Republican Kari Lake and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) are in a close race to fill the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
On Nov. 6, Gallego was ahead by 2.5 percent, but his lead narrowed to 1.7 percent after new ballots were reported on Thursday. He currently has 1.3 million votes compared to Lake’s 1.25 million, with a margin of 43,836 votes.
Arizona officials still have about a quarter of precincts left to process, delaying the final results of the election.
Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer overseeing election integrity for Republicans, mentioned that they are closely monitoring the ballot tabulation process.
Lake and her campaign team remain optimistic about her chances of winning, encouraging voters to correct any ballot errors within the specified timeframe.
Gallego, a military veteran representing Arizona’s Third Congressional District since 2015, expressed confidence in the outcome of the race.
Aside from the Arizona race, other Senate seats have been flipped to Republicans in the recent election, shifting the balance of power in the Senate.
Republicans are projected to hold 53 Senate seats in the upcoming Congress, with Democrats and independent caucuses holding 45 seats.
Additionally, the outcome of the Nevada Senate race between Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Sam Brown is still pending, with Rosen currently leading by a narrow margin.
