PHOENIX — Arizona Democrats declared victory Tuesday night in the fight for the state Legislature, saying they are poised to control both chambers for the first time in about 60 years, the Arizona Mirror reported.
“We are thrilled to announce that there will be a Democratic majority,” House Democratic Leader Oscar De Los Santos told the crowd at the party’s election night event in downtown Phoenix, according to the Mirror.
De Los Santos and Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan were introduced on stage as the next House speaker and Senate president, though hundreds of thousands of ballots had yet to be counted.
As of 10 p.m., Democrats held large leads in seven Senate seats and nine House seats now held by Republicans, the Mirror reported. If those leads hold, Democrats would go from 13 of 30 Senate seats and 27 of 60 House seats to 20 seats in the Senate and 36 in the House.
Sundareshan showed off a bolo tie with three blue stones, calling it her “trifecta bolo” for Democratic control of both chambers and the governor’s office.
The change would be major for Gov. Katie Hobbs, who won reelection Tuesday. During her first term she battled a Republican-controlled Legislature, set a record for vetoes and struggled to get her agency director nominees confirmed by the Senate, according to the Mirror.
The Mirror noted Democrats controlled Arizona government before 1966, when a U.S. Supreme Court “one person, one vote” ruling led to districts with equal populations and shifted power to urban areas.
Results are unofficial, and Maricopa County is still counting ballots.
Sources: Arizona Mirror. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Angeline Starr / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
