Democratic primary in Arizona’s 3rd District is too close to call, AP determines
PHOENIX — The race for the Democratic nomination in Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District was further shortened on Monday, making it too close to predict and triggering an automatic recount.
The precinct is in Maricopa County, which finished counting ballots Monday. Former Phoenix City Council member Yassamin Ansari led former state lawmaker Raquel Terán by 42 votes, with 42,819 ballots counted — a margin of 0.1 percentage points.
According to the Associated Press news agency, the outcome is too exciting to predict.
Under Arizona law, a recount is triggered when the margin is 0.5 percentage points or less. The recount will begin with a request from Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to the Maricopa County Superior Court once the count is complete early next week.
The court then set a deadline for counting the votes and announcing the results.
The 3rd District seat, which includes parts of Phoenix, was left open by Rep. Ruben Gallego’s decision to run for U.S. Senate. The district is Democratic, giving whoever wins the primary a favorable chance to win the November race against Republican Jeff Zink.
Ansari, the daughter of Iranian immigrants, previously served as Phoenix’s vice mayor. She resigned from the council in March to focus on the congressional district race.
Terán, who previously served as chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, was serving her first term in the Arizona Senate after being elected in November 2022. She stepped down in April 2023 to focus on her campaign for Congress.
In the swing state of Arizona, the races have already been exciting.
In November 2022 a retell was required in the Arizona Attorney General election after polls showed Democrat Kris Mayes ahead of Republican Abraham Hamadeh by just 511 votes.
The results prompted an automatic recount and a subsequent recount confirmed she had won, but by only 280 votes. The victory, certified by Maricopa County Superior Court, was one of several Democratic victories in the midterm elections in what had once been a predictably Republican state.
Hamadeh challenged the results in court, claiming problems with ballot printers and mishandling of ballots. A judge said he could not prove his arguments.
Hamadeh, one of two Republicans endorsed by Trump last month won the GOP nomination for the November election in a conservative congressional district northwest of Phoenix.
Recounts also took place in two other races in Arizona’s 2022 midterm elections. Republican Tom Horne won the race for state superintendent of education, and Republican Liz Harris won a seat in the legislature in the Phoenix suburbs.
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Sandoval is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-reported issues.