Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
In the closest election, or just the slowest counted election in the country, Rep. Ron Barber was finally declared the winner by the AP on Saturday and his opponent Martha McSally conceded the race. Arizona now has a Democratic 5-4 majority its congressional delegation. Barber claims CD2 seat with 50.15% of vote:
Almost two weeks after the election, U.S. Rep. Ron Barber was finally able to give his victory speech.
Barber and his supporters celebrated his victory Saturday after his challenger, Republican Martha McSally, conceded that she could not win the tight race for Arizona's new 2nd Congressional District.
* * *
By Friday night, Barber was ahead by 1,402 votes out of more than 285,000 ballots counted. That gave him 50.15 percent of the vote to McSally's 49.66 percent.
Although 16,000 provisional ballots in Pima County have yet to be counted, Barber's lead has not just held, but has grown in recent days. Her strongest support was in Cochise County, where all ballots had been counted.
After considering the trend line, McSally determined she could not win.
Dozens of Barber's supporters packed into his small midtown campaign office chanting his name as they waited for his long-awaited speech.
In it, Barber reiterated his vow to support middle-class families.
"Now, our charge and our mandate is clear and that is to stand up for the middle class and look out for Southern Arizona's future," Barber said after thanking his family, campaign staff and supporters.
* * *
His narrow victory in this race means Democrats have the majority of the state's congressional delegation, holding five of the state's nine U.S. House seats, while Republicans' only congressional victories in Arizona were in districts safe for GOP candidates.
The Republicans had a 5-3 advantage in the state's U.S. House delegation going into the Nov. 6 election, which filled a new ninth seat.
Democrat Kyrsten Sinema won the new Phoenix-area 9th District over former Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker, while Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick regained her old congressional seat by beating Republican Jonathan Paton in the 1st District.
"Now, our charge and our mandate is clear and that is to stand up for the middle class and look out for Southern Arizona's future." - Rep. Ron Barber.
h/t Arizona Daily Star
Recent Comments