The results of Arizona’s 2024 Republican primary election began trickling in at 8 p.m. election night, with Kari Lake well in the lead for U.S. Senate against Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, and Abe Hamadeh easily leading in the race for Congress in CD8. Out of about 309,000 ballots, Lake received 53.3 percent and Lamb 40.6 percent, prompting NBC News to call the race for Lake. Hamadeh garnered 29.7 percent, with the next closest candidate, Blake Masters, at 23 percent.
The first round of results favored more moderate candidates in the Republican primary, since county recorders’ offices count early ballots first. The grassroots conservative base votes heavily on Election Day due to concerns about election fraud.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who has come under fire as an election fraud denier, trailed legislator Justin Heap 38.24 percent to 40.75 percent. Don Hiatt was in third with 21 percent.
In the Maricopa County Attorney’s race, incumbent Rachel Mitchell (pictured here) led challenger Gina Godbehere 59.19 percent to 40.81 percent.
In the race for Maricopa County Supervisor in district 2, incumbent Thomas Galvin was ahead of challenger Michelle Ugenti-Rita, 59 percent to 41 percent. In the district 4 race for Maricopa County Supervisor, Trump-endorsed Debbie Lesko was ahead of Bob Branch, 72.75 percent to 27.25 percent. In the district 3 race, Kate Brophy McGee received 73.58 percent to 26.42 percent for Tabatha Cuellar Lavoie. In the district 1 race, newcomer Mark Stewart easily sailed past incumbent Jack Sellers with 63.57 percent to Sellers’ 36.43 percent.
In the Maricopa County School Superintendent’s race, incumbent Steve Watson held a narrow lead with 35.91 percent, followed by Shelli Boggs at 33.12 percent and Nickie Kelley with 30.97 percent.
Longtime Maricopa County Sheriff employee Jerry Sheridan (pictured here) easily took the lead in the sheriff’s race, with 50.53 percent, followed by Frank Milstead at 28.71 percent and Frank “Mike” Crawford at 20.76 percent. Newcomer William Lichtsinn trailed incumbent Maricopa County Treasurer John Allen, 41.84 percent to 58.16 percent.
Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ-01) easily led his challenger Kim George 63.1 percent to 26.6 percent. Representative Eli Crane (R-AZ-02), who was endorsed by Trump, led challenger Jack Smith by an even larger margin, 78.7 percent to 21.3 percent. In CD3, Jeff Zink led Jesus David Mendoza 65.2 percent to 34.8 percent. In CD4, Kelly Cooper maintained a slim lead over Zuhdi Jasser, 32.4 percent to 27.4 percent. In southern Arizona’s CD6, incumbent and Trump-endorsed Juan Ciscomani led Kathleen Winn 61.8 percent to 38.2 percent.
In the state legislative races, State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) held a substantial lead over her challenger, State Representative David Cook (R-Globe), 53.8 percent to 46.2 percent.
In Fountain Hills, former Sheriff Joe Arpaio trailed both incumbent Mayor Ginny Dickey and challenger Gerry Friedel. Arpaio had 13.94 percent, Friedel had 39.05 percent, and Dickey led with 47.01 percent.
On the evening of the primary election in 2022, the first results that came in showed Lake losing the gubernatorial primary to Karrin Taylor Robson by 10 points. That lead gradually shrank as the ballots from Election Day were counted, with Lake ultimately winning by several points.
Richer reposted an update from ABC-15’s Garrett Archer, known as “Data Guru” for his election numbers, that said Election Day turnout by 5:50 p.m. was 50,158 Republicans, 14,084 Democrats, with 65,475 independents and minor parties.
The Arizona Secretary of State posts the results here, and Maricopa County’s results are here.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on X / Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
