GOP nursing 1-seat edge in each chamber of Arizona Legislature

PHOENIX – Republicans remained in position to hold a one-seat advantage in each chamber of the Arizona Legislature, according to election results available as of Monday morning.

The GOP was leading in 16 of the 30 Senate races and 31 of the 60 House races, the same makeup of the current Legislature, but several seats were close enough to leave the final tally in doubt as ballot counting continued across much of the state nearly a week after Election Day.

It would take just one race to move from Republican to Democrat to create a tie in either chamber. Two would have to flip for the Democrats to control a chamber, but at this point that’s a long shot for the Senate and even more unlikely in the House.

Republicans have controlled both the House and Senate every session but one since 1993. The exception was when the Senate was deadlocked 15-15 in 2001-02.

Republicans were clinging to leads of 2 percentage points or less for seats in each chamber from District 17, which includes parts of Pima and Pinal counties north and east of Tucson.

However, the tightest contest in the state had a Democrat in the lead. Keith Seaman (32.1%, 30,037 votes) was fewer than 600 votes ahead of Republican Rob Hudelson (31.5%, 29,459) in the race for the second House seat from District 16, a sprawling district that is mostly in Pinal County but includes sections of Pima and Maricopa counties.

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