Major Winners Emerge In Critical Arizona Races

PHOENIX – Kari Lake, Rep. Ruben Gallego, Abe Hamadeh, and other prominent politicians were in the spotlight during Arizona’s primaries on July 30.

Lake emerged victorious in the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate and will now face Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego in the upcoming November elections.

Hamadeh secured the GOP nomination in the 8th District for the open U.S. House seat by defeating Masters. He will compete against Gregory Whitten, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

In the Democratic primary, former state Rep. Amish Shah emerged as the winner, although the intense competition delayed the announcement until late on Aug. 1.

Shah, a physician who was elected to the state House of Representatives in 2019, faced six other candidates in the race, including former Arizona Democratic Party Chairman Andrei Cherny, Marlene Galn-Woods, and Conor O’Callaghan.

Conor O’Callaghan, originally from Ireland, has a background in Wall Street, while Galan-Woods is a former Republican and the widow of Grant Woods, who previously served as the state’s attorney general.

With 99 percent of the votes counted, Shah secured 23.5 percent of the votes. Cherny came in second with 21.3 percent, closely followed by Galan-Woods with 21.2 percent. O’Callaghan secured fourth place with 18.5 percent. Orthodontist Andrew Horne came in fifth with 12.3 percent of the vote.

In an interview with The Epoch Times earlier this year, Horne described Arizona’s electorate as more libertarian compared to other places, tracing this maverick tendency back to the late Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater.

“That’s Arizona politics,” he said.

Ciscomani secured 59.2 percent of the vote, defeating Winn who received 40.8 percent.

Democrat Kirsten Engel, whom Ciscomani narrowly beat in 2022, won her uncontested primary.

“I very, very narrowly lost to him last time,” she told The Epoch Times at a Tucson Democrat canvassing event on July 28.

Heap emerged as the winner, with Richer coming in second. The state legislator secured 43.3 percent of the votes, while Richer received 34.7 percent and Hiatt garnered 22 percent.

Both Hiatt and Heap campaigned against Richer’s record and statements.

Richer is known for defending the integrity of the 2020 presidential election and has expressed his intention to vote for President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election.