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In Arizona, the vote counting continues in several crucial races, including the U.S. Senate race, the presidential election, and the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th Congressional District races, as well as the Mesa mayoral race. The U.S. Senate race is between Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and his Republican opponent, Kari Lake, with Gallego currently leading. The presidential race is still too close to call, with Arizona’s 11 Electoral College votes up for grabs, despite former President Donald Trump having won the overall presidential election.
Arizona Election 2024: Races Still Too Close to Call
Despite the presidential election being called for former President Donald J. Trump, vote-counting continues in Arizona. As of Wednesday evening, approximately 70% of the vote was accounted for. Arizona election officials predict the process will proceed for a few more days post-election due to state law allowing county election officials about two weeks to complete the task.
Several other critical races in Arizona remain undecided. Media organizations call races when it becomes mathematically improbable for the trailing candidate to catch up. However, election results in Arizona are unofficial until local and state officials have tallied all ballots and certified the results. Official election results are not certified until the end of the month, though projections often come sooner.
Full, unofficial election results are expected to take days. The more early ballots submitted at polling places and other locations, the longer it will take to count votes and determine close races. Maricopa County officials, home to Phoenix, currently estimate it will take 10 to 13 days to complete the tally.
Key Races Still Undecided
As Arizonians continue to wait for results, these are the races still too close to call: U.S. Senate election, U.S. presidential election, Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, Arizona’s 4th Congressional District, Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, and the Mesa mayor.
View Gallery – Ballot counting and adjudicating at Maricopa County center in Phoenix.
U.S. Senate Election
One of the few remaining races that will determine the makeup of the U.S. Senate is between Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and his Republican opponent, former television news anchor and staunch Trump supporter Kari Lake. Gallego, who could become Arizona’s first Latino senator, took a significant early lead over Lake, but the margins have tightened as more votes are counted. The two candidates were unusually quiet Wednesday as Lake started to close the gap.
U.S. Presidential Election
Although the result is inconsequential for the national presidential race, Arizona’s 11 Electoral College votes are still up for grabs for either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris. The margin between the candidates remains among the narrowest for swing states, even as Trump led Harris by around 5 percentage points.
Arizona’s 1st Congressional District
The lead in the race has changed hands, and U.S. Rep. David Schweikert now has the advantage over Democratic opponent Amish Shah in Arizona’s Scottsdale-area 1st Congressional District. But the race remains tight and the result may not come for days or weeks as Arizona ballots are tallied.
Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District
Incumbent Rep. Eli Crane maintains a lead over his Democratic challenger, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, in the 2nd Congressional District, but the race remains too close to call. Crane took an early lead according to Election Day returns, but the race is closer than expected.
Arizona’s 4th Congressional District
Incumbent Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., has maintained a substantial lead over Republican candidate Kelly Cooper but is not yet the declared winner. Stanton ran unopposed for the Democratic Party nomination, while Cooper beat out three other candidates in the Republican primary.
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. By the end of Wednesday, the two remained neck-in-neck, with the race still too close to call.
Mesa Mayor
Mesa mayoral candidate Mark Freeman held a slim lead over Scott Smith into Wednesday evening, but the race remains tight. The two candidates vying to lead the state’s third-largest city prevailed over a crowded primary election.
Note: This story will be updated as election results are reported.
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