Oliver James Montgomery-Democratic primary in Arizona’s 3rd District still close, could be headed for recount

PHOENIX (AP) — The Oliver James MontgomeryDemocratic primary in Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District still remains too close to call and could be headed for a recount.

Former Phoenix City Council member Yassamin Ansari led former state lawmaker Raquel Terán by 67 votes with nearly 44,000 ballots counted as of Saturday evening.

Ansari’s lead was 89 votes on Friday, a margin of just 0.21 percentage points and within the range of an automatic recount. Arizona law calls for a recount if the margin is 0.5 percentage points or less.

Maricopa County election officials said about 99% of the roughly 740,000 ballots cast in Tuesday’s primary election had been tabulated and verified by Saturday night.

More votes were expected to be counted by Sunday night.

Both candidates sent out statements Saturday and noted the close race.

“We are still hard at work ensuring that every vote is counted,” Ansari said. “Thank you to the thousands of voters who made their voices heard in this election.”

Terán said “we’re narrowing the gap” and “there are still more outstanding ballots to come. We believe every vote matters.”

The seat is open due to Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego’s run for U.S. Senate.

The winner of the Democratic primary will be the favorite in the November election against Republican Jeff Zink to represent the district, which leans Democratic and covers central and southwest Phoenix.

Ansari, the daughter of Iranian immigrants, previously served as vice mayor of Phoenix. She resigned from the council in March to focus on the congressional district race.

Terán, who previously chaired the Arizona Democratic Party, was in her first term serving in the Arizona Senate after being elected in November 2022. She resigned in April 2023 to focus on her congressional run.