Two days after the Arizona primary, the governor’s race is still too close to officially call, although Republican primary voters have Kari Lake with a slight lead over Karrin Taylor Robson. It’s the highest profile of the remaining races yet to be determined.
A big batch of vote results was scheduled to be released at 7 pm Thursday, according to the Maricopa County Elections Department.
Follow coverage of Arizona’s primary election by Republic reporters here.
Recap: Wednesday’s primary updates | Arizona primary election results 2022
7:10 p.m.: Kari Lake wins primary
Kari Lake has won the Republican primary for Arizona governor, the Associated Press declared Thursday evening.
Kari Lake wins:Lake’s win completes the sweep for Trump-backed candidates in Arizona
— Stacey Barchenger
7:10 p.m.: Fontes wins Democratic primary for secretary of state
Adrian Fontes has won the Democratic race for Arizona secretary of state, according to a projection from the Associated Press.
— Mary Jo Pitzl
7 p.m.: Lake now leads in Maricopa County
Kari Lake’s lead over challenger Karrin Taylor Robson widened on Thursday night as more votes in the race to the Republican nomination for governor were counted.
Lake was about 19,600 votes ahead, just shy of 3 percentage points, in the latest round of results. For the first time since results were reported on Tuesday evening, she overtook Taylor Robson’s lead in Maricopa County, albeit by about 2,500 votes.
The race has not been called, signaling the tightness of the contest and the pivotal role of election day voters whose ballots are still getting counted. Lake picked up two election day voters for every one that supported Taylor Robson, state results showed.
Lake, the former television news anchor from Phoenix, has already declared victory over Taylor Robson, the real estate developer and former member of the Arizona Board of Regents. Taylor Robson has not conceded.
— Stacey Barchenger
6:45 pm: Big results drop expected
Maricopa County will drop a new batch of results around 7 pm Thursday, Elections Department Spokesperson Megan Gilbertson said.
The results will include early ballots dropped off at voting sites on Monday and Tuesday. Gilbertson said election workers have signature verified all remaining early ballots and officials expect to process the vast majority of outstanding ballots by the end of the week.
The county will continue to process ballots through Aug. 9, which is the deadline set by state law for voters to “cure,” or verify, any questionable signatures on early ballots and provide proof of identification if they cast a conditional provisional ballot on election day.
— Sasha Hupka
5:15 pm: Could the vote margin in the governor’s race trigger a recount?
The vote margin between Kari Lake and Karrin Taylor Robson is narrow as votes continue to be counted. But will it be so narrow as to trigger an automatic recount?
It would have to be really, really tight because, despite a bill that this year widened the margin, the new recount trigger won’t become law until Sept. 24.
That means that the gulf between the winning and losing candidate would have to be one-tenth of 1% of the total votes cast in the GOP race for governor. And given that race will have well over 700,000 votes when the counting is wrapped up, the margin would have to be 700 votes.
The new threshold makes the trigger five times greater than what current law calls for, or one half of 1 percent of total votes cast. With the 700,000 vote theoretical example, that would be 3,500 votes.
The new recount trigger was in a bill sponsored by Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale. It was a reaction to Joe Biden’s 0.3% margin of victory in the Arizona presidential election.
Because the bill didn’t contain an emergency clause, it won’t become law until 90 days after the Legislature adjourned. In other words, after the votes have long been tabulated from Tuesday’s primary.
— Mary Jo Pitzl
5 pm: Thousands of ballots in Pinal County still remain uncounted
Roughly 50,000 early ballots remain to be counted in Pinal County, spokesperson James Daniels said.
Approximately 26,000 early ballots containing federal, congressional and state contests have yet to be tallied, as well as 14,000 supplementary ballots. Those were cast by voters living in municipalities impacted by last month’s error that caused Pinal to send out nearly 63,000 erroneous ballots. They contain only city and town contests.
About 10,000 early ballots are still awaiting signature verification.
All of the outstanding early ballots arrived at the county’s Elections Department or were dropped off by voters in the days leading up to election day, Daniels said.
Daniels expects more results to drop Thursday at 7:30 pm He did not say how many of the outstanding ballots may be included. All counting is expected to conclude Aug. 9.
— Sasha Hupka
4:45 p.m.: Kelli Ward tramples over John McCain as Meghan McCain weighs in
Kelli Ward took a victory lap after the slate of Trump-endorsed candidates chalked up wins* in Tuesday’s primary – and her route trampled right over John McCain.
“It’s been a long fight, 12 years,” she said in a Wednesday interview of Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast. “(T)aking on John McCain, taking on the machine and yesterday in Arizona was a culmination and it was an exorcism of John McCain from our state. And from our country.”
But the McCain spirit is far from dead.
Meghan McCain weighed in on the results on Twitter.
“Congratulations to my home state for fully making the transition to full blown MAGA/conspiracy theory/fraudster,” she wrote. “The voters have spoken – be careful what you wish for…”
She had predicted a Kari Lake win, calling the Republican gubernatorial candidate “one of the great political lunatics of our time.”
McCain lambasted Lake for her earlier support of Barack Obama and for being a “lifelong progressive liberal.”
“All she had to do was vomit up MAGA talking points and people bought it,” McCain tweeted. “Ella She is a fraud, a conspiracy theorist, and not up to the character of Gov.”
She continued her Lake critique in an interview on the Commentary podcast.
“Her favorite thing to do is attack my family,” McCain said in the interview.
*Lake is leading in the GOP governor’s race, but no winner has been declared as ballots are still being tabulated.
— Mary Jo Pitzl
11:45 am: Pinal County removes election director
Following a problem-filled primary election, Pinal County has removed its Elections Director David Frisk and he “is no longer employed” by the county officials announced in a statement released Thursday.
County Recorder Virginia Ross has resigned from that position and will take over as elections director, the county said.
“As a Board, we are deeply embarrassed and frustrated by the mistakes that have been made in this primary election, and as such, we are taking immediate steps to ensure the November election runs smoothly, as elections in Pinal County have historically done prior to this primary,” said Jeffrey McClure, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said in the news release.
The Board of Supervisors will meet Friday morning to appoint a replacement for Ross, who was first elected recorder in 2012.
“Having been the recorder for Pinal County since 2013, this primary election has been a stinging experience for us all. I look forward to involving all stakeholders in Pinal County as we work together to finish this primary election, before immediately turning our attention to the November election,” Ross said in the news release.
—Wyatt Buchanan
9:45 a.m.: Masters to meet with parents about education issues
Senate candidate Blake Masters will reportedly talk with parents about public education in Arizona.
A roundtable was set for Thursday with “concerned Arizonans about parents’ rights and other issues in public education,” according to a news release.
The roundtable was slated for 1 pm Thursday at 3336 E. Chandler Heights Road, Suite 117, in Gilbert.
To attend, email [email protected] by 11 am
—Mike Cruz
8 a.m.: Arizona poised to elect 5th female governor
No matter who is the Republic nominee for governor, Arizonans in November are poised to elect their fifth female governor, more than any other state in the country.
If Kari Lake secures the GOP nomination, the sprint to November’s general election will pit one of the state’s loudest 2020 election deniers, Lake, and its chief defender, Democrat Katie Hobbs.
Though the Republican race was too close to officially call, Lake declared victory on Wednesday afternoon as ballots cast on election day were counted and pushed her ahead of opponent Karrin Taylor Robson’s advantage among early voters.
“We are so proud of the movement,” Lake said during a news conference Wednesday. “We are so proud of the victory we have, and we are going to lead this state to its brightest days ahead.”
A spokesman for Taylor Robson declined to comment on Lake declaring victory with the race yet to be called.
Arizona’s four previous women governors were Jan Brewer, Janet Napolitano, Jane Dee Hull and Rose Mofford.
— Stacey Barchenger
