Three days after the Nov. 5 election, U.S. Senate elections in the western states of Arizona and Nevada remain undecided.
Democratic candidates in both districts maintain narrow leads, giving Democratic leader Chuck Schumer hope that the incoming minority may not shrink any further. Republicans have flipped four Senate seats so far and are on track to gain a majority next year.
As of Friday morning, incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) is leading her Republican challenger, a retired Army veteran. He lost by more than 17,500 votes (1.2 percentage points) to Army Captain Sam Brown. The deadline for mail-in ballots to arrive and be counted in Nevada is Saturday. The Associated Press reported Thursday that the race remains inconclusive, with tens of thousands of votes potentially remaining.
So far, Rosen has received 665,840 votes (47.76%). Mr. Brown received 648,292 votes (46.50%). Almost 96% of Nevada precincts reported results.
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Republican Veterans. Army Captain Sam Brown is challenging incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.). for her Senate seat. (Reuters)
“There are still tens of thousands of uncounted votes in the U.S. Senate race, and the difference between the candidates is less than 1 percentage point,” Brown's campaign said Thursday. “We also have thousands of ballots that need to be corrected. Sam Brown is working to ensure that every valid legally cast vote is counted.”
“While we are pleased with the results we are seeing, there are still thousands of votes to be counted. Our democracy takes time, but with more votes, we are confident we will prevail,” Rosen said Wednesday. “I am doing so,” he said.
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Kali Lake and Ruben Gallego are vying for an open Senate seat in Arizona. (Reuters)
In neighboring Arizona, only 76.05% of jurisdictions are reporting. Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Marine, currently leads Republican Kari Lake, a former TV news anchor, by more than 43,000 votes. The winner of the contest will succeed retiring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat and independent. She left the party after clashing with far-left forces and decided not to run for re-election as it became clear that there was no way to run for re-election as an independent.
Arizona's results are slowly trickling in, largely due to the state's vote counting method and the complexity of this year's voting. Delays were expected to be most noticeable in Maricopa County, the state's largest.
The battle for the main house goes to Golden and Zarior with a difference of 1,414 votes and the rankings will be decided.
Election workers remove ballots from envelopes, count and inspect pages inside the Maricopa County Counting and Elections Center (MCTEC) on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. Pairs of election workers from different political parties open mail-in ballot envelopes containing voted ballots after completing signature verification. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
“Here in Maricopa County, for the first time since 2006, we will have a two-page ballot and an election on both sides,” said Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates. told Fox 10 Phoenix. last month. “We're talking about four different aspects of the contest, an average of 79 contests. We expect you guys to take a little more time.”
Officials said a Republican-backed state law that adds additional steps to verify ballots could also cause delays.
The law requires poll workers to wait until voting ends before counting begins. Next, all mailed green envelope ballots must be counted by hand before being delivered to election centers, where signatures are verified and votes counted.
If the election administration finds an error on a voter's ballot, the voter will have five days to correct it. Election officials say it could take up to two weeks for all ballots to be repaired and counted.
Mail-in ballots also must be scanned, sorted, and signature verified before being counted. Voters can also return their mail-in ballots any time before the polls close on Election Day.
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“The most important thing you can do in the next few days is help people. [Turning Point Action] Please fix these ballots and ensure every vote counts in Arizona,” Lake posted on X on Thursday.
The Associated Press reported that Arizona still has hundreds of thousands of ballots left to count, including about 500,000 in Maricopa County. Officials are currently counting early votes that arrived in October. Until more votes are counted, it is too early to decide the race.
