PHOENIX - Democrat state Sen. Katie Hobbs is poised to become the second-ranking executive officer in Arizona state government.
Hobbs' lead over Republican business owner Steve Gaynor, a political newcomer, more than doubled late Thursday, to 13,000 votes, with the latest count of Maricopa and Pima County ballots.
Hobbs would be the first Democrat in the secretary of state's job in almost 25 years.
There are about 92,000 ballots left to count, 85,000 in Maricopa County and 7,000 in Pima County, where ballots trending have been trending favorably for Democrats. Gaynor would need to win 57 percent of those votes to tie Hobbs.
The secretary of state race is an extremely important office in Arizona if history tells us anything.
Secretary of state is the number two office in Arizona. In the last four decades, five governor's have not finished their terms. Four of those times, the secretary of state has assumed the position.
After Republican candidate Steve Gaynor led by 44,000 votes on election night, the Associated Press called the race in his favor.
But, just days after election night, Democrat Katie Hobbs stormed all the way back, retaking the lead in the race by 150 votes on Sunday afternoon.
The Associated Press retracted its call Monday and will not issue another call in the race. So, we won't know for sure until all votes are processed and Arizona officials certify the results of the elections in a few weeks.
