Democrat John McLean has taken an early lead over former Republican state Sen. Vince Leach in the Legislative District 17 Senate race, a seat Republicans hoped would help maintain their majority in the chamber.

McLean currently has 54.4% of the votes reported, compared to 45.6% of votes for Leach.

Leach defeated current LD17 Sen. Justine Wadsack in the July primary after Wadsack defeated Leach in the 2022 primary for the seat. Wadsack’s loss slightly dampened Democrats’ hopes of flipping the seat, as Leach is more moderate than Wadsack, who is a member of the far-right freedom caucus.

That didn’t stop McLean from outraising and outspending Leach in recent campaign finance reports, as Democratic interests poured funding into the district. McLean is a retired engineer who has pledged to support abortion rights, scale back the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program and increase funding for the Department of Public Safety for border security.

Leach is a retired businessman who served four terms in the Legislature before being defeated by Wadsack in 2022. He supports the ESA program and the Republican-controlled Legislature’s Proposition 314, which features several provisions aimed at increasing border security.

The former lawmaker faces opposition not just from Democrats, but from far-right Republicans who do not think Leach is conservative enough. Wadsack has discouraged Republicans in LD 17 from voting for him, saying in a post on X that “Vince Leach is wrong for Arizona.”

However, Leach has taken conservative stances on myriad issues, including saying he would support taking land from the federal government to increase affordable housing and would introduce legislation to keep transgender students from playing school sports.

If McLean’s lead holds, Democrats will be one seat closer to holding the majority in the Senate for the first time in decades.