Arizona Capitol Times Election Coverage Your Inside Track to Arizona Elections

Republicans rode a tsunami of voter discontent to wrest away seats from Democratic members on Nov. 2, likely increasing veto-proof control of the two chambers of the Legislature.

Tea Party candidate Don Shooter defeated incumbent Democrat Sen. Amanda Aguirre in Legislative District 24.

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.

Sen. Al Melvin, a Republican from Tucson, was elected to a second term in Legislative District 26.

Republican Gail Griffin ousted incumbent Sen. Manny Alvarez in the race for the Senate in Legislative District 25.

Sen. Linda Gray, a Republican from Glendale will retain her seat after fending off Democrat Justin Johnson in Legislative District 10.

Republican challenger Steve Smith has defeated incumbent Sen. Rebecca Rios by nearly 5,000 votes to capture a seat in Legislative District 23 that has been held by the Rios family since the district was first created a decade ago.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ campaign declared victory over Republican challenger Jesse Kelly late Nov. 5 after expanding her lead to more than 3,600 in the latest count.

Republicans are targeting four Democratic-held seats in the 30-member Senate, a coup that would give them supermajority control for the first time in Arizona’s history.

The state's latest voter rolls paint a worrisome picture for Democrats this November. Arizona added nearly 159,000 new voters since the general election two years ago, pushing the electoral population to more than 3.1 million. But the number of Democrats shrank by almost 20,000.