reprimanded him by voice vote and the Ethics Committee imposed a $50,000 fine. Violations included campaign finance reporting errors (including a falsely reported $100,000 loan and an undisclosed $75,000 bank loan), misuse of his Members' Representational Allowance (official office funds) for unofficial/personal purposes, pressuring official staff to perform campaign work, and a lack of candor and due diligence during the investigation.

Following a House Ethics Committee investigation opened in June 2018, Rep. David Schweikert admitted to 11 ethics violations covering a roughly seven-year period. The Committee found misuse of his official office allowance (MRA) for unofficial purposes, campaign finance reporting violations (including a falsely reported $100,000 loan that did not exist and an undisclosed $75,000 loan from Metro Phoenix Bank), pressuring congressional staff to perform campaign work, and a lack of candor and due diligence during the investigation. The Committee noted 'evasive, misleading, and stalling tactics.' On July 31, 2020, the full House reprimanded Schweikert by voice vote and he was fined $50,000. His former chief of staff and campaign manager Oliver Schwab was a central figure in the underlying conduct.

Sources: NPR · The Washington Post · U.S. Congress (House Report 116-465) · Roll Call

resolved — Defamation lawsuits over 2022 primary campaign materials implying opponent was gay

ethics-violation · 2022-07 · During the 2022 Republican primary, Schweikert's campaign and allied consultants (Christopher Baker, Jonathan Huey) distributed mailers and social media content implying his primary opponent Elijah Norton was gay (including a mailer captioned "Elijah Norton Isn't Being Straight With You") and falsely claiming Norton's company, CarGuard Administration, engaged in illegal telemarketing/robocall scams. Norton personally, CarGuard Administration, and a third individual (Leslie Hammon, over ads implying her romantic involvement with Norton) filed civil suits against Schweikert, his campaign committee, and the consultants. The CarGuard/Baker matter and Schweikert's campaign's portion of Norton's personal suit were settled in late 2023, described by Norton as "amicable"; specific terms/payment by Schweikert's campaign were not disclosed. Consultant Jonathan Huey separately settled with Norton in April 2024 for $50,000 and acknowledged under oath that the claims about Norton's sexuality were false. The episode also led Schweikert to unsuccessfully press the House Ethics Committee in late 2023 to expand legal-expense-fund coverage to campaign staff, vendors, and spouses. · Civil suits settled out of court; Huey paid Norton $50,000 and admitted the underlying claims were false. Schweikert campaign's own settlement terms were not publicly disclosed and no fault was admitted by Schweikert or his campaign.

Schweikert's 2022 campaign and allied consultants were sued for defamation over materials implying his primary opponent was gay and that the opponent's company engaged in fraud; the suits were settled in 2023-2024, with one consultant paying $50,000 and admitting the claims were false, while Schweikert's own campaign settlement terms were not disclosed.

Sources: ABC15 (KNXV) · KJZZ · Roll Call · Phoenix New Times