Both first-term Democrat state representatives seeking re-election to the state House in Legislative District 9 are leading their races against two GOP opponents after early results on election night. 

By approximately 9:30 p.m., Democrat Reps. Lorena Austin, D-Mesa; and Seth Blattman, D-Mesa, have received 27.27% and 26.07% of votes, respectively. 

The two Democrats lead Republican challengers Kylie Barber and Mary Ann Mendoza. Barber has received 23.36% of votes, and Mendoza has received 23.31% of votes. 

Republicans hold a 31-29 majority in the House. Unseating either or both Democrats in LD9 would be insurance in the party’s goal of keeping the majority. 

LD9 is the only swing district in the state where all three legislative seats went to Democrats in the 2022 race. 

The west Mesa district leans Democratic with a 2.6% vote spread favoring Democrats in recent elections, according to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. 

This is Mendoza’s second attempt running against Blattman and Austin. In 2022, Blattman beat the third-place runner-up Kathy Pearce by little more than half a percent. Mendoza finished trailing Blattman by about 1.5% of votes.

Republicans this year are running Barber as a business-friendly candidate, similar to Sen. T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge; or Rep. Justin Wilmeth, R-Phoenix, in other swing districts of the state. 

The two Republicans running in LD9 this year haven’t campaigned together. The Arizona Republic reported Sunday that the Arizona Republican Party received $22,000 from Barber’s campaign to help circulate mailers encouraging voters to vote only Barber as a single-shot candidate in the district, which drew the ire of Freedom Caucus Chairman Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek. 

“If the Democrats sweep both LD9 House seats with Mary Ann Mendoza only losing by a very small margin those losses will fall squarely on the shoulders of the AZGOP for blunders like this,” Hoffman wrote in a post on X about the mailers.