Incumbents prevail in northern Arizona’s primary election

(The Center Square) – Although the Secretary of State’s unofficial results for the AZ primary elections have yet to be published, with approximately 97% of the reporting done, northern Arizona can have a pretty good idea of which lawmakers will be competing in November’s general election.

State Sen. Wendy Rogers narrowly leads David Cook in the race for the Seventh Legislative District, leading by 3,017 votes. There has been controversy amid Rogers’s campaign after she was censured in 2022 by the AZ Senate for posting comments on social media supporting violence against Ukraine.

“We won! Thank you voters of #LD7 for re-electing me to the Arizona Senate,” reads a post on X that Rogers posted Wednesday morning. “This is our third primary win against a well-funded opponent. Far-left groups spent about half a million dollars to try and stop our America First conservative agenda to secure our border, secure our elections, protect our gun rights & take care of our veterans & police.”

The winner of the LD 7 democratic state senator race was Haley Creighton, with 54% of the votes over Roberto Apodaca Reveles who received 46% of votes.

Walter Blackman pulled ahead in the LD 7 Republican state representative race and Nancy Hartl in the Democratic race – where two candidates will be elected.

The other Republican candidates are David Marshall Sr., Steven Slaton and Kevin Chiquete.

In the LD 5 state senator races, there was only one candidate per party that will be going up against each other in November: Republican Joshua Ortega and Democrat Lela Alston. Additionally, there were only democratic candidates for the two state representative seats.

Sarah Liguori pulled ahead of Aaron Marquez and Charles Walter Lucking, capturing 41.97% of the votes.

In LD 5, Democrat Theresa Hathalie ran unopposed. The Republican state representative race was tied between Lloyd Johnson and Rich King.

Myron Tsosie won the Democratic state representative primary race with 40.8% of the votes, narrowly ahead of Mae Peshlakai, 38.93%, with Angela Maloney trailing behind at 20.27% of votes.

In the northern Arizona congressional races, the heavily-Republican congressional District 9 election will consist of Democrat Quacy Smith and Republican Paul Gosar.

Congressional District 2 Democrat Nez Johnson will be running against Republican Eli Crane (who won his primary against Jack Smith by 52,184 votes) for U.S. Representative in Congress in November.

The Republican primary race for Maricopa County Recorder garnered much attention. Incumbent Stephen Richer had two republican challengers: Justin Heap and Don Hiatt.

Richer was criticized for defending Arizona’s election process and pushing back against Republican claims of voter fraud following the 2020 and 2022 races.

He conceded the primary race to Heap on Wednesday. Heap received 42.37% of the votes to Richer’s 35.88%. The other candidate, Don Hiatt, received 21.75% of the Republican votes.

Heap will face Democrat Tim Stringham in the November General Election. 

“Elections have winners and, sadly, losers,” reads Richer’s post on X. “And in this one, it looks like I’m going to end up on the losing side of the column. “Congratulations to @azjustinheap on winning the primary.”

Additionally, Richer said that he hopes to ensure a smooth transition to the next county recorder.

“My predecessor (@Adrian_Fontes) showed grace, class, professionalism, and selflessness in how he handled the transition,” reads his post. “And considering she embodies class and professionalism, I’m sure Helen Purcell did the same. So I won’t be the one to drop the baton!”

The most recent updated election results can be found at the Secretary of State’s website.