6th District Democratic primary remains undecided
A day after voting ended, one congressional primary remained too close to call and three others were belatedly decided.
The state’s tightest House race this year is the 6th Congressional District’s Democratic primary contest between Anita Malik and Heather Ross.
On Wednesday afternoon, Malik held a razor-thin lead among unofficial returns, but more ballots remained uncounted for the Scottsdale-based district that covers much of the northeastern Valley.
About 100,000 ballots remained uncounted in Maricopa County, though it was unclear how many were from that district.
On Wednesday afternoon, David Brill defeated Delina DiSanto in the 4th Congressional District’s Democratic primary in the race to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar.
Earlier Wednesday, the Associated Press called two GOP races that had been too close to call on Tuesday night.
Wendy Rogers, a four-time House candidate, won the 1st Congressional District’s Republican primary. She defeated state Sen. Steve Smith and Pinal County businesswoman Tiffany Shedd.
Lea Marquez Peterson formally sewed up the 2nd Congressional District’s GOP primary over Brandon Martin, Casey Welch and Daniel Morales.
The Malik-Ross race will decide who challenges U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, the four-term Republican incumbent in the 6th District.
He occupies a traditionally Republican-friendly district, but its relatively upscale, college educated, suburban base is the kind of demographic group that has been drifting closer to Democrats, especially in the era of President Donald Trump.
Political analysts still see Schweikert as the favorite to win in November, but the competition among Democrats is a sign of growing competitiveness in that part of the state.
Ross, a nurse practitioner and Arizona State University professor, was backed by several labor unions and several high-profile congressional endorsements, too. That includes House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland and two of Arizona’s most moderate Democrats, U.S. Rep. Tom O’Halleran and former U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, who is running again in Tucson. Former U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., also has backed her.
Malik works in technology and communications and had made job creation and addressing inequality signature issues in her campaign.
Brill, meanwhile, reflects an effort to at least push harder on Gosar, a fourterm Republican in the state’s reddest district, where Republicans have a 26 percentage point registration advantage.