Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., expanded her slim lead over Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., Friday night to nearly 21,000 votes after more votes were tabulated in their U.S. Senate contest — one of the last remaining midterm races not yet called.
Heading into Friday night, Sinema held a 9,517-vote advantage over McSally. That lead expanded to 20,803 votes after more votes were announced out of Maricopa County, which contains Phoenix, and other surrounding counties, giving Sinema an advantage as the state continues to count votes. Sinema’s percentage lead jumped from .49 percent to 1.01 percent.
“Equal protection under the law is a fundamental constitutional right for American voters. As a combat veteran, I fought to protect it. And today, we won an important battle to preserve that right for rural voters in Arizona. I will continue fighting until every ballot is counted,” McSally said in a statement Friday evening.
A total of 82,472 votes were announced Friday. An estimated 362,000 votes remain outstanding and will be counted through next week. More than 2 million votes have been counted so far.
Sinema took the lead Thursday night after McSally narrowly led after election night.
Supporters of McSally’s have cried foul in the past 24 hours over counting techniques in parts of the state, particularly in the rural areas where McSally has outperformed the Arizona Democrat.
“Every single lawful vote in Arizona should be counted. And voting laws in our state should be applied uniformly across the map,” Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said in a statement earlier Friday. “Unfortunately, the Democrats’ legal strategy sounds an awful lot like an effort to disenfranchise voters from 11 counties from rural parts of our state, and that’s troubling.”
Earlier Friday, President Trump waded into the ongoing vote count to argue that what was happening in the state is “electoral corruption.”
“Just out — in Arizona, SIGNATURES DON’T MATCH. Electoral corruption – Call for a new Election? We must protect our Democracy!” Trump tweeted before landing in Paris.
Both campaigns reiterated Thursday night and Friday morning that they are confident their respective candidate will pull through and emerge victorious.
A win for Sinema would be key for Democrats, who would limit Republican gains to a single seat, pending the results of the Florida Senate contest which also has not been called yet.
