Gallego Extends Lead Over Lake in Arizona Senate Race
The Grand Canyon State’s Senate race is the only one that has not yet been called.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) over the weekend saw his lead over Republican Kari Lake grow in the last uncalled U.S. Senate race from the 2024 election.
With eight precincts still counting ballots, Gallego has 1.55 million votes to Lake’s 1.49 million.
Maricopa County, the most populous in the state, reported the latest batch of ballots totaling about 97,000. Earlier on Sunday, officials there said that there was an estimated 202,000 uncounted ballots.
Many states across the country have finished processing votes from the Nov. 5 election.
The Gallego–Lake race is the only Senate race that has not been called. Both candidates have expressed confidence they will ultimately prevail.
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The Associated Press over the weekend called Arizona for President-elect Donald Trump, saying there were no scenarios that would let Vice President Kamala Harris close the gap with the former president.
Gallego, 44, a military veteran who has been a congressman since 2015, is vying with Lake, 55, a former television anchor, to replace Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). Sinema, 48, left the Democratic Party in 2022 before opting against seeking another term. Sinema is in her first term in office.
Before Sinema, the seat was held by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a 61-year-old who also retired from Congress rather than try for re-election.
Republicans have flipped multiple seats in the current election, including a seat in Montana. Republicans will enjoy a majority in the upper chamber when the new Congress starts in January 2025.
Elsewhere in Arizona, Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), 66; Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), 44; Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), 65; Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), 76; David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), 62; and Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), 54; have been projected as or declared winners.
In Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, the race for the seat being vacated by Gallego was won by Yassamin Ansari, 32, a former member of the Phoenix City Council. Ansari beat state Rep. Jeff Zink, 62.
In the state’s 6th Congressional District, Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), 42, was fighting for another term against state Sen. Kirsten Engel, in her 60s. The margin was just 2,093 votes as of Sunday night.
In the 8th Congressional District, the Republican and former prosecutor Abraham Hamadeh, 33, was projected to win over Democrat Gregory Whitten, age unknown. The contest is over a seat held by Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), 65, who chose not to run for another term.
