Arizona Democrats maintain blue wave in Congress
As votes continue to get counted across Arizona, the Democratic Party is on the cusp of historic victories at the state and federal level.
As of Wednesday morning, four of the state’s nine Congressional races have been called by various media outlets, with Arizona’s 3rd, 4th and 7th districts going to the Democrats and the 9th District going to the GOP.
Of the five that are left, the two that were considered swing districts (Arizona’s 1st and 6th districts) showed slim Democratic leads, while former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez held a 86-vote lead over Republican incumbent Eli Crane in the 2nd District.
Here’s a breakdown of where each of the nine congressional races in the Grand Canyon State stood as of Wednesday morning.
1st Congressional District
In Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, former state Rep. Amish Shah, D-Phoenix, is holding onto his early lead over former NFL placekicker Jay Feely, with 52.54% of the vote for the former state lawmaker, compared with 45.45% for his Republican opponent.
On Wednesday morning, no national outlets called the race for Shah, though the Democrat held a 22,388-vote lead.
2nd Congressional District
The tightest race of the nine Arizona congressional races is between former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, D-Tuba City, and Republican incumbent Eli Crane, R-Flagstaff. It’s neck to neck.
As of Wednesday morning, Nez held an 86-vote lead over Crane, two years after Crane beat the former Navajo Nation president by nine percentage points. Nez had 49.13% of the vote; Crane, 49.1%.
3rd Congressional District
The only congressional race in Arizona without a Republican on the ballot finished with Democratic incumbent Rep. Yassamin Ansari scoring a decisive victory on Tuesday.
Ansari, who faced off against Green Party candidate David Redkey and No Labels contender Alan Aversa, had 86.37% of the vote in the metropolitan Phoenix district, as of Wednesday morning.
The 34-year-old progressive Democrat grew up in Scottsdale, where she attended Chaparral High School before going to Stanford University. The university is where she interned for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, who is retiring from Congress in January.
Now Ansari will return to Congress fresh off a one-sided election cycle where she went virtually unchallenged, keeping the heart of the state’s largest city under Democratic control in the House for two more years.
4th Congressional District
One of the three races that media outlets called for Democrats was in the Phoenix metro area, where U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Tempe, rolled past Zuhdi Jasser, a Scottsdale Republican.
On Wednesday morning, the 60th mayor of Phoenix had 62.25% of the vote to Jasser’s 35.57%, with the former racking up 132,395 votes to the latter’s 75,216.
Stanton will return to the House for his fifth term in office, having represented Arizona since 2018, spending two terms in the state’s old 9th District before being moved into the current 4th District, which he won in 2024.
5th Congressional District
On Wednesday, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, a Republican, flipped the script from Tuesday night’s early returns, taking the lead over former nurse Elizabeth Lee, a Gilbert Democrat running on healthcare issues.
After Lee ended Election Night with a slim lead over Lamb, the longtime law enforcement agent from San Tan Valley took the lead in the early morning hours, with the Republican candidate holding a 51.04%-to-48.80% edge.
The race in the 5th Congressional District came about because of Biggs’ decision to run for Arizona’s gubernatorial race against Democratic incumbent Katie Hobbs, who was reelected Tuesday night.
Lee was seeking to become the first Democrat to win the district since Harry Mitchell’s 2006 upset of incumbent J.D. Hayworth, the only time this century when a member of the party won in the district. Mitchell held the seat from 2006 through 2010, when he lost to Schweikert.
Biggs held the 5th District seat from 2016 through 2024, winning his five races by an average margin of 21% during that stretch.
This year, it appears Republicans may hold onto the 5th District, though it appears to be a tighter race than we’ve seen in recent cycles.
6th Congressional District
The second swing district in Arizona appears to be heading toward a Democratic win, as retired Marine JoAnna Mendoza holds an 8% lead over Republican incumbent Juan Ciscomani on Wednesday morning.
A win by Mendoza would put a Democrat in charge of Arizona’s 6th District for the first time since 1993 to 1995, when Karan English held the seat.
While Mendoza announced her victory on Tuesday night, no national media outlets have called the race as of Wednesday morning.
For now, the voting in Arizona’s 6th District continues, with Mendoza holding a 23,767-vote advantage on Wednesday morning. Decision Desk HQ, a reporting platform used by media outlets, called the race for Mendoza.
7th Congressional District
The third and final Arizona House race that’s been called for Democrats by various media is Arizona’s 7th District, with Adelita Grijalva rolling past Daniel Butierez, 71.39%-to-28.44%.
Grijalva, the daughter of longtime U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, previously served on the Pima County Board of Supervisors and on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board from 2002 through 2025, when she ran and defeated Butierez in a special election after Raúl’s death by 39.5%.
Raúl served in the House from 2002 through his death in 2025, having represented the state’s 3rd and 7th districts (in two different iterations) during that span.
8th Congressional District
The second race that has already flipped from early Democratic leads to slim Republican ones is Arizona’s 8th District, where incumbent Rep. Abraham Hamadeh. R-Scottsdale, leads Bernadette Greene-Placentia, 51.02% to 48.79%.
On Tuesday night, Greene-Placentia held a 2.08% lead over Hamadeh, though the incumbent has surged ahead by 5,563 votes on Wednesday morning.
Greene-Placentia’s campaign raised awareness about the threat of sexual violence that women across America face, with The Phoenix New-Times breaking the news of her rape by two men over the summer while she was trying to repair a damaged campaign sign.
As of Wednesday morning, it appears that Hamadeh will head back to Washington to represent the state’s 8th District, though Greene-Placentia’s upset bid isn’t over yet.
9th Congressional District
The only Arizona congressional district that’s been called by media outlets for the Republicans on Wednesday is Arizona’s 9th District, with U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar. R-Bullhead City, beating Danielle Sterbinsky, a Wittmann Democrat.
On Wednesday, Gosar’s 57.74%-to-42.12% lead over Sterbinsky was enough for media to call the race in his favor, sending the former Flagstaff dentist back to Washington, D.C., for an eighth term.
Gosar first reached the House by knocking off Democratic incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick in the old 1st District, before redistricting moved him to the 4th District (from the 2012 through 2022 elections) and eventually into the 9th District in 2024.
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