Arizona races still too close to call (Updated for Saturday Counts)

At the close of counting ballots on Friday evening, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema has expanded her lead in the U.S. Senate race, Democrat Kathy Hoffman has expanded her lead in the Superintendent of Public Instruction race, Democrat Sandra Kennedy has now opened a slight lead for the second seat in the Arizona Corporation Commission race, and Democrat Katie Hobbs has significantly closed the gap in the Secretary of State race. When all the votes are finally counted, we may actually have some Democratic winners after all.  Count all the votes! And be prepared for a recount, or two.

According to the Data Guru, there are still 370,000 ballots left to be counted statewide, 266,000 of those in Maricopa County and 60,000 in Pima County.

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U.S. Senate (open)

Kyrsten Sinema (R)        991,443
Martha McSally  (D)       971,331
Angela Green (GRN)       46,820

Sinema leads by 20,112

Secretary of State

Steve Gaynor (R)            989,749
Katie Hobbs (D)             979,053

Gaynor leads by 10,696

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Kathy Hoffman (D)       986,355
Frank Riggs (R)             954,546

Hoffman leads by 31,809

Corporation Commission (2 seats)

Justin Olson (R)             901,690
Sandra Kennedy (D)     899,847
Rodney Glassman (R)  898,245
Kiana Sears (D)              837,552

Kennedy leads by 1,602 for the second seat

Ballots will be counted until Wednesday, November 14. Stay tuned.

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TANKING? White House, Senior Republicans Think McSally Should Be Pushing Their Vote Count Trickery Messages; Suspect She’s Just Waiting For Ducey Appointment To McCain Seat

Trump’s top political aides – inside and outside the White House – and other national Republicans believe that Rep. Martha McSally (R-CD2) has not been pushing their desired party line that some sort of trickery is happening in Arizona’s ballot processing and counting. Some speculate that she is silent because she believes re-elected Governor Doug Ducey will appoint her to fill Sen. John McCain’s seat if she loses the election to Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-CD9).

This reporting from Alex Isenstadt and James Arkin at Politico help fill in some of the missing puzzle pieces. When Trump Campaign Manager Brad Parscale tweeted about “tricks” in Arizona and speculated about “rampant fraud”, followed quickly by the President’s implications that there was corruption on display in Arizona, it was a sudden 1-2 that caught many off guard.

But, when that was followed by Arizona Senator Jon Kyl chiming in and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel calling it intentional “corruption” and “election meddling” on Fox’s Sean Hannity’s show, it was apparent that a strategy had been formed that left out McSally. Trump’s over the top tweet from Paris this afternoon – just as a court hearing on the Republicans’ suit to stop Maricopa and Pima County Recorders from contacting voters was about to begin – brought the chorus to a crescendo.

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WATCH: Trump Implies Corruption In Arizona Vote-Counting – “All Of a Sudden Out Of the Wilderness They Find a Lot Of Votes”

President Donald Trump went after Arizona’s electoral process and the Democrats’ supposed influence on it. Without any evidence to back it up, he implied that corruption was to blame for Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-CD9) taking a slim 9,000 vote lead in the Senate contest against Rep. Martha McSally (R-CD2). The President was asked a question … Read more

Celebrate 33rd Year anniversary of Tucson Clean & Beautiful

“Thank you for your support and encouragement in 2018! At Tucson Clean and Beautiful, we believe the combined and coordinated efforts of all of our simple acts create regional change. Thanks to each one of you for your volunteerism and generosity. Whether you cleaned up your neighborhood, snagged a stray piece of litter, planted a … Read more