by Cole Lauterbach
Despite hundreds of thousands of votes yet to be tabulated, poll watchers had seen enough to predict two new Republican U.S. House members, but another GOP incumbent is on the ropes.
On Friday morning, incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom O’Halleran conceded to challenger Eli Crane for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District. The three-term Democrat faced a tough reelection bid after being shuffled into a new district that favored Republicans.
“There’s no denying that my team and I are incredibly disappointed in these results but I thank the families of Arizona’s First District for giving me the opportunity to serve you these last six years,” O’Halleran said.
In Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, Republican Juan Ciscomani appears to have won the seat formerly held by retiring Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick. On Friday morning, Ciscomani held a 51% to 49% lead over state Sen. Kirsten Engel. The New York Times had called the race for Ciscomani but others have hesitated to give him the win with thousands of ballots yet to be counted.
In Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, Democrat Jevin Hodge is leading Republican incumbent David Schweikert by a slim 4,500 vote margin. The district is in Maricopa County, which is struggling to count hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots that voters turned in by hand in the few days leading up to Election Day.
Maricopa County election officials plan to update vote counts Friday afternoon.
The delay is the primary reason the race for governor between Republican Kari Lake and Democrat Katie Hobbs has yet to be called. Democrat Mark Kelly and Republican Blake Masters also lie in wait for Maricopa’s ballots to be added to the count.
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Cole Lauterbach is a managing editor for The Center Square covering the western United States. For more than a decade, Cole has produced award-winning content on both radio and television.
Photo “Eli Crane” by Eli Crane for Congress. Photo “Juan Ciscomani” by Juan Ciscomani. Background Photo “U.S. Capitol” by Sandy Torchon.
