The race to represent a West Phoenix congressional district is too close to call and will be subject to a recount, with a margin of less than 50 votes between Yassamin Ansari and Raquel Terán.
The duo are each hoping to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is angling to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. While Ansari won an early lead on election night, ballot tabulation in the ensuing days has shrunk the number of votes separating her from Terán to just 42. Such a razor-thin margin means the race meets the threshold for a recount.
Two years ago, Republicans in the Arizona Legislature who were critical of President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state in 2020 passed a law that significantly expanded the margin that triggers an automatic recount. The updated threshold is equal to less than half of a percentage point of all ballots cast in the contested race.
In statements posted to social media, both Ansari and Terán recognize that the race is far from resolved.
Late Sunday night, Ansari celebrated her small lead, thanking her team and campaign volunteers for their work, but noted that counting continues.
“We are still hard at work ensuring that every vote is counted,” she wrote, on social media site X, formerly Twitter. “Thank you to the thousands of voters who made their voices heard in this election. Together, we will continue to deliver progressive results. Our work has just begun.”
Also on Sunday, Terán echoed the assertion that every vote be counted. And she remained confident that she would prevail in the end.
“Our race in #AZ03 is still too close to call — in fact, we’re narrowing the gap. We know as Democrats, especially here in Arizona, how important it is for every vote to get counted,” she wrote. “There are still more outstanding ballots to come. Each time I’ve been counted out, I’ve returned to the power of community and coalition.”
Earning the nomination for CD3 is a guaranteed shoo-in to winning the general election in November and representing South and West Phoenix in Congress. Left-leaning voters in the district outnumber Republicans three to one.
Both Ansari and Terán sought to bill themselves as the best candidate for the job, staking out platforms on progressive policies and highlighting their work defending abortion access — an issue Democrats across the country have leaned on in the wake of abortion restrictions. Terán has a 17-year-long career in politics, with stints in the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate and formerly served as the state’s Democratic Party Chair. She netted high-profile endorsements from U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Ansari, meanwhile, built her political brand on Phoenix’s City Council, being elected as its youngest member in 2021 and later rising to the position of Vice Mayor. On the council, Ansari pushed for proposals to mitigate climate change and helped spearhead a citywide resolution that deprioritized abortion arrests amid hostile laws. A daughter of Iranian immigrants, Ansari’s election to represent CD3, which spans Laveen, Maryvale and Glendale, would be a first for the district, which is 51% Hispanic and has backed Latino candidates since 1991.
This story was first published by Arizona Mirror, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ashley Murray contributed to this report.
