Many election races in Arizona remained too close to call after Election Day.
Election results in Arizona are unofficial until local and state officials have tallied all ballots and certified the results, but media organizations call races when it becomes mathematically unlikely for the trailing candidate to catch up. Official election results aren’t certified until close to the end of the month, though media organizations and campaigns often project the results sooner.
Full, unofficial election results are anticipated to take days. The more last-minute early ballots that were turned in at polling places and other locations, the longer it will take to count votes and determine tight races. Officials in populous Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, currently estimate it will take 10 to 13 days to complete the tally.
State law gives county election officials about two weeks to wrap up the counting of ballots. Races may be called sooner, depending on margins and the number of early ballots that remain uncounted.
These are the major races in Arizona that weren’t called by early Wednesday:
U.S. presidential election
Arizona’s 11 Electoral College votes are up for grabs as voters decide between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The margin between the candidates was among the narrowest for swing states, even as Trump defeated Harris nationally early Wednesday.
Throughout the election season, Trump and Harris aggressively campaigned in Arizona, with both candidates visiting the state multiple times. The ultimate decision by Arizona won’t affect the national outcome, but the tight margin reflects the influence of independent voters in the Grand Canyon State.
U.S. Senate election
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., took an early lead over his Republican opponent, former television news anchor Kari Lake, though a winner was not declared by early Wednesday.
At a Democratic Party gathering on Election Day evening, Gallego stopped short of claiming victory but said he expected to become Arizona’s first Latino senator.
One week ago Lake appeared to gain ground on Gallego, who held an advantage in the polls since the outset of the race. Either Lake or Gallego will replace Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., who announced in March she would not seek a second term.
Arizona’s 1st Congressional District
U.S. Rep David Schweikert, R-Ariz, had a narrow lead against Amish Shah, a former state lawmaker, in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District.
Schweikert, who has represented parts of Maricopa County, including Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Cave Creek on Capitol Hill since 2011, was widely seen as one of the most vulnerable sitting members of Congress. Schweikert won his seat in 2022 by a single percentage point.
Shah, an emergency room physician and former state lawmaker, beat out a crowded field of Democrats for that party’s nomination. His campaign emphasized abortion rights, immigration concerns and public education.
Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District
Incumbent Rep. Eli Crane held a strong lead over his Democratic challenger for Congressional District 2, according to early returns from Election Day.
Crane, R-Ariz., was leading his Democratic rival, former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, though a winner was not yet declared.
Several prominent political analysis firms predicted Crane would win, but that the race was closer than they expected.
Crane, a self-described “outsider” and former military sniper, has supported former President Donald Trump. Nez’s campaign marks the first time a Native American candidate from Arizona advanced past the primary in a congressional race.
Arizona’s 4th Congressional District
Incumbent Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., has a substantial lead over Republican candidate Kelly Cooper but has yet to be declared the winner. Stanton ran unopposed for the Democratic Party nomination, while Cooper beat out three other candidates in the Republican primary.
Stanton has represented Arizona’s 4th district, which includes major cities in Maricopa County including Tempe and large parts of Mesa and Chandler, since 2019. He also served as the mayor of Phoenix from 2012 to 2018.
Cooper attacked Stanton in a televised debate last month, saying he had little to show for his six years in office.
Arizona’s 5th Congressional District
The race for Congressional District 5 pitted Republican incumbent Andy Biggs against Democratic challenger Katrina Schaffner. Biggs held a significant lead over Schaffner early Wednesday, though the race was not yet called.
Biggs assumed office in 2017 and previously served as an Arizona state senator. Schaffner attended a community college and based her campaign on support for middle America.
Arizona’s 6th Congressional District
In a rematch from 2022, incumbent Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., faced Democratic former state legislator Kirsten Engel, an environmental lawyer whom he defeated by less than two percentage points two years ago. Ciscomani trailed Engel by a narrow margin as of early Wednesday.
Ciscomani is a free-market Republican and served as an aide to former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, also a Republican. The race is rated a toss-up. Arizona’s congressional delegation has a six to three Republican advantage, so flipping both seats could flip the delegation to Democrats.
While Engel had a healthy lead in the Tucson-area district, the race was not yet called. The district stretches across Pima, Pinal, Cochise, Graham, and Greenlee Counties.
Arizona’s 8th Congressional District
Republican candidate Abraham Hamadeh led Democratic candidate Gregory Whitten by a significant margin, but the race was not yet called. Whitten and Hamadeh were running to fill the seat held by Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko, who announced her retirement from Congress in October 2023.
Hamadeh, a former Army Reserve captain and intelligence officer who worked as a Maricopa County prosecutor, beat out six opponents to win the Republican primary. He has vowed to stand with Trump to take on the “radical left.”
Whitten was unchallenged in the Democratic primary. A third-generation Arizonian, he previously served as a biosecurity expert at the Pentagon.
Maricopa County sheriff
The race for Maricopa County sheriff tipped toward Republican candidate Jerry Sheridan in early returns. Sheridan faced Democrat Tyler Kamp, who previously worked as a shift commander for the Phoenix Police Department.
For the first time in decades, a sitting sheriff was not in the race after former Sheriff Paul Penzone, a Democrat, resigned in January.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is one of the largest sheriff’s offices in the nation, with upward of 3,000 employees, including deputies, jail guards and civilians.
Several voters told The Arizona Republic during the primary they were supporting Sheridan because they believed he would bring back tactics from controversial former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who branded himself as “America’s toughest sheriff.” Sheridan was Arpaio’s chief deputy; Arpaio was defeated by Penzone in 2016 and in 2020 Penzone beat Sheridan.
Maricopa County recorder
Republican Justin Heap had the lead over Democrat Tim Stringham in the high-profile recorder’s race, a contest that could dramatically change election administration in Maricopa County.
The race was widely expected to be close.
It presented voters with a stark choice between Heap, an attorney and state lawmaker who has often toed the line of election denialism, and Democrat Stringham, a veteran and Naval Reserve attorney who ran as a defender of democracy.
The recorder oversees how elections are run in the county, and previous politicians in the position have pushed dramatic changes to the way the county votes. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer lost his primary to Heap.
Richer was widely criticized by election deniers for defending the 2020 results, and Heap avoided questions about whether he thought the 2020 election was rigged. (There’s no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, though some continue to baselessly insist there was.)
Mesa mayor
Mesa mayoral candidate Mark Freeman held a slim lead over Scott Smith early Wednesday.
With no major differences between the two establishment candidates, the race comes down to the nuances of their backgrounds, vision for the city and ideology. The race has remained largely civil and without controversy.
Throughout the campaign, Smith, a former mayor, criticized the city for not being business-friendly enough. Freeman defended his eight years on the City Council in response.
Scottsdale mayor
Incumbent Mayor David Ortega trailed former City Council member Lisa Borowsky by a healthy margin early Wednesday, setting the stage for what could be one of the bigger electoral upsets in a Valley city.
Ortega, an architect who first took office in 2020, was seeking his second term as Scottsdale mayor. He was the top vote-getter during the three-way primary election in July when former City Council Member Linda Milhaven was knocked out of the running.
The two candidates were critical of each other’s leadership in a heated race that involved mutual barb-throwing.
Ortega beat Borowsky in the 2020 mayoral contest, so conventional wisdom had him sailing to victory this year. But Borowsky’s strong showing in the early vote tallies has put serious doubt on that expectation.
Proposition 133 and Proposition 140
Proposition 140, the “Make Elections Fair Act,” which would end partisan primary elections, was losing in early returns. The measure was placed on the ballot by a citizen signature-gathering effort.
In response, Republicans in the Legislature put Proposition 133 on the ballot to compete with Proposition 140. Proposition 133 would enshrine taxpayer-paid partisan primaries in the Arizona Constitution, giving them an extra layer of protection from any alternative ideas. It also was losing early Wednesday.
This story will update as election results are reported.
Hannah Dreyfus is an investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on X @Hannah_Dreyfus or Threads @hannahdreyfus.
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Publish date : 2024-11-06 04:53:00
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