Arizona GOP Gubernatorial Primary Race Too Close to Call Election Night, House Speaker Rusty Bowers Trailing by 22 Points

PHOENIX, Arizona – By midnight on primary election night, Aug. 2, with 82 percent of precincts reporting, the Arizona Republican primary race for governor was too close to call. The early ballots were counted first, showing Karrin Taylor Robson in the lead by several points, but local reporter Jeremy Duda, who has covered elections in Arizona for years, tweeted that the type of voters who would favor Trump-endorsed Kari Lake were far more likely this year to vote on election day than by early ballot. This is because of concern over ballot fraud, especially with mail-in ballots.

As of 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Lake held a narrow lead of 46 percent to 44 percent over Robson with 635,000 votes counted and an additional 125,000 votes (a combined total from both the GOP and Democrat primaries) expected to be counted some time later in the day.

At about 10 p.m., a spokesperson for the Lake campaign told the crowd at her election night party that they expected to win based on the returns that had started coming in from the ballots cast at the polls. He said they needed to win 30 percent of those, and were averaging 32 percent.

Some of the other major Republican primary races had polling leading up to election day clearly showing who was likely to win. These included the U.S. Senate race, where Trump-endorsed Blake Masters was easily in the lead with 35 percent, followed by Jim Lamon with 30 percent and Mark Brnovich with 20 percent.

Trump-endorsed State Sen. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley) held the lead for Secretary of State at 36 percent, with Beau Lane trailing at 26 percent, and State Sen. Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix) with 20 percent. Trump-endorsed Abraham Hamadeh led the Republican field for Attorney General, with Rodney Glassman significantly behind at 23 percent.

In Congressional races, Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ-06) appeared to easily defeat two challengers, with 43 percent compared to 33 percent for Elijah Norton and 22 percent for Josh Barnett. Trump-endorsed Eli Crane appeared to be defeating State Rep. Walt Blackman (R-Snowflake), 33 percent to 25 percent. Ron Watkins, who some have alleged was behind “Q,” had only 3 percent.

In some of the more notable state legislative races, former legislator David Farnsworth, who was endorsed by Donald Trump, was beating House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R-Mesa) by 22 points. Trump-endorsed State Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) held a solid lead over State Sen. Kelly Townsend (R-Apache Junction), 55 to 44 percent.

Former legislator Ken Bennett barely held a lead over Steve Zipperman, 51 to 48 percent. State Sen. John Kavanaugh (R-Fountain Hills) also barely maintained a lead over his challenger Jan Dubauskas, 51 to 48 percent.

State Rep. Judy Burgess (R-Prescott), may lose reelection with only 21 percent of the vote. In that race, State Rep. Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott) appears easily headed to reelection with 41 percent, with newcomer Selina Bliss poised to get the second slot from Prescott at 27 percent.

Another conservative legislator whose reelection chances look tight is State Rep. John Fillmore (R-Apache Junction), who was in third place for two slots with 29 percent. State Rep. David Cook (R-Globe) was solidly in the lead with 39 percent, followed by newcomer David Marshall, Sr. with 31 percent.

In LD 3, newcomer and famed GOP attorney Alexander Kolodin may end up getting the second most votes so taking the second seat, but it is very close. State Rep. Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale) was well in the lead with 38 percent, followed by Kolodin at 20 percent, Darin Mitchell with 17 percent and Nicole Seder Cantelme with 15 percent.

View all 2022 primary race results at the Arizona Secretary of State’s website

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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photos “Karrin Taylor Robson” and “Kari Lake” by Gage Skidmore CC2.0.

 

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2 Thoughts to “Arizona GOP Gubernatorial Primary Race Too Close to Call Election Night, House Speaker Rusty Bowers Trailing by 22 Points”

  1. […] “fractured caucus” currently under the leadership of House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R-Mesa), who lost his primary election earlier this month. Chaplik called the legislature a “cesspool” of “sham […]

  2. […] “fractured caucus” currently under the leadership of House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R-Mesa), who lost his primary election earlier this month. Chaplik called the legislature a “cesspool” of “sham […]

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