Republican Kari Lake has pulled closer to Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego in Arizona's U.S. Senate race.
With 78% of the vote counted early Friday morning, Decision Desk HQ showed Gallego with 49.8% of the vote and Lake with 48.1%, a difference of 1.7%. Green Party candidate Eduardo Quintana had 2.1%.
After Maricopa County, which includes 60% of the state's voters, released more results Thursday night, Gallego was ahead by 43,698 votes, down from 2.5 percentage points and 52,578, Arizona Mirror reported.
The county posted results from 72,100 additional ballots — which favored Lake 57% to Gallego's 41% — pushing its total number tabulated to more than 1.6 million.
The Mirror added that Maricopa County estimated it had roughly 472,000 more ballots to count, with nearly 780,000 remaining to be counted across the state.
President-elect Donald Trump led 52.5% to 46.6% and was projected to win Arizona over Vice President Kamala Harris in the state's presidential race. The GOP presidential candidate leads 312-226 overall in the Electoral College.
Republicans are hoping Lake will prevail to add to their new Senate majority, which stands at 52-46.
Two other U.S. Senate races remain officially undecided. Republican Dave McCormick led Sen. Bob Casey by half a percentage point with 95% of the vote counted in Pennsylvania, and Democrat Sen. Jacky Rosen was ahead of Sam Brown in Nevada by 1.4% with 95% of the vote counted.
The Associated Press has called the Pennsylvania race for McCormick because, it said, there were not enough votes in areas supporting Casey for him to make up the difference.
Gallego has represented Arizona's 3rd Congressional District since 2015.
Lake, a former newscaster and a strong Trump supporter, lost the 2022 Arizona governor's race to Democrat Katie Hobbs.
The winner of the Arizona Senate race will replace Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., who won in 2018 as a Democrat.
Sinema left the Democratic Party two years ago after she antagonized the party's left wing. She considered running for a second term as an independent but bowed out when it was clear she had no clear path to victory.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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