Arizona finished counting the votes, and it looks like the state will have a Democratic attorney general.
Maricopa County finished tabulating its ballots from the November 8 election on Monday this week. Now, Democrat Kris Mayes holds a narrow 510-vote lead over Republican Abe Hamadeh.
The results show that Mayes received 1,254,612 votes, while Hamdeh got 1,254,102 votes.
The 510-vote differential is close enough to trigger a recount, but it’s expected that Mayes will remain the winner. Arizona elections go to automatic recounts when decided by 0.5% or less.
Mayes thanked her supporters in a statement on Monday.
“We knew this race would be close,” Mayes tweeted. “The polls showed us that. And we know we have a recount ahead. I know this past week and a half has been very stressful for many people. Thank you to all of our hardworking elections officials, poll workers and volunteers. We appreciate you. I’d like to express my deep gratitude to everyone who supported my campaign. Every vote mattered — and this race is surely a testament to that!”
Mayes added that she is confident that her lead will withstand the recount effort.
“As we head into this recount with a 510 vote lead, we feel confident that the end result will be the same, and I am very much looking forward to being your Lawyer for the People,” Mayes tweeted. “I want to say I’m extremely proud of the campaign we ran. We were out there proactively on issues like reproductive rights, consumer fraud and the outrageous Saudi water grab. We will now be patient as we go through this process, and ask that everyone else do the same. Let’s lead with hope and humility versus divisiveness and chaos. I believe we’ve had enough of that. Thank you, Arizona! Onward.”
The recount will begin some time after December 5, according to KAWC.
Unhappy with the election results, Hamadeh hinted that he doesn’t agree with the official election results.
“My parents came here from Syria, they didn’t expect Arizona elections to be so similar,” he tweeted.
Syria is known for holding lopsided presidential elections where members of the al-Assad family always win with more than 90% of the vote. Since 1971, the country has elected two people as its president: Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar al-Assad.
Before Syria’s 2021 presidential election, which Bashar al-Assad won in a landslide, the United States made clear that it would not accept the election results.
“The proposed Syrian presidential election this year will neither be free nor fair,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Al Jazeera. “In this environment, we do not assess this call for elections to be credible.”
Mayes will take office in early January.
Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
