Live results: Arizona midterm primaries

WASHINGTON (AP) — Arizona Republicans will select a candidate in the state’s primary on Tuesday to challenge Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November. Voters across the state will also determine general election outcomes for competitive U.S. House seats and for a full range of state and local offices.

The Arizona governorship is a big opportunity for a Republican takeover in a midterm environment where voters have historically punished which party occupies the White House. The eventual winner, along with his or her statewide political organization, could play an important role in the 2028 presidential campaign, with Arizona once again expected to be a crucial battleground.

Read more: Andy Biggs and David Schweikert offer competing visions for the Republican Party in Arizona’s gubernatorial primary

Of the seven Democratic governors in states that Donald Trump carried in 2024 as the Republican presidential nominee, only two are up for re-election in 2026, and only Hobbs is expected to face a competitive general election.

Two Arizona congressmen and two businessmen are vying for the Republican nomination for governor. US Representative for five terms. Andy Biggs is the former chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Eight-term U.S. Rep. David Schweikert is giving up his competitive seat in the swing district after narrowly defeating strong Democratic challenges in the last three elections. Entrepreneurs Ken Miceli and Scott Neely have backgrounds in the construction industry.

Biggs received a key endorsement from Trump. The president had already endorsed another candidate, billionaire housing developer Karen Taylor Robson, but issued an additional endorsement for Biggs shortly after he entered the race in early 2025. Taylor Robson withdrew from the race in February. Trump has been known to sometimes endorse more than one candidate for the same race. Most recently, he endorsed both candidates in the primary runoff for governor of South Carolina.

Read more: Election officials in Arizona’s largest county have agreed on how to oversee voting, ending the legal battle

In the race to replace Schweikert in the 1st Congressional District, the Republican field includes state Rep. Joseph Chaplik, sportscaster and former Arizona Cardinals representative Jay Feeley and technology and communications executive John Truboff. Feeley briefly ran in the 5th Congressional District, but Trump endorsed another candidate and pushed Feeley to run in another district or for a different office. Philly switched to the 1st District, and Trump endorsed him and former state party chairwoman Gina Swoboda for the nomination. Swoboda later withdrew to run for Secretary of State.

The Democratic primary includes two candidates from the 2024 primary for the same seat: former state Rep. Amesh Shah and former local news anchor Marilyn Galan Woods. Shah won the nomination two years ago, while Jalan Woods finished third out of six candidates. Shah received 48% of the vote against Schweikert in the general election. Publisher Rick McCartney and businessman Jonathan Tribble round out the Democratic field.

The 1st Congressional District is located just northeast of Phoenix and includes Scottsdale. It is located entirely within Maricopa County. Schweikert received 51.9% and 50.4% of the vote in his 2024 and 2022 re-election bids, respectively. In the 2024 presidential race, Trump received about 51% of the votes, compared to about 48% for then-Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

Read more: The Supreme Court will consider a Trump-backed Republican push to revive Arizona’s voting laws

Another Republican-held seat considered key to Democrats’ hopes of regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives is the 6th Congressional District, where Rep. Juan Ciscumani is seeking a third term. He and his Democratic opponent, Marine Corps veteran Joana Mendoza, faced no opposition in the primary.

In the state legislature, all 30 state Senate seats and all 60 state House seats are up for election. Republicans have a slim majority in both chambers. Democrats have not controlled the state Senate since 1992 or the state House of Representatives since 1966, the last time the party controlled the governor’s office and both chambers simultaneously.

Maricopa County is by far the most populous and most influential of the state’s fifteen counties in both the statewide Democratic and Republican primaries. It is home to Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe and Mesa and contributed about 61% of the vote in the 2024 presidential general election. Pima County came in a distant second with about 15% of the vote.

Here are some key facts about the election and data points that AP’s decision-making team will be monitoring as the votes are counted:

When do the polls close?

Polls close at 7 PM local time, which is 10 PM ET across the state. No results will be released before 11pm ET. Most of Arizona does not observe daylight saving time. The Navajo Nation is an exception, as polls there close at 9 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The Associated Press will report the voting results and announce the winners in the contested primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives, governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, state school superintendent, state Corporation Commission, state Senate and state House of Representatives.

Who is entitled to vote?

Registered Democrats and Republicans may vote only in their party’s primaries. Independents can vote in the Democratic or Republican primaries.

How many voters are there?

As of July, there were about 4.3 million registered voters in Arizona, including about 1.5 million Republicans, about 1.2 million Democrats and about 1.5 million voters not registered with any party.

How many people actually vote?

About 596,000 Democratic primary votes and about 831,000 GOP primary votes were cast in the 2022 gubernatorial primary.

How many votes were cast early or by absentee ballot?

Arizona conducts elections mostly by mail. About 93% of Democratic primary votes and about 79% of Republican primary votes in the 2022 state primaries were cast early in person or by mail.

As of Thursday, about 755,000 votes had been cast in Tuesday’s election, about 335,000 from Democrats and 347,000 from Republicans.

When are early and absentee ballots issued?

Arizona counties tend to release all or most of their results from early in-person voting, as well as a significant amount of mail-in voting results, in their first voting update of the night, usually before reporting any in-person voting on Election Day.

How long does the vote counting process usually take?

In the state’s 2024 primary, the AP first announced results at 11:02 p.m. ET, or two minutes after the state allowed votes to be released. About half of the total votes had been counted by 11:05 p.m. ET. The vote was last updated tonight at approximately 5:35 a.m. ET with about 83% of the total votes counted.

When will AP announce the winner?

The AP does not make predictions and will only declare a winner when it is determined that no scenario exists that would allow the trailing candidate to close the gap. If the race is not called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or announcements of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet announced a winner and explain why.

How do recounts work?

In Arizona, votes are automatically recounted if the vote margin is 0.5% of the total vote or less. The AP may declare a winner in a race subject to a recount if it can determine that the lead is so large that a recount or legal challenge cannot change the outcome.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 105 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

–Robert Yuen, Associated Press