Former Arizona State Senator Raquel Terán was behind on Monday by just 67 votes to former Phoenix Vice Mayor Yassamin Ansari in the race for Arizona’s 3rd Congressional district, despite Terán receiving the support of U.S. Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Representative Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07), and a number of nationally respected Democrats.
After 42,659 ballots for the Arizona Democratic Party primary for the state’s 3rd Congressional district were tallied by election workers, Ansari was found to have received 19,031 votes compared to Terán’s 18,964, giving the former Phoenix official a 67-vote lead and both candidates with about 44 percent of the vote.
An additional 4,664 votes went to Dr. Duane Wooton, a physician whose campaign website states has lived in the district for more than 30 years, giving him about 11 percent of all votes cast.
While election workers continue counting ballots to determine an apparent winner, the race is likely headed toward a recount, which Arizona law mandates any time a general election or primary is closer than 0.5 percent.
Votes remained outstanding at press time in Maricopa County, which includes parts of the district, and was accused of election irregularities in both the 2020 and 2022 elections.
The district strongly favors Democrats, meaning the winner of the primary election is likely to win the election in November.
While Terán(picture above, left) received significant support from Democrats in Congress, organized labor, activist organizations and state leaders, Ansari’s (pictured above, right) decision to sign a letter urging the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to establish policies friendly to crypto currency helped prompt $1.4 million in spending to aid her campaign from individuals who hold Bitcoin and other currencies.
Ansari’s campaign also received $1.9 million in direct donations.
The support from the crypto currency community also comes amid a feud between those who hold digital money and Warren, who has called for strong regulations and claimed digital currencies are used for money laundering and could undermine national security.
After the spending was announced in Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports, Terán reportedly described the spending from a pro-crypto currency super PAC as a “Republican-funded corporate Super PAC” that took money from “MAGA extremists.”
Terán and Ansari competed to win the seat being vacated by Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03), who opted to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, and won his primary after running unopposed. Gallego will face Kari Lake in November.
The potential loss of Kelly’s endorsed candidate comes as he is reportedly on the short list to become the vice presidential running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris, though the senator confirmed last week he planned to be in Arizona during the period Harris plans to announce the nominee.
Kelly fueled additional speculation on Sunday, when he published to the social media platform X, and then deleted, a post that some thought meant he was not selected by the Harris campaign.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Raquel Teran” by Raquel Teran and photo “Yassamin Ansri” is by Yassamin Ansari.
