TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- Randy Graf is a tough-on-immigration Republican in a district that is fed up with people pouring illegally across the border and hasn't elected a Democrat to the House in two decades.

Yet Graf's national party is turning its back on him, the retiring Republican congressman he wants to succeed has disavowed his candidacy and he's finding trouble getting traction beyond the most secure GOP voters -- and a border militia that's backing him.

Arizona's 8th District, which stretches from Tucson to the Mexican border, has returned moderate Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe to office for 22 years, faithfully backing him even after he revealed in 1996 that he was gay. Now a rift in the Republican Party over immigration is playing to the benefit of the Democratic candidate, former state Sen. Gabrielle Giffords, 36.

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