Arizona House Race Too Close to Call: Democrat Leads by Just 67 Votes, Recount Looms

Yassamin Ansari’s lead was 67 votes on Monday, a margin of just 0.16 percentage points.

PHOENIX — The Democratic primary in Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District remains exceptionally close and could necessitate a recount.

Yassamin Ansari, a former Phoenix City Council member, leads ex-state lawmaker Raquel Terán by just 67 votes out of nearly 44,000 counted as of Saturday evening.

On Friday, Ansari’s lead was 89 votes, within the automatic recount margin stipulated by Arizona law if the difference is 0.5 percentage points or less.

Maricopa County election officials report that roughly 99% of the approximately 740,000 ballots cast in Tuesday’s primary had been tabulated and verified by Saturday night.

More votes were expected to be counted by Sunday night.

Both candidates acknowledged the tight race in their statements on Saturday.

“We are still hard at work ensuring that every vote is counted,” stated Ansari. “Thank you to the thousands of voters who made their voices heard in this election.”

“We’re narrowing the gap,” Terán said. “There are still more outstanding ballots to come. We believe every vote matters.”

The seat is open due to Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego’s campaign for the U.S. Senate.

The winner of this Democratic primary will likely be favored in the November election against Republican Jeff Zink, given the district’s Democratic-leaning tendencies covering central and southwest Phoenix.

Ansari, the daughter of Iranian immigrants, previously served as vice mayor of Phoenix and resigned from the council in March to focus on this congressional race.

Terán, formerly the chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, was in her first term in the Arizona Senate after being elected in November 2022. She resigned in April 2023 to concentrate on her congressional bid.