Republicans also seeking donations for possible CD2 recount

The gap was in a constant state of flux Friday as Cochise County, where McSally dominated, and Pima County, where Barber led, alternated vote tabulation updates over the day.

With the race so close, both sides are raising money to cover expenses for a possible recount.

On Wednesday the National Republican Congressional Committee, which already spent $2.6 million backing McSally, sent out an appeal for donations to “the campaign’s post-election activity fund.”

The appeal advises contributors to make checks out to “McSally for Congress,” and designate “recount” on the check memo line.

The McSally campaign did not return calls Friday for comment on the committee’s fundraising appeal. McSally’s campaign did not return calls on Thursday either.

On Thursday, the Barber campaign sent supporters a similar email asking for contributions to the Ron Barber Recount Fund.

A recount would be triggered if the final tally between the two is 200 votes or less.

While a recount would be paid for by taxpayers, money raised by the two appeals would be used to pay legal fees and other costs associated with monitoring the ongoing tabulation and possible recount.

Cochise County counted just over 1,000 provisional ballots late Friday, clearing nearly all of its backlog.

Roughly 13,000 ballots are still uncounted in Pima County, a mix of about 3,000 remaining early ballots and about 9,800 provisional ballots, likely cast on Election Day.

Legislative contests
still being sorted out

District 9: Less than 200 votes separate Democrat Randy Friese and Republican Ethan Orr in their contest for the district’s second House seat. Democrat Victoria Steele had the most votes in the three-person races, giving her a second term in the statehouse.

District 10: State Rep. Stefanie Mach, a Democrat, opened a more than 1,100 vote lead in results posted late Friday, apparently staving off a challenge by Republican Todd Clodfelter to take the district’s second House seat.

Democratic incumbent Bruce Wheeler remains the leading vote getter.

District 4: Republican Richard Hopkins holds about a 300-vote lead over Democrat Charlene Fernandez for the second House seat. But with thousands of uncounted votes in Yuma, Pima and Maricopa counties, which share the district, the race remains too close to call.

Democrat Lisa Ontondo received the most votes in the three-way, securing another term in the state legislature.

District 8: Democratic state Sen. Barbara McQuire has a 600-vote lead over Republican Irene Littleton for the district’s Senate seat, but more than 10,000 early and provisional ballots remain to be counted in the district’s two counties.

Tucson Unified School District

TUSD board member Michael Hicks has a 350-vote lead over Jan Darland, the next closest challenger in the nine-way race for a seat on the board of Tucson’s largest school district.

Two seats were up for grabs. Incumbent Adelita Grijalva has already secured another term on the board, receiving more than 4,000 votes more than any other candidate.

Justice of the Peace
in Precinct 1

Republican Adam Watters beat Democrat Robin Auld by almost 3,000 votes in Precinct 1. Waters will replace Anne Segal, whom he defeated in the Republican primary election.

Both the Elections Department and Recorder’s Office in Pima County expect to work through the weekend to complete the count.