Recap: Hobbs still leads Lake following Sunday tallies

None of the Arizona races decided was bigger than the U.S. Senate contest between Mark Kelly and Blake Masters. But after Maricopa County updated its results count Sunday evening, no other major races were called.

On Sunday, Maricopa, Pima, Pinal and Coconino counties released more ballot tallies.

Catch up on earlier news here.

Follow weekend coverage of Arizona's midterm election by Arizona Republic reporters here.

Hobbs holds lead over Lake following Sunday ballot updates

As the number of ballots left to be counted dwindles, Democratic nominee for governor Katie Hobbs held her lead over GOP nominee Kari Lake on Sunday evening, though the neck-and-neck contest remained too close to call. New ballot tallies were released Sunday by Maricopa, Pima, Pinal and Coconino counties.

8:45 p.m.: Phoenix City Council returns show tight races, potential for 2 runoffs

At least one of Phoenix's two competitive City Council contests is headed to a runoff this March and the second race probably will end there, too, based on unofficial results from Sunday.

Half of the city's eight council seats are on the ballot, but the race to represent District 6 in Arcadia, the Biltmore area and parts of north-central Phoenix and District 8 in south Phoenix are the most competitive.

County elections officials said they would continue to count ballots from the Nov. 8 election early this week.

In District 6, the top two vote-getters are headed to a runoff, though it's unclear who those two will be. Kevin Robinson pulled ahead in the open field of eight candidates vying to replace termed-out Sal DiCiccio.

Sam Stone, Moses Sanchez and Joan Greene were in second, third and fourth place, respectively. The three were within 500 votes of each other Sunday night.

District 8 incumbent Carlos Garcia had a slim advantage over challenger Kesha Hodge Washington. There's still a pathway to victory without a runoff for Garcia and Hodge Washington, but either would have to win an overwhelming majority of the uncounted ballots, which is unlikely.

If the returns hold, both races will head to a runoff in March. Runoffs occur when no single candidate gets more than 50% of the vote.

District 2 incumbent Jim Waring defeated his two challengers to represent part of north Phoenix. Laura Pastor, who ran unopposed, will represent part of west Phoenix in District 4.

— Taylor Seely 

8 p.m.: Maricopa County adds almost 99,000 ballots to result tallies

Election officials dropped another 98,618 results on Sunday evening, its largest batch yet.

That leaves less than 100,000 ballots to be counted in Maricopa County. Nearly 1.5 million have already been tallied.

The majority of the results dropped Sunday came from early ballots dropped off on Election Day. Those make up the bulk of the ballots yet to be reported, which also includes roughly 5,000 ballots cast in person on Election Day via “door 3” that couldn’t be immediately counted by on-site tabulators.

Officials say they will release more results Monday evening.

— Sasha Hupka

7:30 p.m.: Hobbs campaign projects confidence on social media

Democratic nominee for governor Katie Hobbs projected confidence on social media Sunday evening following the release of new ballot counts by Maricopa County.

"Katie has led since the first round of ballots were counted, and after tonight's results, it's clear that this won't change," said a statement issued by Hobbs' campaign manager, Nicole DeMont.

Although Sunday's vote tallies cut into Hobbs' lead — she led by roughly 34,000 votes Saturday evening and now leads by about 26,000 — the path to victory for her opponent, Republican Kari Lake, is narrowing as the number of outstanding ballots dwindles.

7:05 p.m.: Secretary of state winner plans news conference for Monday

Adrian Fontes, the presumptive secretary of state-elect, has scheduled a 10 a.m. news conference for Monday.

Fontes, a Democrat, was declared the winner by news organizations Friday night and has a 5.2 percentage point lead over Republican Mark Finchem after updated results were released Sunday evening.

Fontes was expected to discuss his apparent victory and his next steps as he moves toward taking office Jan. 2. He is a former Maricopa County recorder and leaned on his election experience, as well as Finchem’s election denialism, during the campaign.

Former President Barack Obama congratulated Fontes in a tweet Sunday afternoon, saying: “@Adrian_Fontes was just elected Secretary of State in Arizona. Adrian’s opponent was at the Capitol on January 6th, and suggested he might reject Democratic votes in the future. Adrian believes every vote should count, and now he’ll be able to make it happen in Arizona.”

Finchem was tweeting Sunday about an alleged money-laundering scam that “spent money in the 2022 elections and ripped off the American People.”

— Mary Jo Pitzl

7 p.m.: Mitchell keeps lead in Maricopa County attorney's race

In the race for Maricopa County attorney, Republican Rachel Mitchell is leading Democrat Julie Gunnigle following the county's Sunday evening results update.

Voters faced a choice between two divergent approaches to criminal justice in the Maricopa County attorney's race.

It pitted Mitchell, the current county attorney who was appointed after the resignation of Allister Adel, against Gunnigle, an outsider and critic of the agency.

6:55 p.m.: Updated results on the 10 ballot measures

Pass and fail calls on the propositions were made by the Associated Press.

• Proposition 128: Failed. The proposition would have allowed the Legislature to change ballot measures that voters approve, or to divert funds from them if either the Arizona Supreme Court or U.S. Supreme Court determined a measure to be unconstitutional.

• Proposition 129: “Yes” leading “no” following Sunday’s ballot updates. The proposition would require future voter initiatives to cover only one subject and would require a description of that subject in the title. Any portion of such an initiative not addressed in the title would be void, even if approved by voters.

• Proposition 130: Passed. The proposition allows property tax exemptions for veterans with disabilities, people with total and permanent disabilities, widows and widowers, regardless of when they became Arizona residents.

• Proposition 131: “Yes” leading “no” following Sunday’s ballot updates. The proposition would change the Arizona Constitution to create the position of lieutenant governor.

• Proposition 132: “Yes” leading “no” following Sunday’s ballot updates. The proposition would require 60% of voters to approve any new tax via a ballot measure.

• Proposition 209: Passed. The proposition lowers the interest rate cap on medical debt and increases the value of assets protected from certain creditors.

• Proposition 211: Passed. The proposition requires disclosure of the donors who currently can give to an umbrella organization for political advertisements and not have their names reported.

• Proposition 308: “Yes” leading “no” following Sunday’s ballot updates. The proposition would allow any college student, regardless of their legal status in the U.S., to qualify for in-state tuition if they graduated from an Arizona high school and have lived in the state for two years prior.

• Proposition 309: “No” leading “yes” following Sunday’s ballot updates. The proposition would tighten identification requirements for voters, both those who vote by mail and those who vote at the polls on Election Day.

• Proposition 310: “No” was leading “yes” following Sunday’s ballot updates. The proposition would establish a Fire District Safety Fund through a sales tax increase of one-tenth of 1%.

6:45 p.m.: Horne gains on Hoffman in school superintendent race

Incumbent Democrat Kathy Hoffman maintained a lead of fewer than 600 votes over Republican Tom Horne in the race for superintendent of public instruction after additional results were released Sunday evening by Maricopa County.

6:35 p.m.: Schweikert now leads Hodge in 1st Congressional District race

Two Arizona seats in the U.S. House of Representatives remained undecided Sunday evening:

• Incumbent Republican David Schweikert took the lead Sunday from Democrat Jevin Hodge in the 1st Congressional District.

• Republican Juan Ciscomani held a lead over Democrat Kirsten Engel in the 6th Congressional District.

These U.S. House races have been called by The Associated Press:

• Republican Eli Crane defeated incumbent Democrat Tom O'Halleran in the race for Arizona's 2nd Congressional District.

• Incumbent Democrat Ruben Gallego beat Republican Jeff Zink in the 3rd Congressional District.

• Incumbent Democrat Greg Stanton beat Republican Kelly Cooper in the 4th Congressional District.

• Incumbent Republican Andy Biggs won the 5th Congressional District contest, where he faced Democrat Javier Ramos and independent Clint Smith.

• Incumbent Democrat Raúl Grijalva beat Republican Luis Pozzolo in the 7th Congressional District race.

Republicans Debbie Lesko and Paul Gosar ran unopposed in Congressional Districts 8 and 9, respectively.

6:30 p.m.: Mayes holds lead in attorney general race

Democrat Kris Mayes kept a lead over Republican Abe Hamadeh in the race to become Arizona's next attorney general following ballot tallies released Sunday evening by Maricopa County.

3:45 p.m.: Maricopa County to release results in the 6 p.m. hour

Maricopa County will release its next batch of results within the 6 p.m. hour, election officials say.

They expect a larger drop than on Saturday, when they added 85,000 ballots to initial result tallies.

Celebration could be heard from the tabulation room midafternoon Sunday as bipartisan teams finished separating early ballots dropped off on Election Day from their signed affidavit envelopes. Those ballots haven’t entirely been counted yet, but they are now all ready for tabulation.

Officials say they hope to have nearly all ballots counted by Tuesday.

— Sasha Hupka 

3:30 p.m.: Coconino, Pima and Pinal counties drop ballot updates; Hobbs maintains lead

After updates from Coconino, Pima and Pinal counties on Sunday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs expanded her lead on Republican Kari Lake by roughly 2,000 votes since Saturday's ballot drop.

— Lillian Boyd 

2 p.m.: Kari Lake is the last election denier standing in swing state governor's race

Across the country last week, voters in swing states handed stinging rebukes to Republican gubernatorial candidates who embraced false claims about who won the presidency in 2020, electing their Democratic opponents instead.

As vote counting continues, Arizona could follow — or emerge as the lone exception.

Kari Lake, the former television news anchor turned Republican nominee for Arizona governor who has said she would not have certified the election two years ago and claimed "stealing going on" before her primary victory, was in a toss-up race with her Democratic opponent Katie Hobbs.

As of late Saturday, the race to replace Republican Gov. Doug Ducey was still too close to call. Hobbs, Arizona's secretary of state, maintained a slim but slightly widening 1.4 percentage point lead over Lake with about 265,000 votes left to count.

That Lake was the last election denier still standing bucked a national trend in a year when an expected red tsunami never materialized. Instead, many candidates who adhere to election denialism were sent packing, some by resounding margins.

— Stacey Barchenger

12:30 p.m.: Quezada concedes to Yee in treasurer race

Despite election results continuing through the weekend, State Senator Martín Quezada conceded the race for Arizona Treasurer to Republican incumbent Kimberly Yee.

The Associated Press projected that Yee would win Friday night. She maintained a substantial lead over Quezada throughout the week, and had more total votes than any other candidate in a competitive race on the ballot as of Friday.

“I usually wait 'til all ballots are counted before ever claiming victory or defeat, but the numbers being what they are, it's certainly appropriate to do so now,” Quezada said in a tweet.

Despite disagreeing on most issues, Quezada said Yee is a “good person who deserves our support and respect.”

Yee was the first Asian American candidate to win statewide office in Arizona when she was first elected in 2018. She was previously a state senator, representing Legislative District 20 in the West Valley, and was majority leader from 2017 to 2019. Yee also previously worked for the state Legislature and the Treasurer’s Office.

Quezada has spent a decade as a state lawmaker and runs a law firm. He said he ran for state treasurer because he saw an opportunity to improve a statewide office that, in his words, is too often used as a stepping stone for politicians.

— Lillian Boyd 

11:30 a.m.: Maricopa County officials expect another batch of 85K votes Sunday

Pima County won’t post results on Sunday, but one of its neighbors to the north will.

Maricopa County plans to release another batch of roughly 85,000 votes on Sunday, officials say, even as Pima County pauses on results until Monday.

Pima County Elections Director Constance Hargrove said ballot processing would continue on Sunday, even though the county won’t drop any new votes.

Maricopa County has about 195,000 ballots left to tabulate. Roughly 50,000 ballots are outstanding in Pima County.

Counting in Maricopa County should be nearly complete by Tuesday, officials said, projecting that 95% to 99% of votes will be tallied then.

— Sasha Hupka 

10:30 a.m.: RPAZ blames Maricopa County for disenfranchising GOP voters

The Republican Party of Arizona issued a statement Sunday morning outlining how Election Day had a negative impact on statewide voters.

In a partnership with Big Data Polling, exit polls were conducted on Arizona voters. Data from Nov. 1-8 indicates that Republican voters were disproportionately and negatively impacted while voting in Arizona’s GOP strongholds, the statement said.

“Voter suppression reared its ugly head in Arizona at the hands of Maricopa County. Some wonder if it is just incompetence, while others question malfeasance,” RPAZ Chairwoman Kelli Ward said in the statement. “This cannot simply be accepted.”

Ward named Maricopa County responsible for disenfranchising GOP voters.

“The Republican Party of Arizona holds Steven Richer, Bill Gates, the Maricopa Election Department, and other Supervisors absolutely responsible for making Arizona the laughingstock of America when it comes to fairly, efficiently, and transparently running our elections,” Ward said.

— Lillian Boyd 

10 a.m.: Can vote counting speed up for future elections?

It's not unusual to see ballots tallied days after an election, but the close races and high stakes this year have many wondering why the pace can't move faster.

There are ways to do that — many, in fact — although they come with tradeoffs, elections experts and others say.

Eliminating mail-in voting and requiring people to line up at the polls is the simplest way to speed up vote counting. Mail-in ballots require extra verification steps to ensure the person who marked the ballot is the voter the ballot was intended for.

State Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, intends to tweak a law he authored last year to require Arizona's 15 county elections offices to provide a space where voters who wait until Election Day to turn in their ballots can opt to actually slide their ballot into the tabulation machine rather than drop it off for later processing.

— Mary Jo Pitzl

9 a.m.: Sunday: Arizona's politically purple credentials hard to top

More than four full days after voting ended, Arizonans still didn’t know who their next governor will be. Or attorney general. Or chief of public schools.

The extended ballot-counting period owes in part to a political reality that has become even clearer in 2022: Arizona elections are among the nation’s most competitive.

Arizona voters have elected an assortment of Democrats and Republicans to all levels of office and burnished the state’s credentials as a premier purple state as the 2022 midterm elections give way to the 2024 presidential cycle.

The Arizona Republic examined unofficial results in races for governor and the U.S. Senate across the country, as tracked by Politico. Based on the results through Friday, Arizona’s two contests were collectively the nation’s third-closest.

There are 26 states with races for both offices this year.

In Arizona, Kelly led by 5.7 percentage points on Saturday, while Democrat Katie Hobbs led by 1.4 points. It gives the state a combined 7.1 point gap between its top vote-getters and the closest challengers in both races.

By this measure, only Nevada and Wisconsin had lower gap scores.

— Ronald J. Hansen

8:30 p.m.: Saturday: Maricopa County to count most votes by Tuesday

Counting in Maricopa County should be nearly complete by Tuesday, officials said, projecting that 95% to 99% of votes will be tallied then.

In the meantime, they have repeatedly urged voters to be patient, emphasizing that it historically has taken an average of 10 to 12 days to get full initial results in the county.

"It takes time," said Elections Director Scott Jarrett.

Elections officials initially projected that most votes would be tallied by Friday but walked back the statements after seeing a record number of early ballots dropped off at voting sites on Election Day.

— Sasha Hupka 

6:20 p.m.: Updated results on the 10 ballot measures

Pass and fail calls on the propositions were made by the Associated Press.

• Proposition 128: Failed. The proposition would have allowed the Legislature to change ballot measures that voters approve, or to divert funds from them if either the Arizona Supreme Court or U.S. Supreme Court determined a measure to be unconstitutional.

• Proposition 129: “Yes” leading “no” following Saturday’s ballot updates. The proposition would require future voter initiatives to cover only one subject and would require a description of that subject in the title. Any portion of such an initiative not addressed in the title would be void, even if approved by voters.

• Proposition 130: Passed. The proposition allows property tax exemptions for veterans with disabilities, people with total and permanent disabilities, widows and widowers, regardless of when they became Arizona residents.

• Proposition 131: “Yes” leading “no” following Saturday’s ballot updates. The proposition would change the Arizona Constitution to create the position of lieutenant governor.

• Proposition 132: “Yes” leading “no” following Saturday’s ballot updates. The proposition would require 60% of voters to approve any new tax via a ballot measure.

• Proposition 209: Passed. The proposition lowers the interest rate cap on medical debt and increases the value of assets protected from certain creditors.

• Proposition 211: Passed. The proposition requires disclosure of the donors who currently can give to an umbrella organization for political advertisements and not have their names reported.

• Proposition 308: “Yes” leading “no” following Saturday’s ballot updates. The proposition would allow any college student, regardless of their legal status in the U.S., to qualify for in-state tuition if they graduated from an Arizona high school and have lived in the state for two years prior.

• Proposition 309: “No” leading “yes” following Saturday’s ballot updates. The proposition would tighten identification requirements for voters, both those who vote by mail and those who vote at the polls on Election Day.

• Proposition 310: “No” was leading “yes” following Saturday’s ballot updates. The proposition would establish a Fire District Safety Fund through a sales tax increase of one-tenth of 1%.

6:15 p.m.: Mitchell keeps lead in Maricopa County attorney's race

In the race for Maricopa County attorney, Republican Rachel Mitchell is leading Democrat Julie Gunnigle following the county's Saturday evening results update.

Voters faced a choice between two divergent approaches to criminal justice in the Maricopa County attorney's race.

It pitted Mitchell, the current county attorney who was appointed after the resignation of Allister Adel, against Gunnigle, an outsider and critic of the agency.

6:10 p.m.: Maricopa County reports 85,000 ballots

Election officials released another 85,000 results Saturday evening, hours after a crowd gathered outside the county’s election headquarters to protest the voting tabulation process.

The “great majority” of the newly processed ballots are ones dropped off at voting sites on Election Day, Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates said. Officials now estimate that the vote count is nearly 90% complete. So far, about 1.4 million ballots have been tallied in Maricopa County.

The update leaves 185,000 to 195,000 ballots awaiting tabulation. The county plans to release another round of results Sunday evening.

— Sasha Hupka 

6:10 p.m.: Two U.S. House races still undecided

Two Arizona seats in the U.S. House of Representatives remained undecided Saturday evening:

• Democrat Jevin Hodge led incumbent Republican David Schweikert in the 1st Congressional District.

• Republican Juan Ciscomani held a lead, though by shrinking margins, over Democrat Kirsten Engel in the 6th Congressional District.

These U.S. House races have been called by The Associated Press:

• Republican Eli Crane defeated incumbent Democrat Tom O'Halleran in the race for Arizona's 2nd Congressional District.

• Incumbent Democrat Ruben Gallego beat Republican Jeff Zink in the 3rd Congressional District.

• Incumbent Democrat Greg Stanton beat Republican Kelly Cooper in the 4th Congressional District.

• Incumbent Republican Andy Biggs won the 5th Congressional District contest, where he faced Democrat Javier Ramos and independent Clint Smith.

• Incumbent Democrat Raúl Grijalva beat Republican Luis Pozzolo in the 7th Congressional District race.

Republicans Debbie Lesko and Paul Gosar ran unopposed in Congressional Districts 8 and 9, respectively.

6:05 p.m.: Mayes holds lead in attorney general race

Democrat Kris Mayes kept a lead over Republican Abe Hamadeh in the race to become Arizona's next attorney general following ballot tallies released Saturday evening by Maricopa County.

6:05 p.m.: Hoffman keeps lead over Horne in school superintendent race

Incumbent Democrat Kathy Hoffman maintained a lead in the race for superintendent of public instruction after additional results were released Saturday evening by Maricopa County.

Hoffman continues to lead former superintendent and anti-bilingual education crusader Tom Horne by a narrow margin.

4:45 p.m: Stanton tweets compliment to defeated colleague

Greg Stanton, newly elected to his third term in Congress, gave a nod to his colleague U.S. Rep. Tom O'Halleran on Twitter.

O'Halleran, who represented a rural district including northern Arizona for three terms, was defeated by Republican businessman Eli Crane in a district that had been redrawn after the 2020 Census to become more Republican friendly.

"From his days as police officer, to the Arizona legislature and throughout his time in Congress, @TomOHalleran embodied serving something greater than oneself. He’d work with anyone to deliver for Arizona—especially our rural + tribal communities.

"His leadership will be missed."

4:30 p.m.: Pima County to post new results by 6 p.m.

Pima County Election Director Constance Hargrove said the county planned to post results from a new batch of nearly 20,000 ballots by 6 p.m. Saturday.

After those are posted, the county will have about 49,300 ballots left to process and count. Most of those left to tally are ballots dropped off on Election Day, County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly said.

Hargrove said ballot processing would continue on Sunday but new results would not be posted until Monday. On Saturday, county election workers also performed the legally required hand count audits of their ballots.

Pima County is Arizona’s second most populous county and includes Tucson.

— Stacey Barchenger

4:10 p.m.: Another 80,000 votes to come in Saturday evening result drop

Maricopa County officials say they will release another 80,000 votes on Saturday evening.

The results should during the 6 p.m. hour, officials said. The “great majority” of votes included will come from early ballots dropped off at voting sites on Election Day, according to Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates.

That would bring the total number of ballots awaiting tallying to under 200,000. Elections staff will work through the weekend to process ballots, officials said.

“The morale is good back here,” Gates said. “This is why people do this work — to be here when it matters. And this matters like it never has before.”

— Sasha Hupka

4 p.m.: Maricopa County sheriff gives security update after elections protest

Officials say about 150 people protesting outside Maricopa County’s election headquarters Saturday remained “law abiding.”

Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said he was concerned about some people marching in the street and obstructing traffic. One demonstrator collapsed from heat exhaustion and was tended to by deputies. Otherwise, Penzone said the protest, which appeared to be dissipating by mid-afternoon, was uneventful.

“They were peaceful,” he said. “They had an objective, they stayed within that scope and they left in a reasonable amount of time.”

The crowd is the first to gather at the county’s election headquarters since counting began, besides a few people on Tuesday night. Still, Penzone said he and his deputies will remain at the building as long as needed to ensure public safety.

He also praised Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who posted on Twitter that Arizona protesters should not “show up outside county buildings” or “tweet or say stupid things.”

“I don’t know Mr. Kirk; I don’t know his organization or anything about it,” Penzone said. “But I appreciate the fact that he understands, at least in that communication, that he can be helpful to us and he was.”

Simultaneously, he warned politicians and political personalities to “be thoughtful” about their rallying cries.

“If you are an elected official and you are doing things to provoke a crowd to come out front here that can lead to the point of acts of violence or crimes, not only should we put you at the top of the criminal report and charge you, but I feel we should send you the bill,” he said.

— Sasha Hupka

3 p.m.: Did Maricopa County's printer issues target GOP?

About 30% of the county's 223 voting centers experienced intermittent problems with vote-counting machines on Election Day. They were scattered across the county and not concentrated in "conservative" areas, according to a review of Maricopa County voting results through Friday.

Republican candidate for Arizona governor Kari Lake changed her planned voting location on Election Day from the wealthy enclave of Paradise Valley to downtown Phoenix after hearing of widespread problems with vote-counting machines.

In a later interview on Fox News, she noted that the problems in Maricopa County were "primarily in Republican areas of town: Arcadia, Anthem, a lot of different areas. It really was a shame,” she said.

"We ended up voting in a very liberal part of town because we can choose which vote center to go to, and they said they’d had no problems," she said.

The troubled polling places are about evenly split between precincts going for either candidate, with 53% in precincts that are so far trending in Lake's favor, The Republic found.

— Sahana Jayaraman, Caitlin McGlade, Sasha Hupka and Anne Ryman

2:45 p.m.: Butler declares victory in Maricopa Community College race

Kelli Butler has kept a large lead over Randy Kaufman in the race for an open district-wide seat on the Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board.

Butler declared victory in a post to Twitter on Saturday morning, saying, “We won!”

“I’m thrilled to have earned the support of Maricopa County’s voters for the opportunity to serve our Community Colleges,” Butler wrote. “I look forward to working with the Board to ensure our colleges remain affordable, excellent, and accessible!”

Kaufman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he was conceding the race.

One seat was on the ballot for the body that oversees operations and policy at the state’s largest community college system, which is composed of 10 colleges across Maricopa County.

The race between Butler and Kaufman gained both the local and national spotlight after Kaufman was arrested and accused of public sexual indecency in one of the district’s parking lots in October.

— Alison Steinbach

2:30 p.m.: Triumphant Sen. Mark Kelly says Arizona, US voters want an end to divisiveness

Voters in Arizona and across the country sent a message in the midterm elections that they want an end to divisive politics, Sen. Mark Kelly said Saturday at a gathering in Phoenix to mark his victory over Republican Blake Masters.

Flanked by dozens of union workers at Barrio Café and with his wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., at his side, Kelly thanked the tens of thousands who worked for his campaign team or chipped in to help finance the effort.

But Kelly also said his projected win over Republican Blake Masters is part of a national call for more cooperation in Washington, and that at least some in Congress feel the same way.

— Ronald J. Hansen

2 p.m.: Kari Lake taunts Maricopa County election officials

Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake stoked fears of mail-in ballots. Now she's taunting officials for not counting them fast enough.

Lake accused election workers of deliberately slowing counts and holding back results, commenting in social media posts and in interviews on conservative news sites.

Lake described the counting process in interviews as "embarrassing" and compared the handling of ballots in the county to a banana republic.

Bill Gates, the Board of Supervisors chair, pushed back at Lake's claims saying staffers are putting in 18-hour days and are counting as many as 80,000 ballots per day.

"We’re doing things the right way," Gates said. "We’re not doing anything wrong at all."

— Robert Anglen

1:30 p.m.: Demonstrators gather in protest of voting tabulation process

About 200 people gathered near the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center on Saturday to protest the voting tabulation process while holding signs that decried voter fraud.

Other signs called Katie Hobbs, the Democratic candidate for Arizona governor, “corrupt,” and another sign said, “FBI honor your oath, arrest all traitors.”

In a tweet on Friday, state Sen. Wendy Rogers called for patriots to “rise up to rally” and “pray for the Light to shine in the darkness and for His truth to be revealed.”

Demonstrators circled the barricaded county building seven times, to reenact the Battle of Jericho. As described in the biblical Book of Joshua, the walls of Jericho fell after the Israelites marched around the city walls once a day for six days, and seven times on the seventh day.

“We’re very concerned, our country being turned upside down. The fact of the matter is, is that there's a lot of reason for us to be concerned,” said Arizona Rep. John Fillmore, R-Apache Junction, who was in attendance.

About an hour after the rally kicked off, Rogers issued another tweet, urging people to stay away from the Maricopa County offices so they could finish counting the votes.

“The last thing anyone wants is a reason to stop the counting,” Rogers said.

Andrea Alexander and her adult son, Michael Alexander, both county residents, were standing curbside in support of the effort, both casting doubts on the legitimacy of the tabulations and what they said were Election Day voting irregularities.

However, Andrea was dismayed by the absence of organizers like state Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-District 7), who on Friday had promoted the event on social media.

"Shame on them," she said, also referencing Republican secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem.

The mom voiced concern about the people the event had drawn, including a man who passed by her and said, "9/11 was an inside job."

"I didn't come here for a J6 rally," Andrea Alexander said, referencing the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol.

— Jose Gonzalez, Jeremy Yurow and Lillian Boyd 

Noon: Lake's support from voters much stronger than Masters'

Blake Masters' Senate hopes skidded to a sudden halt even as Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake remained within reach of Democrat Katie Hobbs in a race still too close to call.

The unofficial results extended a trend that was visible in the GOP primary in August, lingered into Election Day, and continued with the ongoing vote-counting process.

Once again, there was a noticeable gap between Masters' totals and Lake's — and other statewide GOP candidates.

Lake was within 31,000 votes of Hobbs entering Saturday, a difference of about 1.4 percentage points with enough ballots left to overtake her.

Masters' totals, however, lagged Lake's totals by about 64,000 votes.

— Ronald J. Hansen

10:45 a.m.: Key races up for grabs and what to expect tonight

Vote totals from counties outside Maricopa may be added to election results through the day, but the big update will come this evening from Maricopa County. It is expected at about 8 p.m.

Key races still up for grabs include those for governor, attorney general, state superintendent of public instruction and congressional seats in Arizona's first and sixth districts. In addition, several statewide ballot measures are still undecided, such as tuition for noncitizens and a proposed change in voter ID laws.

The 6th District race between Juan Ciscomani and Kirsten Engle is in southern Arizona, but the rest of the outcomes will be shaped by voters who dropped off their ballots on Election Day at Maricopa County's voting centers.

— Caitlin McGlade

10:10 a.m.: Masters issues statement after Kelly's projected win

Blake Masters, the Republican pick for Arizona’s U.S. Senate, issued a statement at 10 a.m. on Saturday following the projected victory of his Democratic opponent Sen. Mark Kelly.

“For my people who knocked doors in 115 degree heat, and for the million+ Arizonans who put their faith in me, we are going to make sure that every legal vote is counted,” Masters said in a tweet.

Kelly defeated Republican Masters after another key batch of ballots Friday night left the challenger still far apart in a contest that boosts Democrats' chances of retaining control of the chamber as well.

The Associated Press called the race, along with other major media outlets moments after Maricopa County posted unofficial numbers that showed Kelly, D-Ariz., widened his lead by another 8,000 votes instead of Masters significantly cutting into it.

The AP made the call at 8:14 p.m. Friday.

“If, at the end, Senator Kelly has more of them than I do, then I will congratulate him on a hard-fought victory. But voters decide, not the media; let’s count the votes,” Masters said.

— Lillian Boyd

9:45 a.m.: Sen. Kelly to give remarks; Masters remains quiet on Kelly's projected victory

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Blake Masters had yet to issue a statement on the race call for Democrat Mark Kelly's reelection.

Even before the results were posted, Masters lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., whose key allied political action committee didn't spend in Arizona at all.

During an appearance on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Fox News, Masters made clear he will not be an ally to the longtime GOP leader if he makes it to Washington.

In particular, Masters blamed McConnell for directing money to Alaska's Senate race featuring a pair of Republicans rather than spend in Arizona against a Democrat.

"But you know what else is incompetent, Tucker? The establishment. Right? The people who control the purse strings — Senate Leadership Fund, Mitch McConnell. McConnell decided to spend millions of dollars attacking a fellow Republican in Alaska instead of helping me defeat Sen. Mark Kelly. Had he chosen to spend money in Arizona, this race would be over. We'd be celebrating a Senate majority right now.

"My message to Republican senators, hopefully my future colleagues: Let's not vote Mitch McConnell into leadership. He doesn't deserve to be majority leader or minority leader."

Carlson asked Masters why McConnell would not spend in Arizona's tight race.

"I will leave it to the viewer to decide whether it is just malice or whether it's gross incompetence. But clearly Mitch McConnell cares about Mitch McConnell and less about a Senate majority or the people of America."

Masters' comments mirrored a report earlier Friday on CNN, which said former President Donald Trump was pressing to oust McConnell from leadership.

Sen. Kelly is expected to issue remarks on his projected win at 10 a.m. Saturday.

— Ronald J. Hansen 

9 a.m.: Saturday: Fontes, Yee, Stanton also win

In a race with national repercussions for which political party will control the Senate, Democrat Mark Kelly retained the seat he won two years ago. Fittingly, the race was called on Veterans Day. Kelly and the man who held the seat before him, John McCain, were Navy veterans.

Winners in races for Arizona secretary of state and treasurer and the 4th Congressional District also were declared Friday evening.

Democrat Adrian Fontes, former Maricopa County recorder, was declared the winner in the secretary of state race over state representative and 2020 election denier Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley.

"I plan to be a solid secretary of state for every Arizonan, not just for those who share my party affiliation," Fontes said.

Kimberly Yee, the incumbent treasurer and a former state lawmaker, was reelected over Democrat Martín Quezada, a state senator.

Incumbent Rep. Greg Stanton was reelected over Republican entrepreneur Kelly Cooper in the 4th Congressional District. Stanton, D-Ariz., is a two-term House member and former mayor of Phoenix.

The Associated Press called the races after Maricopa County released updated results adding about 75,000 more ballots, the majority of which were dropped off at the polls on Election Day.

— Mary Jo Pitzl, Ryan Randazzo and Tara Kavaler

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Election 2022 in Arizona: Recap from across the state