Democratic primary between Ansari and Terán will go to automatic recount
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Raquel Terán, left, and Yassamin Ansari. Photos: Courtesy of Raquel Terán for Congress and Yassamin for Congress
Yassamin Ansari is on pace to become the next U.S. representative from Arizona's 3rd Congressional District, but it'll probably be a week and a half before an official winner is the Democratic primary is announced because of a pending recount.
The big picture: When Maricopa County finished counting votes Monday, Ansari, a former Phoenix City Council member, led Raquel Terán by 42 votes.
- Ansari led the former state lawmaker and ex-Arizona Democratic Party chair by more than 4 percentage points at the end of Election Day.
- Her lead consistently shrank as the county tallied early ballots dropped off at polling places.
- Because the south and west Phoenix district is overwhelmingly Democratic, the primary winner is effectively guaranteed to win the general election.
What's next: The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will canvass its election results on Aug. 12.
- Secretary of State Adrian Fontes will canvass the statewide results on Aug. 15, but he'll go to court the day or day after the county's canvass to get a judge's order for a recount, spokesperson Aaron Thacker told Axios.
- State law requires recounts in races where the margin of victory is equal or lesser to half a percent of the total ballots cast between the two candidates.
- Once a judge issues that order, Thacker said, a recount is expected to last two or three days and could be finished as soon as Aug. 16.
Context: It can be hard to predict how a recount will play out.
- In the 2022 general election, Democrat Kris Mayes initially led Republican Abraham Hamadeh by 511 votes. But an automatic recount revealed a large batch of uncounted ballots in Pinal County that narrowed Mayes' lead to 280.
- In that year's Democratic primary, Teresa Lopez's three-vote lead over Robert Meza in a Maricopa County justice race didn't change by a single vote after a recount.
What they're saying: "While we are confident this lead will hold, it is important to let the vote-counting process fully play out through an automatic recount. … We look forward to working with Maricopa County and the Attorney General's Office to ensure a smooth process going forward," Ansari said in a press statement.
The other side: "We are just 42 votes behind, and we're entering into a recount process. Especially in Arizona, we know that democracy is worth waiting for, and it is critical that every vote is counted," Terán said in a statement.