A recount of votes has confirmed Democrat Kris Mayes narrowly defeated Republican Abraham Hamadeh in the Arizona attorney general’s race, one of the closest elections in state history. The highly anticipated results announced Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court are among the last in the country to come out of November's election and solidified another victory for Democrats who shunned election fraud conspiracies in what used to be a solidly Republican state. With Hamadeh's defeat, Republicans running statewide in battleground states who spread former President Donald Trump's debunked claim that the 2020 election was stolen have all lost their races, the AP reports.
Mayes finished 280 votes ahead of Hamadeh, down from a lead of 511 in the original count. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear. "I'm excited and ready to get to work as your next attorney general and vow to be your lawyer for the people," Mayes said in a statement. Judge Timothy Thomason, who also announced the results of recounts in two other races, said Republican Tom Horne prevailed in the race for state superintendent of public instruction and Republican Liz Harris won a state legislative seat in the Phoenix suburbs. The automatic recounts were required because the races were so close.
Outside court, Mayes attorney Dan Barr said the results should give the public confidence in elections, despite the adjustments in vote totals as a result of the recount. "They didn't just do a rubber stamp of what it was," Barr said, per the AP. "They did a careful evaluation of the votes, and they came up with a different result. And so I think people should have a lot of confidence in the process." In a tweet, Hamadeh said the discrepancies in the recount were shockingly high. "My legal team will be assessing our options to make sure every vote is counted," wrote Hamadeh, who hasn't conceded to Mayes.
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