Race for 1 Arizona state House seat is heading for an automatic recount

Two incumbent Republican lawmakers have to wait a little longer to know for sure which of them will remain in the Arizona Legislature.

The final party breakdown of the state House and Senate is set, with Democrats winning a 30-20 supermajority in the Senate and a 37-23 advantage in the House. Democrats will hold a trifecta of the Senate, House and governorship in Arizona for the first time in 60 years when the Legislature convenes in January 2027.

However, the final House roster won’t be set until a recount in Legislative District 27, which covers parts of Phoenix, Glendale and Peoria in northwest Maricopa County.

Maricopa County released its final unofficial results Wednesday. Deborah Howard, District 27’s only Democratic candidate for the Nov. 3 general election, locked up a seat by earning 37.3% of the vote.

What Arizona House race is heading to a recount?

But the margin between incumbent GOP state Reps. Lisa Fink and Tony Rivero is within the threshold to trigger an automatic recount. Under a state law passed in 2022, all ballots must be counted again for any race where the margin is under 0.5 percentage points.

Fink will enter the recount with a 313-vote lead of 33,731 to 33,418, a difference of 0.29 percentage points.

Just over 107,000 ballots were cast in this year’s LD27 race, so it would take a significant error in the initial count for Rivero to catch Fink.

In fact, Rivero conceded Nov. 6 and congratulated Howard and Fink on their victories.

It has been a true honor serving LD 27 over the last two years. A huge thank you to our volunteers and supporters for your dedication every step of the way.

Congrats to my seatmate @LisaFink4AZ & @DHowardLD27 on their election. Wishing them both success in the upcoming term!

— Tony Rivero (@RepTonyRivero) November 6, 2026

2022 attorney general recount was memorable

It is extremely rare for a recount to change the winner of a race.

The most famous recount in Arizona occurred in the 2022 attorney general race between Democrat Kris Mayes and Republican Abe Hamadeh.

Hamadeh cut his deficit by 231 votes through the recount, but Mayes held on for a 280-vote victory.

That swing came out of more than 2.5 million ballots cast.

Most of the discrepancy from the original tally was attributed to a roughly 500-vote undercount in Pinal County. A majority of the extra votes from that Republican stronghold favored Hamadeh.

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