Rep. Eli Crane leading Jonathan Nez in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District

Republican incumbent Eli Crane is leading challenger Jonathan Nez in the race for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District.

The race for the district seat started as a nail-biter as Crane and Nez were only separated by about 1,400 votes in the initial wave of results Tuesday night.

However, by Wednesday evening, the results showed Crane with 143,106 votes, or 49.5%, and Nez with 140,871 votes, or 48.7%.

The race is a rematch of 2024, when Crane carried the district by about 9 percentage points. President Donald Trump won the same district by about 15 points that year.

Outside money poured into Eli Crane, Jonathan Nez race

Outside groups spent $7.6 million on the race after the July primary, most of it in October, according to a KTAR News 92.3 FM analysis of Federal Election Commission filings. It was an unusual amount for a district that had leaned Republican.

Groups backing Crane outspent those backing Nez more than 2-to-1, about $5.3 million to $2.4 million. The biggest spender, No Going Back PAC, put $3.4 million into supporting Crane and opposing Nez. House Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, spent nearly $1 million against Crane.

Nez called the race “David versus Goliath” in the final weeks of the campaign.

“We’re being outspent. But you know what? The American people are smart. They know what’s going on,” Nez said. “I’m a sheepherder. I grew up on the Navajo Nation without running water or electricity.”

Where is Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District?

The district stretches across most of rural northern and eastern Arizona, including Flagstaff, Prescott and the Navajo Nation, and dips into northern Pinal County.

What was at stake in the race?

Nez bet that rising costs would move voters his way after his 2024 loss, telling KTAR News 92.3 FM’s AZ Political Podcast that affordability had changed since then. A Democratic poll in late August showed Crane ahead by just 2 points, 46% to 44%, within the margin of error in a district Republicans have long held.

This is an updated version of a story originally published Nov. 3, 2026.

Click here to see results come in from all the races in Arizona.

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