Graf lost because the RNC dumped all over him when he won the primary and refused to spend one red cent on his election. If he had received support he could have won. His district was in one of our other liberal enclaves... thank God the third (Flagstaff) is mixed into the Navajo Reservation and Prescott so it gets neutered somewhat, because they brought in a ACLU Liberal to run there against Renzi.
No Graf lost because CD8 leans left. Right out of the primary Graf was way behind the polls. The minute Kolbe announces his retirement CD8 could be safely moved to the Dem column, then when a hardliner won the GOP primary it became all done but the crying. It also didn't help that sometimes Graf comes off as a little crazy. The RNC shouldn't have given him money, they'd have just been pissing it waway.