TL/DR –
The 2024 presidential election in Arizona saw former President Donald Trump leading narrowly, however, the Democrats seemed to fare well in the state, particularly in the U.S. Senate race and local legislatures. The state’s election process was relatively smooth with few incidents reported, and the results suggest that Arizona remains politically competitive. Further, two major ballot measures related to abortion rights and immigration enforcement were both passing, suggesting a balance of political viewpoints among the state’s voters.
Election 2024: Arizona Presidential Results
Election Day is over, and the presidential race seems settled while much of everything else, at least in Arizona, is not. Final results in the state’s closest contests may not be clear for several days more, but there are several trends worth watching to see if they will define Arizona heading into the next election cycle.
Democrats may do better in Arizona than expected
Donald Trump, the former president and perhaps president-elect, narrowly led in Arizona with the kind of margin that could be spellbinding if the race didn’t already seem settled in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It’s especially notable because across the country Vice President Kamala Harris specifically and Democrats generally fared poorly. But Arizona has a major asterisk at the moment.
Kari Lake struggled to compete
Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., was comfortably ahead in his Senate race against Republican Kari Lake, though his lead shrank throughout the night. If he holds on, Gallego would succeed Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and Lake would head to a second straight statewide loss in a race many Republicans viewed as winnable. Lake cast herself as “Trump in heels,” and he did well in Arizona, at least in the early unofficial results. But Lake was running far behind him in a way that didn’t happen in his two previous runs.
There were few problems voting
The job isn’t done, but election administrators had a relatively smooth Election Day across Arizona. A printer ran out of toner in Maricopa County. The counting process is certain to go on for days. Initial results were late in Cochise County. These were the kind of hiccups that flared up, but none of it suggests a process marred with major computer problems or paper shortages or disruptive behavior, such as the bomb threats that temporarily shut down voting in a few spots in Georgia.
Arizona will remain a battleground
Arizona Democrats ended a largely dismal night nationally with a likely win in the state’s U.S. Senate race and the possibility they could win at least one of the two chambers of the Legislature. Races in Maricopa County were close as well. The results in all these contests could wind up going the other way, but even if that happened, or even partially happened, it’s already clear that Arizona remains one of the more politically competitive states in the country.
Voters embraced abortion-access, immigration ballot measures
There were a lot of ballot measures for voters to go through, but at least two may capture the spirit of the election for Arizona. Proposition 139, a measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution, was easily passing late Tuesday. Proposition 314, a provision to allow local or state law enforcement agencies to carry out immigration arrests if a Texas law goes into effect, was also passing. The Texas law is facing a legal challenge. In some ways, each Arizona measure reflects the passion of the political left and the right at the moment, and both could pass. It suggests that neither side of the political spectrum ran roughshod over the other in Arizona. Or to put it another way, voters considered both measures on their own merits and opted to pass them both.
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