Democrat Hoffman expands lead in Arizona school superintendent race

PHOENIX — Democrat Kathy Hoffman led Republican Frank Riggs in the superintendent of public instruction race by more than 30,000 votes after totals were updated Friday night.

Hoffman was leading Riggs by more than 20,000 votes as of Thursday night’s update. The day before, Riggs was ahead by 8,000 votes.

Several counties with outstanding votes continue to report results daily, and once again Maricopa County provided the biggest swing in Democrats’ favor.

The superintendent race followed the pattern of the the hotly contested U.S. Senate race between Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Martha McSally.

McSally was first reported ahead, only to be overtaken Thursday by Sinema, who expanded her lead to about 20,000 votes Friday night.

The race for secretary of state grew even closer with the Friday update, with Republican Steve Gaynor leading Democrat Katie Hobbs by more than 10,000 votes.

Gaynor initially led Hobbs by 44,000 votes, which was later trimmed down to 20,000 on Thursday.

The closest race was for District 28 state senator, with incumbent Republican Kate Brophy McGee ahead of former educator Democrat Christine Porter March by just 616 votes.

An analyst for the Arizona Secretary of State’s office estimated Friday night that there were still about 370,000 votes left to be counted for the state.

Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes said Friday night there were 266,000 ballots left to process for Maricopa County alone.

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