PHOENIX - While the race for the U.S. Senate between Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally has taken the spotlight, another crucial Arizona race is still up for grabs and much closer than the Senate race.
It's the secretary of state race between Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Steve Gaynor.
After Gaynor led by 44,000 votes on election night, Hobbs has come all the way back. On Sunday, Hobbs took her first lead in the race, by a mere 150 votes after Maricopa County posted ballots at 5 p.m.
Later on Sunday, Gaynor took the lead back and after Pinal County posted ballots to the state on Monday afternoon, Gaynor was back up by more than 1,000 votes.
But, Pima County posted ballots later in the afternoon that gave Hobbs a huge boost. She was back in the lead, this time by 3,645 votes.
Maricopa County, which had been trending for Hobbs in recent days, posted ballots at 5 p.m. on Monday and Hobbs' lead expanded to 5,667 votes.
Mohave and Coconino counties also posted a small number of ballots to the state prior to Maricopa.
The secretary of state race is an extremely important office in the state 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.
We are waiting for confirmation on exactly how many ballots are left to process statewide, but Maricopa County has an estimated 143,000 remaining.
