Schapira narrowly beats Rogers in LD17

Democrat David Schapira appears to have won a seat in the Arizona Senate after narrowly outdistancing Republican Wendy Rogers in the race to replace retiring Sen. Meg Burton Cahill.

Schapira is ahead by more than 1,600 votes with all precincts reporting, according to unofficial and partial results from the Secretary of State’s Office.

Libertarian Garret Chartier-Dickie and Green candidate Anthonry Goshorn each received several hundred votes.

Burton-Cahill’s decision to retire left a vacant seat that Republicans targeted for a possible pick-up.

Rogers, a former Air Force pilot, mounted an aggressive campaign while independent groups spent $62,000 in an effort aimed at getting her elected over Schapira.

Legislative District 17, which takes in Tempe and south Scottsdale, has been one of the most competitive districts in the state for the past several election cycles. The district slightly leans Democratic, and more voters are registered as independents than as Republicans.

The swing district has more than 83,000 voters. As of Wednesday morning, just more than 31,000 votes had been tallied and very few were left to be counted, reflecting a much lower voter turnout than was expected.